Can I disable the Welcome screen on 1Password X?

Kimmo

I was unable to find a topic about this -- apologies if this ends up being a duplicate (keywords like "welcome", "screen" and "x" are kind of common :smile:).

1Password X is essential for me on Chromebooks and -boxes, as well as on Linux -- thanks for creating it! However, I still prefer the native app on macOS and Windows.

I use the Chrome browser on all platforms and enable syncing of browser settings (including plugins).

This setup has unfortunately resulted in an annoyance on macOS and Windows: every time I start Chrome, the "Welcome to 1Password X" tab opens up, stealing the focus. It is delayed just long enough that I often have time to open a tab and start typing into it -- and then get interrupted.

It would be cool if the extension would allow for a per-browser setting to disable the welcome screen (i.e. "no, I'm not going to add an account on this system/browser/profile"). This way I could dismiss it once on each Mac and Windows system and all would be well ever after. :smile:

Kind regards,
+ Kimmo

dteare

Thank you for the kind words, Kimmo! ❤️ I'm so happy to hear 1Password X is working well for you. 😘

You're right, seeing the welcome screen pop up on Mac and Windows wouldn't be fun at all. Ideally you'd only have 1Password X installed on your ChromeBook and Linux boxes, and the 1Password extension installed on Windows and Mac. Unfortunately Chrome will automatically sync your extensions for you, so you're stuck with both.

It's not ideal but one thing you could do is turn off syncing of extensions entirely by going to Chrome's sync settings and then removing 1Password X entirely from Mac and Windows, and removing the 1Password desktop extension from your ChromeBook and Linux machines.

That should work fine, but you'll now need to install each of your extensions manually on every machine. That may or not be a feature depending on your personal preferences.

By the way, if you have some time you share more details with me, I would love to hear what aspects of the native macOS and Windows apps you prefer over 1Password X. We're constantly moving 1Password X forward and your thoughts could help us prioritize upcoming features.

Thanks!

++dave;

Kimmo

Thanks for your reply and suggestions, Dave.

Why do I prefer the native apps? Well, I think it is because of the background of how I chose 1Password. I picked 1Password originally because it stored the passwords locally on the computer. I liked that, because the data was in my control. Of course, I then opted to sync the data to my other computers using Dropbox -- a decision driven by convenience -- but I still felt that I was in control of the data.

By the time 1Password.com came along I had already felt the pain of coordinating sharing of passwords, so I signed up right away. However, I initially only moved shared passwords there.

Then I considered the fact that -- as you guys had carefully explained -- your online service only stores the encrypted data, just like Dropbox was doing for me already. So I eventually decided it was easier to just have all my vaults in one place. (Convenience wins again.)

But that still feels very different from keeping all of my passwords inside the browser. I feel that the native apps provide an additional layer of protection there: the way I understand it, the password selection happens in 1Password Mini and only the selected password is sent to the browser and quickly erased from it.

My primary platform is macOS and I "make my life more difficult" in the following ways as well:

• Use an extension to delete cookies when a tab is closed.
• Logout from services when I'm done.
• Use Fluid to create isolated browsers with separate cookie storage for select apps, e.g. Facebook. (HTML5 Web Storage is also scary.)
• Use dedicated apps where possible, although I worry about "browser wrapper" apps as I haven't dug into how they handle storage.

Because my browser at most times is unable to tell a site who I am, I need 1Password more frequently. And when using dedicated apps (incuding ones created with Fluid), I at least initially have to copy and paste my login and password information (from 1Password).

I'm hoping that macOS grows an API similar to what iOS 12 brought us: OS-supported access to password managers (from the keyboard).

I currently don't have a choice of where to keep my passwords on Chrome OS, so they are in the browser. But I'm also hoping for new developments there.

• Perhaps you guys will add native app support for Linux and figure out how to reach out to 1Password running inside Crostini.
• Or maybe you guys figure out how to reach out to the Android 1Password app instead. (Or both -- whichever is available.)

I would not want to see 1Password moving completely to just running inside a browser. Integration of the native app with the OS so that it is accessible from other apps running on the system is the direction I'd like to see.

Also, passwords are not the only type of secrets inside 1Password, and the browser is not the only place where those secrets are used. But I guess most of the more frequent non-browser use cases are covered by a mobile 1Password app (at least for me, and I would guess for most people). For example, I use 1Password on iOS (and more recently on watchOS) to access door codes (electronic lock pin codes) quite a bit. Since Apple Pay, I've pretty much abandoned using any cards that don't support it, but I used to also look up payment card pin codes regularly. (Europe is big on chip + pin.)

