Updating 1Password on old Macbook, problems syncing Macs and iOS devices with iCloud and Dropbox

RickCunn · June 2016

I am running V6.3.1 on my iMac. My Macbook has an old 5.something. My V6 license says 5 people can use it on as many Macs as deeded. How do I upgrade the Macbook and get to the license?

1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Not Provided
Sync Type: Not Provided
Referrer: forum-search:How do I upgrade on a second Mac?

Pilar · June 2016

Hi @RickCunn,

If you already have 1Password on your MacBook then you only need to upgrade it to the latest version! To do this go on 1Password to Preferences and then click on Check for updates. 1Password 6 should be up and ready to use without any extra effort from your part!

Please let us know how this goes for you and if you bump into any issue! We're always here to help :chuffed:

RickCunn · June 2016

Actually my license just says 5 people. Nothing about related. Either way update done. Thanks

BTW, I was sinking to DropBox with this old version on my Macbook. On my iMac I had switched to iCloud sync. When I set up iCloud sink on Macbook it said it found a vault and would merge. I don't want it merged. The iCloud version is the latest. I want it downloaded to my Macbook. How can I do that?

Pilar · June 2016

Hi @RickCunn,

I'm glad to hear the update went well and you have the most recent version of 1Password ready to use! So, if I understand correctly everything you need is safely stored on iCloud, is this correct? If this is the case, then before setting up iCloud sync you can delete all your old items. You can do this very easily: Select All items on 1Password on the top left corner, select any item and then press on Command+A to select all. Press the delete key on your computer and confirm you want them gone. When you set up iCloud sync, you'll only have the new items. Keep in mind that as long as you don't empty your 1Password Trash you can still recover what you deleted in case you realise something's missing.

Please let us know how this goes! If you have any other issues getting 1Password set up, please don't hesitate to ask, we're always here to help :chuffed:

RickCunn · June 2016

Well that was a disaster. Apparently everything wasn't safely stored on iCloud. After that, I have disabled syncing on Macbook. I was able to restore the latest data on my iMac, so that local vault is OK. How do I upload and overwrite iCloud with the contents of my iMac vault?

Pilar · June 2016

Hi @RickCunn,

Oh no! I'm sorry to hear you bumped into some trouble! However, I'm happy to hear all your data is safe on your iMac.In order to make sure everything goes well this time, I would like to ask you a couple of questions. The detailed steps on how to set up iCloud syncing can be found here: https://support.1password.com/sync-with-icloud/. Did you do anything different from that? Did you see any message or warning at some point? Did you set up first your iMac and then your MacBook? Did it ask you to merge vaults?

I hope to hear back from you soon so we can finish untangling this issue and 1Password gets fully ready to use on your old computer! :chuffed:

RickCunn · June 2016

As far as I know I followed the process spelled out in your synch procedure. I have been successfully syncing iMac for a very long time. I just upgraded MB to 1P V6 from V5. I followed the process as far as I know. I do recall seeing a merge request. I did not let it merge. For this reply I am on my iPhone 1P vault. It sync'd with iCloud. But several logins are incorrect with obsolete PWs. Clearly the iCloud data is obsolete. So I need to clobber iCloud and upload iMac data. How do I do that?

Drew_AG · June 2016

Hi @RickCunn,

Thanks for the additional information! I'm really sorry this hasn't worked as expected so far, but we're definitely going to help get things back on track.

Before doing anything else, it's a good idea to make a new backup of your 1Password data on each device. On each Mac, open the main 1Password app and go to File > Backup (that will open the Backup preferences and show all your backups, including the new one you just made). On your iPhone, you can create a backup file and save it to your Mac by following the steps here: Creating and restoring 1Password backups in iTunes (iOS)

Now, if I understand, the 1Password app on your iMac has all of your latest data - is that correct? If so, you can reset your 1Password data in iCloud, as well as on your MacBook and iPhone. Then you can sync your 1Password data from the iMac to iCloud, and then set up 1Password on your MacBook and iPhone by syncing with iCloud. To do all that, just follow these steps:

On your MacBook:

Open the 1Password app and make sure it's locked.
Go to Help > Troubleshooting > Start Over in the menu bar and follow the on-screen steps.

On your iPhone:

Open 1Password and go to Settings.
Scroll down and tap on Advanced.
Scroll down and tap on Erase All 1Password Data.
Confirm that you want to erase all 1Password data from that device.

On your iMac:

Open the 1Password app.
Go to Help > Troubleshooting > Reset iCloud Data.
Confirm you want to reset it by clicking the button for "Yes, Remove Remote Data".
After a moment you should see a message that confirms the data was reset and sync was disabled (click OK).
Go to 1Password > Preferences in the menubar, then click the Sync tab.
Change the sync setting for your Primary vault from None to iCloud.
If a sign-in page opens on Apple.com, sign in using your Apple ID.
Click Start Syncing (the initial sync may take a few minutes - make sure you allow it to complete).

If all goes well up to this point, you can set up 1Password on your MacBook and iPhone by syncing with iCloud. If necessary, you can find the exact steps at these links:

You should now have all your latest 1Password data on both Macs and your iPhone, and future changes should sync between them via iCloud. Please let us know how it all goes and if you have any questions. Thanks! :)

RickCunn · June 2016

Still not working. I reset iCloud data from my iMac. Then started it syncing again. 1P says it will create a copy of my vault in the cloud. After a few seconds sync complete. However on the webpage where I logged in to the 1P wallet it endlessly says "signing in" and a little gray split circle goes round and round endlessly. I then disabled syncing on my iMac so my vault wouldn't get clobbered. I then started syncing form my iPhone and 1P says it sync'd. But exactly nothing came down. Empty vault. So obviously the sync from iMac 1P to cloud isn't happening. Just for grins I tried syncing from my iMac and my vault was wiped out. Fortunately I have backups. So I have a useful vault on my iMac. But can't get it to the cloud, despite what 1P is claiming.

What do you suggest?

RickCunn · June 2016

Can I work thru Chrome? 1P is defaulting to Safari.

khad · June 2016

@RickCunn,

1Password intentionally uses Safari for authenticating iCloud. However, it sounds like iCloud isn't authenticating for some reason. Try emptying the cache in Safari and restarting your Mac:

In Safari, choose Preferences > Advanced.
Turn on "Show Develop menu in menu bar".
Choose Develop > Empty Caches.
Restart your Mac

Do you still see the "little gray split circle" going around endlessly after that when you attempt to authenticate?

RickCunn · June 2016

Thanks for the suggestion. When Safari launched to access the 1P wallet I pasted the URL into Chrome, and authenticated into iCloud. Same exact response. 1P thinks the data is there and the little spinner goes round and round. So you think with two different browsers the problem is on my end?

RickCunn · June 2016

I tried as you suggested. Same exact result. 1P thinks there is data in the cloud. When I try to sync my phone 1P it thinks it sees data. The spinner goes for a couple minutes and then the sync complete appears. And exactly nothing comes down.

RickCunn · June 2016

I tried switching to Dropbox. My iMac 1P dropped an opvault file in my local Dropbox. How do I get it to my cloud Dropbox?

khad · June 2016

@RickCunn, if you want to use Dropbox instead of iCloud, just follow the steps here:

https://support.1password.com/guides/mac/sync-dropbox.html

It sounds like you're halfway there. As long as Dropbox is running, it should sync everything that is in your Dropbox folder automatically. Then you can set up Dropbox to sync in 1Password on the other Mac.

RickCunn · June 2016

Let's try to get iCloud sync to work. I have 1P on my iMac and MB, both running latest OS. Everything is upgraded and patched to the latest, including 1P (6.3.1 (631006)). I have an obsolete vault on my MB, obsolete because the sync at sometime has failed. But we can use that as a test.

Sync is disabled on both machines. 1P not running my iMac. I launch 1P on MB and delete the 1P data, everything is in the trash. I use 1P to reset the iCloud contents by providing login credentials to the wallet page that opens in Safari. 1P tells me iCloud data successfully reset. The Safari wallet page spinner goes endlessly (not beach ball, not gear, but a thin circle). I quit Safari and 1P. So far so good.

