Is the 1pif format lossy?

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lol
lol
Community Member
in Lounge

I intend to do some bulk editing of entries by way of find/replace in 1pif. Given that I use every feature offered (attachments, links, password history I rely on sometimes, archive, etc.), am I exposing myself to data loss by exporting to 1pif, editing, then importing back in over the original entries?

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  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni
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    Hi @lol!

    A 1pif export should include all information from your 1Password vault. I have however reached out to the developers for confirmation, just in case :+1:

  • MrC
    MrC
    Volunteer Moderator
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    1Password for Mac does not export Documents:

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni
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    Thank you for mentioning this @MrC! As the original poster mentioned attachments, I assumed they were using standalone vaults and not Document items, but good that you brought this up either way :+1: :)

  • rudy
    rudy
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    Hi @lol,

    Its worth noting that when you import from the 1pif its going to assign the items new UUIDs so you won't be importing over top of the existing items, you'll be doubling up.

  • lol
    lol
    Community Member
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    Thx for the info all. @MrC thanks for the note; that's cool that it warns about this. I only have a few document items and items with attachments, so I think I can just handle those by hand with no issue and not much extra effort.

    @rudy I think I prefer that. Maybe I can muster the effort to do a side-by-side comparison in the app to verify the re-imports before deleting the originals...

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni
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    @lol:

    I think this related to what Rudy wrote: another developer said that there is an additional scenario to keep in mind. If you export an item that is linked to from another item, and then delete the original, that link will be lost, even if you reimport the 1pif of that exported item. I am not a developer, but I imagine this is because of the change in UUIDs.

    But more generally speaking, using 1pif exports for mass editing is not a supported scenario, even though it could technically be used for this too. 1pif was designed an an import/export tool alone, since it's easy to change a character in the file causing import to fail.

  • lol
    lol
    Community Member
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    Roger that, thank you!

    I assume the other formats are lossier, yes?

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni
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    @lol:

    That's right, since 1pif is the only "native" 1Password export format :+1:

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