New user on an older Mac with sync issues - Account vs. App?

sparrowhawkdancer

Hi, I'm a new user looking to use 1Password on a mac currently running 10.9. I currently cannot upgrade the OS as I need it to run older apps that require 10.9 for my business. I first made a 1Password account and purchased my subscription. Then I downloaded 1Password4... but there seems to be no way to sync the information between the two?
From what I can find in the FAQs, these are two entirely disconnected systems? I'd like to use 1Password on my iPhone as well, so I'd like to sync across all devices. But it's very confusing...
It seems like I need to choose between two options: 1) only use the standalone 1Password4 app, with its browser extensions, to be able to autofill forms and such. No auto sync with my phone. I'd have to store a copy of my vaults in... Dropbox? And open Dropbox every time I need to sync? Or something?
OR option 2) Use the 1Password web account, manually copy the passwords from my 1Password browser window every time I need to login to a website on my computer, but this option gives me the ability to sync with my phone and all the functionality of an account.
There is no way to sync the information in an account with the app? Even if I had to sync these once a week manually, that would be fine.
Can someone explain this all to me in layman's terms? Thank you in advance.

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1Password Version: 4.4.3
Extension Version: 4.6.2
OS Version: OSX 10.9.5
Sync Type: Not Provided

rudy

Hi @sparrowhawkdancer,

You are correct in your assessment of 1Password 4, it long pre-dates the existence of 1Password.com accounts. The only Mac version of 1Password that can directly integrate with a 1Password.com account is version 6 which at a minimum requires OS X 10.10 in order to run.

I'd certainly recommend checking to see if there are updates to those legacy apps that require 10.9 in the hope that there is a 10.10 compatible version, since your best experience with your 1Password.com account is definitely going to be under 1Password 6.

Failing that you've identified most of the options available to make 1Password 4 an option. Though unfortunately your subscription doesn't license 1Password 4 so we would have to figure something out there.

Dropbox is certainly an option though in that scenario you would likely not use the 1Password.com account at all, but rather use something we call "local vaults" which are islands of data that exist only on the devices you synchronize them to. You would need to install dropbox on both your mac and your phone and configure each of the copies of 1Password to point at a synchronization file inside of your dropbox.

You could, as you say, sync the phone with the 1Password.com account and then access via the web from your 10.9.5 machine. In that scenario i would recommend storing the credentials for your 1Password.com account as a login entry so you can auto-fill using 1Password 4.

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions and I'll do my best to answer.

Rudy