I then launch 1P on MB and empty trash. I restore my vault data from an obsolete BU on the MB. But it is data to test. When I restore, 1P closes. I relaunch and login to 1P. There is the restored data. I then turn on sync to iCloud. I provide my login credentials at the Safari page accessing the wallet. The spinner starts going, endlessly (not beach ball and not gear, but the thin circle). 1P tells me it will create a copy of my vault in iCloud. I hit "start syncing" and a gear starts spinning as it says "syncing". It completes the sync. Meanwhile, the Safari wallet page circle spinner is going and going, endlessly, nothing completes. I delete all data in vault (move to trash trash and empty). Gear spinner in 1P starts going. It eventually tells me "last sync'd". But no data came down from cloud: vault is empty. I disable sync in 1P, close it and relaunch. No data in 1P: vault is empty. I launch Preferences and enable iCloud sync (sync was disabled). Again, Safari wallet page comes up where I manually enter my iCloud credentials. And the circle spinner goes round and round. 1P tells it found existing data in iCloud and will merge with my existing vault. I click "start syncing". It completes. The vault is empty. And I now have two wallet pages open in Safari, with the circle spinner going round and round on each.

BTW, I tried the above but killing Safari after supposedly putting data into iCloud. Same response. And if I highlight the address bar (the entire wallet page URL) and hit return, I get an authentication error message. But at least the endless spinner stops.

Conclusion: either 1P is not putting data into iCloud, or else it can't pull it down.

I get the exact same behavior when I perform the above using 1P and data on my iMac. Two separate computers with exact same response. Sounds suspicious.

I think the problem is the wallet page not completing, as evidenced by that circle spinner going endlessly. Are all your certificates in order?

I also tried using Chrome (cutting / pasting URL) and got same results.

Any ideas?

RickCunn · June 2016

My iCloud sync fails, so I am trying DropBox sync. That fails. I am running 1P 6.3.1 (631006) on iMac and MacBook. I made sure to have latest DB app and cleared all 1P data in DB. I then sync'd iMac 1P to DB. The opvault file is about 334 K so it has data. I had disabled sync on MB 1P and deleted all data in MB 1P and emptied trash. I rebooted MB and launched 1P. I then sync'd to DB. The opvault file in DB immediately shrunk to 119K and no data appeared in 1P on MB. I launched 1P on my iMac, sync'd and the data was clobbered.

I disabled sync in iMac 1P and recovered data from a back up.

I went thru same process again, except I was syncing from iPhone. Got same result.

BTW, DB sync used to work. I then switched to iCloud sync several months ago, and that worked for a while. Now that is dead. So is DB sync.

What do you suggest?

1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Not Provided
Sync Type: Not Provided

RickCunn · June 2016

I was mistaken about iPhone sync. That expanded opvault file in DP to 376 K from 334K. And the it pulled down exactly one login entry and nothing else. Interestingly the login it pulled down was for DP. I had changed my DB login credentials earlier today.

ag_kevin · June 2016

Hi @RickCunn ,

I'm sorry you are having trouble syncing. First, I want to clear up a couple of things as they seems to be causing confusion.

That thin circle in Safari will continue to spin until you close the window. It is a side-effect of Apple's CloudKit Web services. It will not go away until you close it, but it does not indicate a problem. It is safe to close it after it automatically switches you back to 1Password.
You asked about certificates. The only certificates that would come into play are Apple's certificates for iCloud. You would likely get an error in Safari when trying to log in to iCloud, and if not then, 1Password would show an error when trying to set up sync.

So now that those two things are cleared up, on to your issue. I noticed in your post you said the following:

"I then launch 1P on MB and empty trash. I restore my vault data from an obsolete BU on the MB. But it is data to test. When I restore, 1P closes. I relaunch and login to 1P. There is the restored data. I then turn on sync to iCloud. I provide my login credentials at the Safari page accessing the wallet. The spinner starts going, endlessly (not beach ball and not gear, but the thin circle). 1P tells me it will create a copy of my vault in iCloud. I hit "start syncing" and a gear starts spinning as it says "syncing". It completes the sync. Meanwhile, the Safari wallet page circle spinner is going and going, endlessly, nothing completes. I delete all data in vault (move to trash trash and empty). Gear spinner in 1P starts going. It eventually tells me "last sync'd". But no data came down from cloud: vault is empty."

The vault on iCloud is empty because you emptied it (in bold above). Here's what happened:

You restored a test vault into your 1Password.
You turned on Sync to iCloud and it completed the sync.
You then moved all of your data to the trash and emptied the trash.
Those deletions automatically synced to iCloud.

