1Password is not syncing with dropbox, it treats it as a local database.

aerialcine

I recently upgraded to a new dropbox account and installed it on all my computers and iOS devices. My iOS devices and main computer sync fine, but other computers are treating the database in the dropbox folder as a local database. I try to set the sync preferences to dropbox but when I select the dropbox folder I receive a message explaining that there is already information in that vault and they need to be merged. I'm concerned about merging because 1Password is reading from the same file it's trying to merge with as far as I know. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

littlebobbytables

Hi @aerialcine,

I think to better assist and answer your query it would be useful to know a couple of key pieces of information. On the machines where you're seeing this:

1. What version of OS X are you running?
2. What version of 1Password are you running?

I just want to make sure we have an idea before we proceed.

aerialcine

Thanks for the reply. I'm running on multiple systems, but my main machine is 10.8.5 with 1Password4.4.3(no issues with sync here.) My two other systems are running OS 10.10.5 and 1Password 4.4.3 as well. Neither of my 10.10.5 systems are syncing to drop box properly.

I'm more than happy to start over on two of my machines. I'm just concerned that 1Password is using the information in my dropbox as a local. I can unlink dropbox and start all over if that's what it takes.

Thank you!

littlebobbytables

Hi @aerialcine,

So back when 1Password 3 for Mac was the latest and greatest the Agile Keychain was your vault. 1Password 3 would read and write to it directly and if you deleted the Agile Keychain you had just deleted your vault.

This all changed in 1Password 4. Now your vault(s) are locally stored inside an encrypted SQLite database file that is stored in your Library folder. The Agile Keychain has been relegated to a sync container but this approach does mean that if anything ever happens to the Agile Keychain it isn't the heart stopping event it once was. Now we can simply recreate if needed.

This is why you are seeing a message about merging. The Agile Keychain you want 1Password to sync to contains data but so does the encrypted SQLite database file. This means merging is actually what you want to do. You want to merge the data that's in both so that afterwards the Agile Keychain and the encrypted SQLite database file both contain all the same data and that any differences that were only stored locally are first pushed to the Agile Keychain and then picked up by the other devices.

If you have any doubts about this then I would recommend making a backup on your various Macs and iOS devices and then see.

1. For your Macs the menu option File > Backup will create an up-to-date backup.
2. For your iOS devices launch 1Password for iOS and then visit Settings > Advanced and tap on the Create Backup button.

Something else to throw in there is that if you're running Yosemite then two of your Macs can run 1Password 5 which was a free upgrade for all 1Password 4 customers. It will happily sync to a Mavericks machine running 1Password 4 so there isn't any disadvantage in not doing so.

I hope this helps, please let us know how you get along.

aerialcine

I will try this when I get home this evening. Thank you so much! That was the confidence boost I needed. I was afraid that merging would be as effective as when I tried to merge my contacts and ended up with duplicates. I didn't want to spend the rest of the month deleting duplicates.

Thank you once again! I'll report back after my merge is complete.

AGAlumB

I was afraid that merging would be as effective as when I tried to merge my contacts and ended up with duplicates. I didn't want to spend the rest of the month deleting duplicates.

@aerialcine: Wow. Thank you for bringing that up! I often find that merging is a good solution, but you're absolutely right to be a bit apprehensive if your contact merging (mis)adventures have been anything like mine. I just never thought of it that way for 1Password because...well, because it works! :lol:

Please let us know how it turns out, and thanks again for reminding me that not everyone has reason to trust their apps! :pirate:

aerialcine

Thank you so much for your help! It appears that all my macs and mobile devices are now happily syncing to my dropbox!

littlebobbytables

Excellent news @aerialcine :smile: Long may everything run smoothly but should you have any issues we'll be here and we're good for answering questions too :tongue: