Formatting and printing secure notes

ZamboniMan

I know there's been a lot of requests for some ability to format secure notes with something like markdown and I've been patiently waiting.

I have another problem that is not so easy to wait for. I have several notes that don't limit the lines of text to the width of an 8.5" x 11" page. When printing these notes out to a Brother laser printer, the longer lines turn my printed output into something that looks more like someone threw paint at the page.

Are there any options aside from manually changing all of these notes trying to find a way to print them out legibly before I run out of toner? I've tried copying the notes and pasting the contents to the iOS notes app but that just results in 10 words per page that you could read from 100 yards away which isn't practical either.

Ben

Hi @ZamboniMan,

Thanks for taking the time to write in.

Other than copying & pasting to an app more oriented toward printing I think your best option is, as you say:

changing all of these notes trying to find a way to print them out legibly before I run out of toner

It seems unlikely at this stage that we'll be implementing changes regarding printing in 1Password itself. Certainly the trend across most of the modern world is to rely less on paper, not more.

Sorry I don't have the answer you were hoping for!

Ben

AGAlumB

@ZamboniMan: If it helps, I find it's much easier to make formatted documents in an app like Pages and store those in my 1Password vault. 1Password just isn't designed to be a desktop publishing/word processing app, as there are already quite a lot of great pieces of software that do this better than we ever could. Cheers! :)

ZamboniMan

So it appears this is not as straightforward as it could be.

Create a new secure note and select Add new file but the only option you're given is to add a photo. There doesn't appear to be an option to add a file from iCloud Drive.

Delete the note but now the iOS 1Password app leaves you no options to navigate back to the rest of your stored items. You have to force quit the app and relaunch.

I'm fine with attachments if I can attach something other than a photo. I would use something like ByWord to convert all of my lengthy notes but that doesn't work if I have to move to the MacOS version to attach anything not in photos.

I should also explain that the idea is to keep private medical information locked away in 1Password instead of sitting in a bunch of plain text files on iCloud Drive. So hopefully the ability to attach any document from iCloud Drive will be coming sooner rather than later. That would eliminate the need to add any formatting capabilities in secure notes for me.

Ben

@ZamboniMan,

At present only photo based Documents can be added from the 1Password for iOS app, but any file type can be added from 1Password for Mac.

Thanks.

Ben

ZamboniMan

As someone that doesn't travel with an iMac strapped to my back, I hope you will add the ability to attach files from iCloud Drive in the iOS app sometime in the very near future.

MrC

@ZamboniMan ,

Do you have access to the Mac or Windows version of 1Password, sync'd with your data? If so, I might be able to help you w/the better print options.

ZamboniMan

Another option to think about is adding Share support to be able to send an object from one iOS app to 1Password and allow the user to select the secure note to attach the item to.

• Create a markdown document in Byword
• Hit the Share icon
• Select 1Password
• Authenticate
• Search for and select an existing secure note or create a new secure note to send the attachment to.

ZamboniMan

If I was near my desktop it wouldn't be problem. But I appreciate the offer of assistance.

My goal for the past couple of years has been to combine all of my notes from way too many places into a single searchable secure container like 1Password.

All of my new notes over the past 8 months have been dumped directly into 1Password. The online subscription gives me a better sense of comfort when having to transfer to a different device and recover all of my data.

MrC

@ZamboniMan ,

Ah, got it. See my reply here, specifically reply item #2. 1Password is not the right tool for your Notes needs, in my opinion, if the data is not sensitive.

ZamboniMan

For non-sensitive notes I use a number of different tools. This is geared towards more person information like lab test results, personal journals, etc. things I Care a lot more about someone other than myself flipping through.

AGAlumB

@ZamboniMan: I want to apologize for my rather desktop-centric response above. I am not one of the cool people doing power-user stuff on iOS, so things for like file management and organization I still go to my Mac. We definitely want to expand the capabilities of 1Password for iOS in this regard in the future though, especially as iOS itself becomes more powerful. iOS 11 may make me have a change of heart /mindset about that, but in the mean time I'm sorry I nudged you in a direction that may have been less than helpful there. :blush:

@MrC: While I don't prefer OneNote myself, it certainly is cross-platform, powerful, and a better fit for a lot of stuff like this than 1Password is.

ZamboniMan

@brenty, it's no problem at all. I started on a MacBook but as I've had to travel more it is not as convenient to carry a work laptop plus a personal laptop plus a phone everywhere. I've pretty much kept to using my iPhone for personal things as it is always with me and the voice over support in iOS is less rage inducing than MacOS. ;)

I'm hoping the Apple release of iOS 11 truly improves a lot of things without completely breaking half of the accessibility features like they've done in the past.

I've always been very happy with the responsiveness of everyone on the 1Password forums. It's easier to be patient about waiting for improvements when you know someone is listening.

AGAlumB

@ZamboniMan: Likewise, thanks for the kind words, encouragement, and support! I'm really excited about iOS 11 too. Maybe I'll learn how to get real work done on my iPad after all. I wouldn't mind leaving the laptop at home sometimes either. Cheers! :chuffed:

ZamboniMan

Found a short term workaround. Reformatting my notes with markdown and using the iOS equivalent of sneakernet to copy from the secure note and paste to Byword for preview and printing. Hadn't thought about taking that approach until tonight. It was too obvious.

Ben

Glad to hear you found a workaround. We'll continue to evaluate how we can best make Secure Notes the best way to store secure text.

Ben