So I'm not sure what data you were expecting to come down from iCloud. 1Password put your test data in iCloud, but then you deleted it immediately following that, so those deletions would have happened on iCloud as well.

If you want to sync with iCloud, here's what I suggest:

Make sure iCloud sync is turned off on all of your Macs. And when you turn it off, check the checkbox to remove the data to iCloud.
On one of your Macs, restore your good 1Password data. Make sure you can sign in with your Master Password and can see your data.
Set up sync to iCloud again.
On your other Macs, start over by going to the Help menu in 1Password and choosing Tools > Troubleshooting > Start Over. This will reset your 1Password data on that Mac.
Relaunch 1Password on those other Macs and click "Find it Elsewhere" on the Welcome screen. Then choose iCloud on the next screen. After sign in, it will pull your data down from iCloud and your Macs will be in sync.

Please let us know if you have any issues or need assistance with that.

Cheers,
Kevin

Drew_AG · June 2016

Hi @RickCunn,

I noticed you opened a new/separate discussion yesterday (June 19) about the same problem we've been helping you with over the past week in another thread. To avoid confusion, I've merged both threads together.

I see that Kevin responded this morning to your post from June 18. I've taken another look through all the posts in this thread and I think he's correct about what's happening - your data is disappearing because you're deleting the items from your vault. You might be doing that because of some steps you were given on June 16 which instructed you to delete items from your vault - I'm very sorry for the inconvenience!

I believe those steps were due to a misunderstanding on our end - deleting items from 1Password before enabling sync would have worked under certain circumstances, but it turns out your setup is different than first thought. We didn't mean for you to keep deleting your items in any of the steps we've given you from June 17 onward (resetting the 1Password app or your data in iCloud is very different from deleting the items in your vault). I'm so sorry for the confusion!

If you follow the steps Kevin or I have given you, that should get you back on track. Just make sure you don't move any items to the Trash unless you no longer want them to show up on any of your devices.

Let us know how it all goes and if you have any questions about that. Thanks! :)

RickCunn · June 2016

Kevin/Drew, thanks for the procedure. I think the "start over" helped. Either way both iM and MB are now in sync.

What is the "start over" equivalent for iOS? I have both 6+ and Air2 with no data in either 1P. But I don't want to try a sync until I can do a "start over".

I consider my iM 1P data to be truth. In all likelihood I wouldn't make a change or addition on an iOS device or MB.

Lastly, I started the other thread because I couldn't get the DB sync to work by blindly following the procedure AgileBits says to use. I don't really care how I sync, as long as I sync. And since iCloud was dead in the water, I tried DB, but without success.

AGAlumB · June 2016

Excellent! Thanks for the update. On behalf of Kevin and Drew, you are most welcome!

I consider my iM 1P data to be truth. In all likelihood I wouldn't make a change or addition on an iOS device or MB. What is the "start over" equivalent for iOS? I have both 6+ and Air2 with no data in either 1P. But I don't want to try a sync until I can do a "start over".

I hear you! To "start over" with 1Password for iOS, you can go to Settings > Advanced > Erase all 1Password data, or simply delete the app and reinstall a fresh copy from the App Store.

Anyway, it sounds like you should be all set, but don't hesitate to reach out if we can be of further assistance. We're always happy to help! :)

RickCunn · June 2016

Everything is sync'd and working properly. Thanks for the help. What started this off was I had somehow lost iCloud sync and had various 1P databases out of sync. When that happens, what does 1P consider as truth? If it has two URLs with identical data, except the PWs are different, when it syncs which version wins?

khad · June 2016

Woohoo! Thanks for letting us know all is well, @RickCunn. That is always music to our ears. :)

Data should be merged according to last modified time and date.

Imagine you have two folders with a bunch of files in them. They started out identical, but you updated a few files on one Mac and a few different files on another. A simple way to merge the folders into one would be to compare the files in each folder. Ones that are identical, it doesn't matter which one you keep. Just pick one. Ones that are different, you just keep the one that is newer. That is (very roughly) what 1Password does (albeit on a more granular level).

Updating 1Password on old Macbook, problems syncing Macs and iOS devices with iCloud and Dropbox

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