I'm confused about how documents work

learning_1pw

I'm confused about the security of items stored in 1Password Families. Actually, my confusion is not security of the stored document, but how the security is maintained when I view the document. I'm using a Mac. Let's say that I store a PDF file as a document in 1Password. Later I want to look at it, and I choose Preview from the little menu that 1Password provides me. Now that I'm looking at the document in Preview, does that mean that there is a clear copy of the file on disk for Preview to use? If I exit 1Password with Preview still running, does the clear copy hang around? If Time Machine runs while I'm viewing the document, is there now a clear copy on my backup disk.

To be fair, I'm using FileVault and my Time Machine backups are encrypted. I'm just trying to get a better understanding of how the Document category in 1Password really works.

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1Password Version: 6.6.4 Mac App store
Extension Version: none
OS Version: OS X 10.11.6
Sync Type: Famalies

Frank

Hi @learning_1pw - I hope all is well on your end. Great question!

Documents are not stored locally and have to be downloaded manually. In order to view the document via 1Password, it has to be decrypted and written to disk. Data has to be decrypted to a temporary file otherwise it would be unusable. You can also view the document via 1Password on your Mac using the "quick view" option without having to use Preview. I'm not 100% sure on the Time Machine backup, temporary files may be excluded. Apple does a pretty good job clearing temporary files so I think it would depend on the backup settings but with an encrypted drive, this is shouldn't be a problem. It's the same set up I actually use myself :+1:

I hope this helped a bit. Let me know if you have any further questions, I'll be happy to assist. :smile:

learning_1pw

Thanks, Frank. That was a good clue. I did some exploring and found the temporary file buried way down under /private/var/folders. I then ran an experiment and found that the file disappeared from the directory after I quite from 1Password, even though Preview was still displaying it. Probably that Unix thing where it is removed from the directory, but the file contents are not actually released until the last process to have it open closes the file.

Time Machine, as you say, probably does not back up things under /private. I'll check that out when I have a little more time. I'm away from my Time Machine disk right now.

Thanks for mentioning "quick view". I didn't realize until just now that if you click on it, you get to see a more full sized view. I had mistakenly assumed that "quick view" was just the mini-image that appears when you choose to look at the document. Pretty dumb on my part. Now that I know the secret, I'll just use quick view.

Thanks for your help,

tom

AGAlumB

Thanks, Frank. That was a good clue. I did some exploring and found the temporary file buried way down under /private/var/folders. I then ran an experiment and found that the file disappeared from the directory after I quite from 1Password, even though Preview was still displaying it. Probably that Unix thing where it is removed from the directory, but the file contents are not actually released until the last process to have it open closes the file.

@learning_1pw: That's actually a good point. I hadn't thought of that. I had expected that it was simply in memory because it was being viewed, but you may be right — or perhaps we both are. :)

Time Machine, as you say, probably does not back up things under /private. I'll check that out when I have a little more time. I'm away from my Time Machine disk right now.

I was about to check myself until I realized the same thing — I don't have my Time Machine drive with me to check. :lol:

Thanks for mentioning "quick view". I didn't realize until just now that if you click on it, you get to see a more full sized view. I had mistakenly assumed that "quick view" was just the mini-image that appears when you choose to look at the document. Pretty dumb on my part. Now that I know the secret, I'll just use quick view.

Quick Look is pretty nice. I'd say I use it 99% of the time and don't usually bother opening an app except to make an edit. But I can understand not necessarily knowing it works the same way in 1Password, since I'm accustomed to using Space to open it in Finder. Cheers! :)