Sync headaches...

ZBurn

So I've got 2 main Mac's here and 2 accounts on each AND I created a secondary vault. Keeping this all in sync is driving me nuts - I thought it was working but I'm finding out it's not. I'm still using 1P 4.4.2 because I'm avoiding the Yosemite upgrade as long as possible... this may push me over to that.

First let me cover the secondary vault (I'll call it SV) question: So say I share a login from Primary to SV, then while using the Primary vault I decide to change that password. Do I have to re-share that change over to get it to pick up in SV, this is on the same mac but a different user account? That doesn't seem to be working - I had to reshare it to be picked up in SV.

Now into the sync story... I'm attempting to use Dropbox to sync - and between my main Mac with my Primary vault this works flawlessly with iOS (also connected to my main Dropbox) That was the good news. On this main machine I used MY dropbox account for syncing. The secondary Mac (I'll call this 2) uses another dropbox account (2D) and this machine is using 2D quite actively it never uses MY dropbox account. 2 users each pointed at their own dropbox account on the same machine works fine for dropbox use once you get it set up. I did find a way to get the mac to let 1P connect to MY dropbox from that account, but it doesn't seem to update unless I log into my account on that Mac (which rarely happens). I do see a file in dropbox for the main vault and SV. Maybe the idea of the separate vaults is not for very active use?

I don't think the other options help:
A) WiFI syncing does work but it seems to be only for mobile devices.
B) iCloud only works for Primary vaults - my intent is to keep everything in my primary vault with copies over to SV. But I'm not sure I can absolutely guarantee this. I did buy this from the Mac App store.
C) Folder syncing might be useful - these macs are on the same network. But I don't really want to break the wonderfully working sync with iOS.

Does upgrading to 1P 5 help this? Is there a way to sync 1P data between two Dropbox accounts? that might fix my issue... not sure how secure that would be.

Thanks,
-Dan

littlebobbytables

Hi @ZBurn,

Well the good news from your perspective is upgrading to 1Password 5 won't help so if you're trying to avoid Yosemite then we're not going to push you towards it. Everything from this point applies equally to 1Password 4 or 5.

When you copy an item between two vaults it doesn't create a link between the two so any changes don't synchronise between the two vaults. Just to let you know, 1Password currently doesn't offer a confirmation message when you copy an item in this way, it simply overwrites the destination with the source if the item is in both locations and doesn't attempt to merge. So as long as you're careful that isn't an issue but it's something to be aware of.

There isn't a problem synchronising vaults between multiple Dropbox accounts but you may need to be careful about naming. Dropbox covers this in their KB article, How do I share folders with other people?. You put the .agilekeychains you wish to share in a single folder and share that folder with the other account. Any changes made to the vault no matter from which account will then sync back to the other. I wouldn't say there's any security risk in doing so as long as you're happy using Dropbox then this shouldn't concern you.

I think knowing this will allow you to set up syncing just the way you need to but if you have any troubles please do post back here and we'll do our best to help :smile:

ZBurn

OK - This doesn't seem to be working... at least not very completely. I did find that the Dropbox folder I am using wasn't shared but it is now. I added a Note on my main machine and I noticed that the date/time on my .agilekeychain file does NOT change in dropbox. should it? In 1P Preferences I see that it says "Last Synced" with a recent time.

So I added a note to an item on my main machine and looked on my other machine logged into the other account and I didn't see that. Then I added a note to another item and I still don't see that anywhere else. Then I logged in on the second machine into my account and dropbox took off syncing a bunch of stuff. AND from there I could see the original note. none of the .agliekeychain files in this picture have changed dates on Dropbox. But I did achieve a one way sync IF I log into the account that owns the dropbox.

On the one machine the dropbox is mapped something like me/dropbox/1Password/Main.agilekeychain on the other machine it looks more like OtherMacHD/Users/me/dropbox/1Password/Main.agilekeychain in both cases the 1Password folder has the little icons on it to indicate that it is shared.

-ZBurn

Drew_AG

Hi @ZBurn,

Because we're talking about multiple Macs, Mac user accounts, Dropbox accounts, and 1Password vaults, it can get fairly confusing and difficult to keep track of things here, so I'd like to make sure we understand your 1Password setup/ecosystem. Please let us know if the following is correct:

• On your main/first Mac (Mac #1), you have two vaults in 1Password 4 (Primary and secondary), and sync both vaults with your own personal Dropbox account (Dropbox #1).
• You sync your Primary vault (1Password.agilekeychain) with 1Password on your iOS device via your own personal Dropbox account (Dropbox #1), and that's working correctly.
• You're trying to sync your secondary vault (Main.agilekeychain) with 1Password on a second Mac (Mac #2), which is signed into a second Dropbox account (Dropbox #2).
• On Mac #1, you setup Dropbox #1 to share the folder containing Main.agilekeychain with Dropbox #2.

