Confused about using 1Password on a Second Computer

mirsky

Hi. I'm trying to get 1Password to work on a second Mac and I'm confused on how to do it.

I've owned 1Password for many years. The last purchase of 1Password that I made was in 2013 with version 4. Versions 5 and 6 were free upgrades for me.

I've decided today that I'd like to install 1Password on my work Mac. I only have about 20 or so logins but I've decided 1Password would speed up my workflow, largely because the websites I use for work constantly ask me to change my passwords. I will not be sharing/syncing those logins with my home Mac.

Anyway, I installed 1Password on my work Mac and then launched it. It's now asking me for some information including a "Sign-In Address" and an "Account Key." I have no idea what those are.

Also 1Password shows a message saying "You can find your account details on your Emergency Kit or anywhere you are logged in." I have no idea what my Emergency Kit is.

So right now I'm unable to install 1Password on my work Mac and I could use some guidance.

Thanks!

M

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1Password Version: 6.5.2
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: 10.12.2
Sync Type: none

mirsky

A follow up:

I just googled "Emergency Kit 1Password" and found this webpage: https://support.1password.com/emergency-kit/

I then clicked the link to sign in to 1Password.com.

I then clicked the link for "Don't know your sign-in address" and entered my email address on the next page.

The resulting email I got said "We couldn't find a 1Password account registered with your email address. Do you have a license instead?"

I do have a license but apparently that's not enough to activate 1Password 6 on my work Mac.

mirsky

Also: I am at work so I can't access my home Mac right now. But I have 1Password for iOS running on my iPhone and I just looked in Settings to find my account information. There is no "Sign-In Address" or "Account Key" information.

mirsky

Okay, so I just realized there are different types of 1Password apps. There is the stand-alone license or a subscription. I have the stand-alone license. I have no interest in a subscription. If 1Password requires a subscription, I would use another app. I also thought I could use the stand-alone license on more than one computer.

But I now realize what's happening: I downloaded 1Password for my work Mac from the Agile Bits site. Apparently that version is the subscription version. Is there any way to download the stand-alone version?

I suppose I could transfer the app from my home Mac to my work Mac, although I can't do it right now. I still think there should be a clear way to download the stand-alone app from the Agile Bits website.

mirsky

I just looked again at the download page and there is no way to choose between a subscription version and a stand-alone version. Very annoying!

mirsky

I had some time so I copied the 1Password app (for which I have a standalone license) from my home Mac to my work Mac. I thought it would solve the problem, but apparently not. When I ran 1Password on the work Mac, 1Password again asked me to sign in and wanted a "Sign-In Address" and an "Account Key."

So I'm still frustrated.

I thought my standalone license would allow me to install 1Password on more than one Mac, but am I wrong about that?

mirsky

So it seems there is only one version of the 1Password app for both a standalone license and a subscription-- Agile, how about making this clear on your website!

But, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to enter the license in 1Password on my work Mac. Again, when I choose to sign in manually it's asking for a "Sign-In Address" and an "Account Key." There is NO obvious way to simply activate a standalone license! Agile, why not provide some instructions in the App! It shouldn't be this confusing.

mirsky

Okay, problem solved. I got some help via Twitter. What I wanted to do was create a NEW 1Password vault that would only be on my work Mac. 1Password was not allowing me to do that! I could not create a new vault! So I had to copy the 1Password.agilekeychain from my home Mac to my work Mac. Then I opened that file with 1Password on my work Mac and deleted all the logins so that the vault was empty. Then, also, I was able to add my license.

I guess Agile Bits doesn't think anyone would want one vault for one computer and another, unrelated vault on another computer. But that's what i wanted.

Jacob

Hi @mirsky! I'm glad to hear the Twitter team helped you out. :) We absolutely want you to be able to use 1Password on all your devices. Our knowledge base has a lot of articles just for that. Here's the main one:

How to move your 1Password data to a new computer or device

It links off to the other articles, which help you sync your data with Dropbox, iCloud, or a 1Password account. I'm also sorry for the confusion about an account.We recently introduced a 1Password subscription service, which has automatic sync between your devices, access to 1Password anywhere, and an account to access everything. Since you purchased 1Password a while back, you didn't get an account with the new service. You can create one to get the benefits accounts include, or you can keep using 1Password as you always have. Learn more about the difference between a subscription account and standalone license: https://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/68576/the-difference-between-a-1password-com-account-and-standalone-license

Hope that helps!

mirsky

Jacob, thanks for your response.

Because of what I went through, I'd like to make a suggestion: I think it should be possible to create a new keychain file when running 1Password (with a standalone license) on a new computer for the first time. As I said in my posts, I did not want to use a keychain file that was already on my other computer -- I wanted to create a new keychain just for my work computer. But there was no option for that in 1Password when running it for the first time; instead it wanted to open an existing keychain file. I spent over an hour trying to figure out how to create a new keychain file and enter my license which is when, exasperated, I finally sent a message on Twitter.

So I realized that 1Password doesn't allow me to create a new keychain file when running it for the first time. So instead of creating a new keychain file, I had to put an existing keychain file on my work computer. So I copied the keychain on my other computer to the work computer, then choose it in 1Password -- only then was I able to enter my license. I've never used an app that required so much work just to activate a license. I also wanted an empty vault so I then had to delete all my logins and folders to make it empty.

It would have been simpler if I had had the option to create a new keychain file locally on the work computer. It also shouldn't have taken me an hour or so to realize 1Password does not allow creating a new file when first running it on a new computer.

So I think, when running 1Password for the first time, the app should ask if you have a standalone license or a subscription. Then, if you choose standalone, it should ask if you want to create a new file or use an existing file that's either saved locally or in the cloud, such as on Dropbox etc.

AGAlumB

@mirsky: Thanks for the feedback. I agree that that certainly would have helped in your situation, but I hope you'll appreciate that most people do want to use their existing data. But if you'd like the option to create a new vault, just hold the Option key when you open 1Password. As for activating a license, the easiest way is to download it and doubt-click it. 1Password will automatically register itself. Be sure to let u know if there's anything else we can help with!

mirsky

Okay, thanks for the info. That is helpful.

Drew_AG

On behalf of Brenty, you're very welcome! I'm sorry you went through so much trouble with all that - we're hoping to improve this in future releases.

Hopefully you're all set now, but if you have more questions or need anything else, just let us know. :)