How do I access my vault when away from home? And how do I secure the HTML file inside dropbox?

presidentjade

Brand new 1Password user here! Love it so far, but I do have a few questions:

I am confused about using 1Password away from home. Today I went to a friends house and wanted to access my vault. I read about using 1PassportAnywhere to do this. It said to look for a HTML file in my Dropbox. I couldn't find the HTML file. Then I read that: ''1PasswordAnywhere is a legacy feature built into the old AgileKeychain format which won't be supported going forward as we move to OPVault.''

So now I am confused. Do I still put the HTML file in my Dropbox while waiting for the move towards OPVault to be completed? Or has the move to OPVault already been completed? And if yes, how do I access my vault when I am away from home?

And if the answer is no, and that for the time being I should put the HTML file in my Dropbox, should I be taking any precautions for securing Dropbox? In other words, should I have 1Password generate a strong password for Dropbox? And if I do have 1Password generate a strong password for Dropbox, how will I get into my Dropbox when I am away from home if the password to the Dropbox is in the HTML file that resides inside the Dropbox? In other words, I am under the impression that I should NOT have 1Password generate a password for Dropbox, and that I should do it manually myself so that I am able to remember it and always enter it. But if that is the case, will the HTML file inside the Dropbox be safe and secure?

Again, apologies, I am confused about this. Any clarity would be much appreciated :)

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AGAlumB

Brand new 1Password user here! Love it so far, but I do have a few questions:

@presidentjade: Awesome! You've come to the right place. :chuffed:

I am confused about using 1Password away from home. Today I went to a friends house and wanted to access my vault. I read about using 1PassportAnywhere to do this. It said to look for a HTML file in my Dropbox. I couldn't find the HTML file. Then I read that: ''1PasswordAnywhere is a legacy feature built into the old AgileKeychain format which won't be supported going forward as we move to OPVault.''
So now I am confused. Do I still put the HTML file in my Dropbox while waiting for the move towards OPVault to be completed? Or has the move to OPVault already been completed? And if yes, how do I access my vault when I am away from home?

Sorry for the confusion here. To be clear, the 1Password.html file needs to be in the root of your .agilekeychain vault, which in turn must be in Dropbox in order for it to be accessed through the Dropbox website. This will under no circumstances work with an OPVault, as the format. Currently, you can use either vault format with 1Password, but this will probably change in future versions. However, 1Password 4 will always support both; I just mean that if and when we develop a version 5 it may not.

And if the answer is no, and that for the time being I should put the HTML file in my Dropbox, should I be taking any precautions for securing Dropbox? In other words, should I have 1Password generate a strong password for Dropbox? And if I do have 1Password generate a strong password for Dropbox, how will I get into my Dropbox when I am away from home if the password to the Dropbox is in the HTML file that resides inside the Dropbox? In other words, I am under the impression that I should NOT have 1Password generate a password for Dropbox, and that I should do it manually myself so that I am able to remember it and always enter it. But if that is the case, will the HTML file inside the Dropbox be safe and secure?

You defnitely want to use a strong password for every login, but in cases like this you may want to memorize it or may need to manually enter the password. Dropbox encrypts your data, but of course the account is protected by your password. You can use the password generator in the 1Password browser extension to generate a long, strong, random, and unique Wordlist/Diceware™ password which will make this easier for you:

Strong Password Generator (Windows)

Another option is to sync with the 1Password iOS or Android app to keep your data with you, and then even if you still need to access something on a computer (though I wouldn't recommend doing so on one you do not trust), you'll at least be able to get your Dropbox password from there. And of course using a word-based generated password will make it much easier to type manually. For increased security for your Dropbox account, I'd recommend using Dropbox's two-step verification.

Again, apologies, I am confused about this. Any clarity would be much appreciated :)

No need to apologize. That's what we're here for. Please let me know if this helps! :)

presidentjade

Thanks for the reply Brenty! This was indeed very helpful!

However, I am still not 100% clear about the 1Password.html file.

The 1Password.html file needs to be in the root of my .agilekeychain vault, which in turn must be in Dropbox in order for it to be accessed through the Dropbox website.

Got it!

This will under no circumstances work with an OPVault, as the format.

Is OPVault going to be a feature that will be implemented at a later time, or do I already have OPVault? If it is implemented later, will I access my vault differently than by using the html file, or as you say, accessing the html file with OPVault will not work under any circumstances and so no matter what I will always use the html file (if not using my iOS app)?

Currently, you can use either vault format with 1Password, but this will probably change in future versions.

Do you mean by this that I can use either .agilekeychain or OPVault? And if I can choose between either of those, where do I make that choice? In the settings menu? I also take this to mean that I already have OPVault and that it is not something that will be implemented at a later time?