Is that all correct so far? If so, the important things you need to do on Mac #2 are:

• Make sure you're signed into Dropbox #2 (in the Dropbox app).
• Make sure the shared copy of Main.agilekeychain shows up and has been downloaded to the Dropbox folder.
• Make sure the vault in 1Password is syncing with the shared copy of Main.agilekeychain in the Dropbox folder. (From the 1Password app on Mac #2, go to 1Password > Preferences > Sync to check the Dropbox sync settings.)

Can you let us know if that's set up as described? Also, to address a few other specific things you mentioned:

I added a Note on my main machine and I noticed that the date/time on my .agilekeychain file does NOT change in dropbox.

Your AgileKeychain is actually a package file / bundle which is made up of hundreds of smaller files. The modified date for the AgileKeychain does not reflect changes made to the contents inside the package.

So I added a note to an item on my main machine and looked on my other machine logged into the other account and I didn't see that.

I'm not sure if the "other account" you logged into is a Mac user account, a Dropbox account, or some other kind of account. Can you be more specific about that?

Then I logged in on the second machine into my account and dropbox took off syncing a bunch of stuff. AND from there I could see the original note.

Again, it's hard to understand what happened because I'm not sure what account you're referring to. If you're changing which Dropbox account is signed into the Dropbox app, that will definitely cause some sync problems (but I'm not sure if that's what you mean).

But I did achieve a one way sync IF I log into the account that owns the dropbox.

Do you mean you're logging into different Mac user accounts on Mac #2? For the purposes of troubleshooting, it will help if you can try to get this working on just one Mac user account on that Mac for now. It may help to think of each different Mac user account as a completely different Mac.

If you need to sync Main.agilekeychain to multiple Mac user accounts, and each Mac user account is signed into a different Dropbox account, you'll also need to share Main.agilekeychain with those other Dropbox accounts.

As you can probably tell, it's very easy for this sort of conversation to become very confusing! ;) Please let us know how it all goes, the additional information I asked about and if I've misunderstood anything, and we'll continue from there. Thanks!

ZBurn

Ah - yes I agree this is quite confusing and easy to get lost in. My issue seems to have boiled down to a Dropbox functionality misunderstanding. I had this setup and working before, but I misinterpreted it not working because of the vault separation that I didn't know about. When I re-setup the dropbox sync spot I had two issues: 1) first I didn't share it and 2) I found that the share doesn't take affect until you go in to the target account and accept that. Once I did that I seem to have syncing everywhere - except between the vaults. The second bullet point in the "make sure on Mac #2" that you wrote above wasn't satisfied since it the folder wasn't shared yet.

You had most of my configuration correct except on Mac #2 I sometimes want to access either vault. Maybe life would be simpler to get rid of the auxiliary vault - but I'm trying to make a less confusing list for my wife. How do you recommend using vaults? Seems like there ought to be a way to link logins so that if you change a password both vaults pick that up. Something like Copy, Move, and Link 8-)

Thanks for all the help!

Drew_AG

Hi @ZBurn,

So it sounds like the secondary vault (Main.agilekeychain) is now syncing correctly between Mac #1 and Mac #2? If so, that's great! :) I'm glad I was able to help with that.

If you'd like to also access your Primary vault (1Password.agilekeychain) from the same Mac user account on Mac #2, you can certainly do that. The steps would be pretty much the same - you would need to share the folder containing 1Password.agilekeychain in Dropbox #1 with Dropbox #2. On Mac #2, once the shared keychain is synced/downloaded, you can simply double-click on 1Password.agilekeychain and 1Password will prompt you to add it as a secondary vault.

Normally we don't recommend sharing your Primary vault with someone else, but in this case it sounds like you're the only person who will be using those vaults from that Mac user account on Mac #2, so that's ok.

Now, as far as sharing an individual item, as you already know, that makes a copy that has the same information as the original, but otherwise it's a completely separate item. So changes to one won't sync to the other. On the one hand, this requires you to share the item again if you make changes to it in one vault. On the other hand, this can be a great safety net if you are sharing a vault with someone else, and that person makes undesirable changes to the item (i.e. you still have your own copy in your own vault).

If you're not sharing your vaults with anyone else (so you are the only person who ever accesses each vault), I'm not sure you would need to have a copy of the same item in both vaults anyway, as you can sync both vaults to each Mac or iOS device where you need to access them.

If you have more questions, you know where to find us! ;)