Quick Access on Mac's smart app-detection actually makes things worse
Hey 1Password-Team,
Although I'm still not super excited about jumping to an electron app, I finally decided to at least give 1Password 8 a fair chance and really enjoy some of the new features so far. I'm sure the new password history will save me from locking me out of my own accounts very frequently, the new QR code scan workflow in the Safari extension is incredibly satisfying, I'm curious how well the smart password generator will work in practice and although I'm still moaning the loss of 1Password mini I do think Quick Access can, in theory, really improve my workflow immensely. I say in theory because the way it's configured right now is unfortunately less than ideal for me, and - I assume - will be less ideal for a lot of other people as well.
What's the problem?
Yesterday's update Quick Access for Mac and Linux introduced the ability to automatically surface logins for all currently active apps. That sounds like a good idea at first meant to save you some time on navigating your logins, but quickly falls short once you notice how it works in practice. Here's an example from my own workflow to demonstrate the problem:
- Tweetbot for Mac is almost constantly running on my system. Therefore Quick Access always suggests all login credentials for all Twitter accounts that I am managing first, no matter what until I close Tweetbot. I'm still managing a comprehensible amount of Twitter accounts so I assume this will only be worse for someone who has to manage dozens of them. Tweetbot and most other Twitter clients also only need to be authorized once so always suggesting you Twitter login credentials while a client is running no matter if it's active or not doesn't really serve a purpose.
- Next up, Quick Access will always show me my login credentials for my AppleID, Adobe Creative Cloud and Dropbox. I'm assuming this will also be similar for a lot of other users who don't really need those credentials jumping into their face all the time. You can assume there's always at least one Apple service running under macOS. Adobe Creative Cloud always stays active in the menubar until you actively close it completely - and why would I? Dropbox and other cloud storage services always have processes running to keep your files in sync. - But none of these service really require you to always have you credentials at a fingertip and Quick Access isn't really improving any workflow by pretending it does.
- Last one for me specifically is Discord. I can see how it's more justified here for people who might switch between Discord accounts very frequently but for must of us who only stay logged in two one account for 99% or 100% of the time, it doesn't really serve any purpose to fetch the login credentials all the time as long as the application is open.
Don't get me wrong, the idea of suggesting the login credentials you most likely need in the moment is great, but at least for the now the execution leaves a lot to be desired - especially when it's designed for operating systems with multi-window support like macOS and Linux where people typically have a lot of apps open at all times. It feels like the implementation wasn't really completely thought through.
How could Quick Access be improved?
I feel like making Quick Access a little more customizable would really go a long way here. Maybe the current setup works for some, otherwise 1Password developers might have noticed the shortcomings themselves, but for the rest of us some customizability options could turn Quick Access from an annoyance to a helpful tool that can really help to improve your flow. Here's some options I'd personally like to see:
- **Let us customize whether Quick Access shows logins for all open apps or just for the active window. ** I'm way more likely to be in need of my Twitter credentials when I active Quick Access while actively using Tweetbot. I'm way more likely to be in need of my Discord credentials when I active Quick Access while actively using Discord. I'm way more likely to be in need of my AppleID credentials when I active Quick Access while interacting with a system dialog box by the operating system. Having the option to only serve me logins for the foreground app would help in fetching your credentials when you really need them without clogging up Quick Access with them whenever the app is merely open.
- Let us customize Quick Access to show us our favorites instead when the active window is any web browser. Whenever I'm interacting with my web browser I'm far likely to login into one of my favorite sites than any other app that's currently open. It doesn't feel like a smart feature if Quick Access suggests me the credentials for services I'm currently logged into using their native apps rather than my Netflix or Protonmail credentials that I'm much more likely to need in the moment.
- BONUS POINTS: An option for Quick Access to suggest credentials for the currently active tab followed by your favorites whenever a web browser is the active window.
