Is there a way to merge two vaults without duplications? [Yes, export > import]

quickmarch

Somehow, I've got two 1PW vaults. I have no idea how this came about and that is the reason for this post. It might have happened when I manually synced after upgrading to 1PW 4. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a luddite when it comes to these things and after researching the forum I'm probably more afraid of the process than I was before I started. I'm really getting tired of switching back and forth when looking for a PW so please help if you can.

I'm using 1PW 4.6.0.584 (updated today) on a Win7 Pro laptop. I also have to deal with my wife's Win7 Home laptop, an Apple iPad, and a One Plus Android phone. I use dropbox 3.8.5 for syncing. The folder structure is slightly different in the two vaults, there is a "Favorites" folder that I did not create in the second vault, so it is probably a feature of the new version.

I read everything I could find on this forum using the search "merge" and "merge vault(s)". I think I understand the concept of exporting to a 1PIF file, but I'm reluctant to take the plunge. It looks as though I'm going to get a lot of duplicates.

Is this my best bet ? - Export and import, then delete one of the vaults. I'm thinking I should export the newest (larger) and import it to the oldest (smaller). Conversely, I suppose I could create a new #3 vault, export both #1 and #2 to this vault and try to clean that one up. I'm just a bit leery of doing this because I certainly don't need three vaults.

Thanks in advance

Edit - I noticed that I should have used the boxes at the bottom of the post for the details on the versions, etc. I've manually edited the info, below as well as having mentioned the various version numbers in the text of my post

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1Password Version: 4.6.0.583
_Extension Version: Not Provided
_OS Version: Win7 Pro
_Sync Type: Dropbox

AGAlumB

I read everything I could find on this forum using the search "merge" and "merge vault(s)". I think I understand the concept of exporting to a 1PIF file, but I'm reluctant to take the plunge. It looks as though I'm going to get a lot of duplicates.

@quickmarch: If these vaults we originally one in the same at one point (so that you have honest-to-goodness copies of some of the same items), duplicates should not be a serious problem. I'll go into a bit more detail as to why, but one thing you can do is simply make a backup of each vault, try it, and then you can restore from the backup if you don't like the result.

So, in 1Password each item has its own UUID (Universally Unique IDentifier) associated with it. So if you copied your vault to another device, made edited some items, added some more to each, and then merged them again, you'd have the original items with the same UUIDs, which would overwrite, rather than having doubles. Now, then you might have a different problem, if you'd edited the same item on two different devices, but you wouldn't end up with two of that item after merging. The newest would be used.

The only "exception" to this is if you choose the "Duplicate" option in 1Password to make a copy, the copy will be given a new UUID. If you know that one vault should take precedence over the other let's call it "Prime"), the best thing to do would be to make a 1PIF of the Prime Vault and import that data into the other vault, which would overwrite items with the same UUID.

I hope this helps. Let me know what you think, and if there are additional details that might be helpful as we try to come up with the best plan of action! :)

quickmarch

@brenty,

Thanks for the assurances. As you describe - yes, the two are "almost" identical, the second having started out as being a copy of the first vault. The second has the largest count of passwords, so here's the plan:

1. backup both vaults
2. export a copy of the first vault as a 1PIF
3. import the 1PIF of the first vault into the second
4. check through for duplicates and if there are differences try logging on with both and discard the failure
5. sincerely thank you for your assistance

Cheers,
quickmarch

MikeT

Hi @quickmarch,

That sounds like a good plan, although keep an eye out when you import the 1PIF into the second vault, it will ask if you want to overwrite and/or import identical items. Two separate functions; the importing identical item part meaning not to replace the saved items with the same name as the imported one. This does not mean the item is a duplicate, just that the title is the same.

quickmarch

Thanks both of you. I have imported the first vault into the second one and all seems well, very few duplicates.

Now to figure out how to get rid of the original (first vault) so there's no chance of things being written to it.

Cheers,
Quickmarch

LauraR

@quickmarch - I'm so glad everything went well merging those two vaults. To delete a vault you just need to delete the agilekeychain file that the vault you want to delete is pointing to. Please let us know if you need further help with this.

quickmarch

@LauraR,

Thanks everyone - problem solved.

Cheers,
March

LauraR

@quickmarch - On behalf of everyone, you are very welcome.