Kind regards,
+ Kimmo

P.S. I considered disabling extension syncing as I don't add or remove extensions often. But when I do, I'd have to do it in 7 browsers (5 machines and 2 VMs) that are in daily use. It is also rather cool that if I login to e.g. my mother's computer, everything quickly updates to match my current browser setup. (That's why 1Password must have syncing, too.)

As the welcome screen for 1Password X is really a prompt to setup your account on it, I thought a "don't ask me again" checkbox could be the solution.

By the way, the screen also pops up every time the plugin is updated -- and you guys work on it a lot. :chuffed:

Kimmo

Hmm... I'm hoping my long reply was just hidden by some automation that didn't like me editing it for the third time... I should know better than to type long texts inside a browser by now...

littlebobbytables

Greetings @Kimmo,

I think your reply was hidden for a while, I don't know what happened there.

Now I will hold my hands up right at the start and say I don't use Chrome's sync. You will probably think I'm weird but I'm just not a fan of Google storing anything on my behalf if it at all possible. If you disable an extension in one copy of Chrome does that state sync to other connected copies as well? So I don't mean disabling extension sync, just disabling an individual extension like how 1Password X disables the companion extension in Chrome if its present when you install 1Password X.

AGAlumB

Probably flagged for moderation due to multiple edits and/or length, which is common with spam.

Kimmo

Hi @littlebobbytables,

Sorry for the long delay reporting back. Chrome sync includes the extension enable/disable state, so if I disable 1Password X on one system, the change propagates to all other systems.

I still think that a "Don't ask me again" checkbox in the 1Password X extension would be an elegant solution to the problem.

Disabling extension syncing is a workaround, which has the downside of having to manage all the browsers separately. That easily leads into having to troubleshoot something not working, only to realise later that it is because of a wrong / different / missing extension. At my current rate of 8 extensions on a dozen Chrome instances, that's also a lot of clicking to remember. It is much easier to just remember to login to the browser.

Kind regards,
+ Kimmo

littlebobbytables

Hello @Kimmo,

So I can certainly see your perspective and appreciate why this would help and likewise I'm sure you also appreciate how this scenario likely affects a very small percentage of users. Every bug and potential new feature has to fight for the same limited resource, that of developer time. As you can imagine several factors are considered including estimated developer time required, those impacted and typically only with new features, any potential impact to the entire user base. It could be a change helps 1% of our users with a specific task but for whatever reason it makes 1Password more difficult for +50% of our users. I fabricated those numbers of course just to try and show what I mean. In that example case it's hard to argue for that change as any benefit would seem to be greatly outweighed by the negative impact to the larger user base.

The more streamlined we can make the setup process the easier it is for the user. If we add a checkbox do we run the risk of generating some level of support through accidental misuse and which group is greater? I don't have the answers but they are the sorts of things we'll have to consider. I will file an issue though and we'll have to see what comes of it :smile:

In the issue I filed I also suggested the possibility of only displaying the welcome screen on installation of the extension. I'm thinking that is something the extension could do (from a technical standpoint) and achieve the same goal of not being nagged. I also do note that upon testing clicking the 1Password X button also causes the tab to open, indicating maybe it would be hard to avoid if the user does need to set it up.

ref: x/b5x#709

Mitch

Hey @Kimmo,

I've read through this thread and believe I have a good understanding of what's frustrating you. I never would have thought of your use case, so it's really helpful to have it spelled out in so much detail.

The truth is that we didn't intend for the welcome page to appear every time you open your browser; rather, it's a consequence of a bit of code which says "open the welcome page if there are no accounts." This code path kicks in when you install the extension for the first time, but also in some other situations, like if you remove all your accounts from the Settings page.

From the perspective of the extension, there is no difference between "I was just installed" and "the browser was just opened." In both cases, the extension runs its initialization code and checks to see if there are any accounts. If none are found, you get presented with the welcome page. It's a simple but reliable fail-safe that helps the extension get back to a good state from anywhere.

Would it be possible to distinguish between the two states and only show the welcome page on a true first run? Sure. The extension could write a small bit of data to its local storage after showing the welcome page for the first time. On subsequent launches, it could look for this data and use it to decide on the right course of action.

I think it's a fine solution, but it does add a level of complexity to a critical code path, and it will take some time to develop and test. I know how much this change will help you, though, so it's on The List.

Happy holidays!

-Mitch