However, 1Password 4 will always support both; I just mean that if and when we develop a version 5 it may not.

I take this to mean that version 5 might not support .agilekeychain, meaning that version 4 already supports OPVault and that I already have access to OPvault? But if I understand correctly, in order to access my vault (passwords) when away from home I can only use .agilekeychain (html file) if I am not using the iOS app - and that under no circumstances will I be able to access my vault (passwords) using OPVault?

Again, thanks for clearing up my confusion surrounding this matter :)

AGAlumB

Is OPVault going to be a feature that will be implemented at a later time, or do I already have OPVault? If it is implemented later, will I access my vault differently than by using the html file, or as you say, accessing the html file with OPVault will not work under any circumstances and so no matter what I will always use the html file (if not using my iOS app)?

@presidentjade: Sorry for not being more explicit: 1Password for Windows version 4 supports both AgileKeychain and OPVault formats, and you can easily tell which one you have from the file extension of your current vault (listed in 1Password File > Preferences > General).

The AgileKeychain format was built with 1PasswordAnywhere in mind, so it has a single file for each item, which 1Password.html can then load to act as an interface to your vault. The OPVault format has a very different, band-based design which doesn't allow for this.

So for example, you can put the 1Password.html file in the root of your AgileKeychain, which is then stored in your Dropbox account, and then when you access 1Password.html through the Dropbox website, it can load your data so you can view it. If you do the same with an OPVault, 1Password.html will not be able to load any data.

Do you mean by this that I can use either .agilekeychain or OPVault? And if I can choose between either of those, where do I make that choice? In the settings menu? I also take this to mean that I already have OPVault and that it is not something that will be implemented at a later time?

Indeed, you can choose between AgileKeychain and OPVault format when you create a vault (1Password File > New 1Password Vault):

I take this to mean that version 5 might not support .agilekeychain, meaning that version 4 already supports OPVault and that I already have access to OPvault? But if I understand correctly, in order to access my vault (passwords) when away from home I can only use .agilekeychain (html file) if I am not using the iOS app - and that under no circumstances will I be able to access my vault (passwords) using OPVault?

It's likely that future versions of 1Password will no longer support AgileKeychain, but like I said it's way too early to know for certain, as that could be a long way off. 1PasswordAnywhere (1Password.html) depends on AgileKeychain; without it, it will not work.

Again, thanks for clearing up my confusion surrounding this matter :)

Any time! At least, hopefully I have been successful in doing so... Thanks for bearing with me while I explain this regrettably confusing transition! :lol:

presidentjade

Awesome! Thank you so much for answering all my questions and for clearing up my confusion. You've definitely succeeded this time!

This does lead me to one last question though - since I can see that when I originally created my vault I created an AgileKeyChain vault instead of an OPVault. (BTW: Thanks for showing me with the screenshot how to create an OPVault).

So the question: Is there an advantage to using OPVault instead of AgileKeyChain? Is OPVault more secure? Should I scrap the AgileKeyChain Vault and start over with an OPVault? And if yes, is there an easy way to import the data (passwords) from the AgileKeyChain vault to the OPVault?

Thanks again for answering my last question (I promise) whenever you have a chance, no rush! I think I will be a 1Password Pro by the end of this!

I have to say that I certainly LOVE 1Pasword and I am currently recommending it to friends and family. It has made my computer life so easy - no more having to enter email addresses/usernames and passwords for every single site. Just unlock the vault, visit a site, click a button and voila - pure magic!

AGAlumB

Great! Happy to help! :chuffed:

So the question: Is there an advantage to using OPVault instead of AgileKeyChain? Is OPVault more secure?

Good question! AgileKeychain and OPVault use the same encryption, but in AgileKeychain titles and URLs are not encrypted. This is much faster for searching, but it means that if you give someone your vault, while they can't access your usernames and passwords without your Master Password, they could see that you have an Amazon.com login, for example. You can read about this in more detail here, but that's the short version:

AgileKeychain security

Should I scrap the AgileKeyChain Vault and start over with an OPVault?

My 'main' vault is AgileKeychain (in Dropbox, naturally), and then I have a number of others in both formats, serving different purposes. I guess my point is that I use both, and it's really a matter of personal preference.

And if yes, is there an easy way to import the data (passwords) from the AgileKeyChain vault to the OPVault?

If you are considering making the switch from AgileKeychain to OPVault, there's a great article linked at the end of the post I linked above that goes over this in detail (I encourage you to read that before you decide one way or the other). If you don't have attachments though, this is super easy on Windows: you can copy the items in one vault, switch to the other, and paste them. Attachments will have to be exported separately however.

Let me know what you think, and I'll be happy to help if you want to do that too. :)