Unencrypted attachments?

@gumby: Attachments are encrypted in your 1Password vault, but as soon as you open it, it must be decrypted. Otherwise it would look something like this to you:

9c6t34bc9#2364tcog(!uvl23v4cqwcrv7i62o3f@c4p28p2g23ivl

Only much longer and weirder looking. Similarly, unless the data is decrypted to a temporary file (like the one you opened in Finder), other apps will not be able to read the data either. I hope this helps. Be sure to let me know if you have any other questions! :)

For how long are they decrypted? When I copy a password to the clipboard it stays only a short while. Do the attachments remain decrypted until reboot?

@gumby: macOS handles that like any temp files. When you close 1Password completely (which will also happen when you reboot) though, they will be cleared out.

Also, why can I not drag/drop an attachment into another program?

Because it's encrypted in 1Password until you open it. At that point, you can open it or drag the temporary file from Finder to an app. Just keep in mind that if you make changes to the file that way, it won't impact the encrypted version stored in 1Password. You'd need to remove the original in 1Password and add the newly modified version.

To be completely clear, no items (or attachments) will be decrypted at all unless you access them. 1Password does not decrypt your entire vault when you unlock it, only on demand. Otherwise it would take much longer to unlock and use the app. Cheers! :)

You're totally welcome! Thanks for asking! We try to make these complexities transparent so folks can just use 1Password happily and not get bogged down in the details...but we enjoy the details and always welcome a chance to answer these kinds of questions. Cheers! :chuffed: