Feature regression in 1Password 7: Missing icon transparency when adding icons

HackintoshHD

Dear 1Password team,

I've just upgraded my 1Password 6/4 standalone licenses for macOS and Windows to version 7 on both platforms. My first impression is that version 7 seems to suffer from a few feature regressions, e.g. when it comes to adding icons: From 1Password 3 to 6, I was used to add icons to created password items in full quality and with all transparency information preserved. No problem whatsoever.

In my just upgraded 1Password 7.0.7 (70007000) however, all transparency information is apparently LOST when I add an icon to a newly created item. Furthermore the quality of the saved icon seems to be way below the original.

Example: When I create a new software license item for e.g. 1Password 7 itself and I add the 1Password icon to it by a) simply dragging the application onto the icon field or b) by copying the 1Password icon to the clipboard and by inserting the clipboard information to the icon field, the transparency information is lost after saving the item and the icon itself looks grainy and pixelated.

Interestingly, this seems to be a problem of adding the icon and not a problem of displaying it, as icons added by my earlier 1Password versions 3 and 6 are still in their expected quality.

Would it be possible to fix that 1Password 7 behavior?

Thank you very much.

---

1Password Version: 7.0.7 (70007000)
Extension Version: 4.7.2.90
OS Version: macOS 10.13.6 High Sierra
Sync Type: Nextcloud

HackintoshHD

… and how to reproduce it:

1. Create a new software license item and name it "_1Password 7 for Mac". The new software license item will have a generic application icon.
2. Click on 'Edit' and drag the 1Password application onto the generic application icon to get 1Password's app icon as the item's icon (or drag /Applications/1Password 7.app/Contents/Resources/AppIcon.icns onto it or open it with preview, select all icon sizes, copy them to the clipboard, paste them into the 1Password software license item's icon field etc. pp.). Click on 'Save'.
3. Notice that all transparency information has been lost and how grainy the formerly perfect icon graphics are:
   
4. For comparaison: Add a second software license item and name it just "1Password": 1Password will somehow add the icon of your installed application "1Password". But this time with all transparency information of the icon preserved and without quality loss:
   

In 1Password 3 to 6 for Mac, both icons would be of identical (perfect) quality. In 1Password 7 for Mac however, manually adding an icon is seriously flawed.

chadseld

Thanks HackintoshHD, I'm looking into this...

chadseld

I see the same problems here. I wanted to check because I know a bunch of custom icon code was changed in the 7.1 betas. Unfortunately, I can reproduce these problems with the latest beta. So, hopefully I will have time to address this in the next release.

HackintoshHD

Thank you, @chadseld, for confirming the problem.

I'd really highly appreciate it if this regression could be fixed in a 1Password release of the nearer future (preferably in version 7.1, of course). My 1Password usage relies quite heavily on the feature to add icons and at the moment, I rather refrain from adding new icons to my 1Password vault due to this bug introduced with version 7. Which is kind of sobering considering I've upgraded not for new features, but mainly to keep 1Password permanently updated and secure.

Ben

Thanks for the feedback, @HackintoshHD. Unfortunately it definitely isn’t going to make it into 7.1 at this point but fingers crossed for 7.2.

Ben

HackintoshHD

That's a pity, I then count on a fix for 7.2.

Just for reference, does this bug have an ID in your (presumably existing) internal bug tracker one can refer to?

Lars

@HackintoshHD - posting in this thread will work just fine if you have further questions/requests. I'd like to see this fixed in 7.2, but you should understand that part of the reason it wasn't part of the 7.1 release is because custom icon fixes are only one of a number of things we need to spend developer-hours on -- and it's not a security-related issue. I'm not saying one way or the other what might or might not be a part of upcoming releases, mostly because I don't think anyone here can say for certain at this point. But it's definitely on our team's radar screen. :)

chadseld

I've found the problem and have a fix scheduled for 7.2. We made some changes to how icons were being handled for 'retina' screens and this resulted in the final encoded byte size exceeding an internal limit. This in turn resulted in the icon being encoded as a low-quality JPEG instead of the normal PNG.

HackintoshHD

Thank you for the fix and the explanation, @chadseld . I've just tested 7.2.1 for Mac and the former transparency issue seems to be resolved.

There's IMHO a remaining problem that the normal icon display of a 1Password item is significantly degraded compared to when you edit the item. - Here's an example, please note the ragged edges in the second screenshot:

1Password for Mac 7.2.1 - icon display when you edit an item:

1Password for Mac 7.2.1 - degraded icon display with ragged edges when you just view an item:

AGAlumB

@HackintoshHD: First, glad to hear that the original issue is resolved for you now. :)

However, I'm not seeing the new issue you are reporting:

(view full size)

Did you maybe add the icon manually, from a source image that needed to be scaled? Also, what resolution and scaling settings are you using in System Preferences > Displays?

HackintoshHD

Hi brenty, your screenshot of 1Password under Mojave indeed looks good.

This is how I can reproduce the issue on my machine:

1. 1Password 7.21 → File → New Object → Software License
2. Drag 1Password(.app) or any other application from /Applications to Icon field of the new item → 1Password (or other app) icon is applied to the new item and looks okay.
3. Click 'Save'. → 1Password icon display of new Software licence item gets degraded with ragged edges as (hopefully evident) from my second screenshot above.

I'm using a 17" mid-2009 MacBook Pro, i.e. MacBookPro5,2, with a 16:10, non-Retina-Display and macOS 10.13.6 High Sierra. The resolution setting in System Preferences → Displays' is on 'Default for Display'.

Just guessing, but maybe this is a non-Retina-only issue?

HackintoshHD

Okay, could anybody with 1Password 7.2.1 on a non-Mojave, non-Retina Mac check whether your icon display gets the same ragged icon edges once you've manually created a software licence item?

… while creating the software license item:

… ragged icon edges when viewing a saved software license item:

Thanks a lot for any feedback.

HackintoshHD

@brenty: I notice your screenshot's software license example item is called "1Password" and not "1Password for Mac" as mine. In this exception, 1Password would recognize that you've got an application by the name of "1Password" in your application folder and, once you save the newly created item, would add the icon automatically and you don't even need to drag the 1Password icon onto the item's icon field at all to add it. Interestingly, as long as I stricly keep to this workflow of choosing the exact application name and of not adding any icon to my new software license item myself, the icon display remains correct.

However, if I drag an application onto a newly created software license item, the final icon display will have these ragged edges seen above after it has been saved. The same happens if I manually replace an icon which had been automatically chosen by 1Password with another icon and save.

… to cut a long story short: In your screenshot above, could you perhaps click on 'edit', drag /Applications/1Password 7.app onto the software license item's icon field, thus replacing the existing icon and then click on 'save'? - I'm confident this will make my scenario reproducible on your machine.

Ben

@HackintoshHD

It sounds like you've found a pretty reasonable workaround for this situation:

Interestingly, as long as I stricly keep to this workflow of choosing the exact application name and of not adding any icon to my new software license item myself, the icon display remains correct.

I'll ask development to consider improvement in this regard, but I can't make any promises. :+1:

Ben

HackintoshHD

It sounds like you've found a pretty reasonable workaround for this situation:

Interestingly, as long as I stricly keep to this workflow of choosing the exact application name and of not adding any icon to my new software license item myself, the icon display remains correct.

Unfortunately, this workaround only covers a fraction of my IMHO not so uncommon use case:

• Take the example above: Additions to the application title, e.g. "… for Mac" or "… for Windows" for efficiently distinguishing 1Password (or any other cross-plattform app's) Windows and macOS licenses will result in a distorted icon.
• Adding any application with its icon to your 1Password vault which is currently not installed on the Mac will result in a distorted icon, too.
• All scenarios of 1Password cross-plattform use, meaning adding software licenses for Windows titles etc. pp. will have the same problem.

I'll ask development to consider improvement in this regard, but I can't make any promises. :+1:

Yes, please. I'd like to point out that all of that icon management was working flawlessly in 1Password 6 for Mac, so it's not a request for a new feature, but for making something work again that was already fully functional when I became a 1Password customer eight years ago.

I've spent a 100+ € for 1Password 7 upgrades and the only 'benefit' from that so far is that my software license management workflow is semi-broken after the 6-to-7 upgrade. AgileBits was admittedly fast to repair the broken icon transparency, thank you for that. But given these circumstances, I'd be really glad if this remaining issue described here could be handled by your development team on a level somewhere above 'can't make any promises' … ;)

AGAlumB

Sorry, but we can't make any promises. We haven't heard feedback about this from anyone else, and there are a lot of other things to be worked on. There are millions of 1Password users out there depending on us, so it's important we prioritize things that help the most people possible. I'm sorry if you feel you've gotten no benefit from the upgrade, but I'd encourage you to take another look at the features we've added:

1Password 7 for Mac: The Best Ever -- 1Password 7 for Mac: What's New

1Password 7 for Windows: The Best Ever -- 1Password 7 for Windows: What's New

Most people seem to feel that all of that outweighs a few growing pains here and there, but we'll continue to work to smooth out any rough edges and improve it overall for everyone as well. Thanks for your feedback in this particular area! :)