1Password Version: 1Password for Mac 8.2.2 (80202080, BETA channel)
Extension Version: version 2.1.2
OS Version: macOS 12.0
Comments
-
Hi @redcitylights ,
Thanks for taking the time to provide myself and the rest of the team with your valuable feedback regarding Quick Access!
As it's still-in-progress, we're constantly adding functionality to Quick Access (with some features and improvements upcoming that I'm sure you'll enjoy!) to make sure it accomplishes what we've created it for and by listening and testing with users like yourself, I'm confident we will. I've recorded your feedback and will take it into consideration as we continue development. Make sure to keep your 1Password 8 up-to-date ;)
Thank you for giving Early Access a shot and we hope to deliver an experience that surpasses your expectations.
Best regards,
Travis
Product Manager - B2C & Core
1Password0 -
Hey @AG_Travis,
Thank you for taking my feedback on board, that means a lot!
I know that Quick Access is still in an early stage and the changes I referenced have only been implemented yesterday, and it's a feature I really like that feels like a natural progression of the old 1Password mini that can really lead to some increased productivity flows if done right, so I wanted to get my feedback in early! Which brings me to another idea I just had that would be great to build upon:
As Quick Access already resembled similarity to Spotlight and Alfred, I'd be incredible powerful to see some commands implemented that users can take advantage of to quickly archive common tasks. "/generatepassword" or "/gp" could generate a password for me based on my latest settings and copy it to my clipboard, "/scanqr" could scan the currently open page for a 2FA QR code or maybe "/generateusername" could integrate a future username generator that we all know we need sometimes. This might not be a future that each and every user is going to take advantage off, but could really improve the workflow of some power users who aim to get the most out of 1Password.
Either way, I'm looking forward to the upcoming features and improvements and will make sure to share more feedback if the time comes!
0 -
100% agree. I only need to see logins for the active window, not the passwords for Twitter and 17 Slack instances.
0 -
Thank you both for the input on this.
not the passwords for Twitter and 17 Slack instances
😬
I can see how these would be less than useful. On the other hand, they should also be listed below the entries for the current window. Entries for whichever windows is in the foreground should be listed first. We'll definitely take this into account as we plan further improvements to Quick Access though. Thank you!
Ben
0 -
Hey @Ben,
I didn't even notice that Quick Access always brings up credentials for whichever window is in the foreground first as I rarely need any logins within apps where I'm already logged in, but as you mentioned it I did some testing with several different apps in the foreground and you're right: It works very consistently! That's great to know and definitely makes my first suggestion for improvement nothing more than a question of aesthetics rather than usability.
Still wanna maintain that there should be an option for Quick Access to show me my favorites first whenever any web browser is the foreground app. Another inconvenience I've noticed today is that the 'Open & Fill' command in Quick Access always opens a tab in Safari (maybe because it's my default browser?) even if another web browser with the 1Password extension installed is in the foreground. It'd be nice to see an option there to always let 'Open & Fill' resort to the web browser that's currently in the foreground but resort to your default browser whenever the currently active app is any other application. Should be optional though as I can also see how someone would deliberately use Quick Access to bring their default browser to the foreground and automatically log into a website at the same time.
0 -
@Ben This is a very confusing and therefore annoying feature. If Quick Access only defaulted to items associated with the active app/window (much like the Suggestions feature) that would make a lot more sense. As it stands now I click it and I’m immediately presented with a bunch of useless logins that have nothing to do with anything I’m trying to do with Quick Access. Two of which are for websites I haven’t even accessed in months but they constantly show up!
0 -
@OAW we are currently working on expanding the list of supported applications that Quick Access recognizes. When an application isn't recognized, Quick Access will do its best to still list logins for the running apps it does recognize. It might be that the apps you're trying to use with Quick Access aren't yet in our list.
If you're willing to share the names of the applications for which Quick Access doesn't show the right results, we might be able to improve the list.
0 -
Has this change been made for Windows now as well?
I just noticed that two Microsoft accounts show up irrespective of what app I'm currently in when I launch quick access
0 -
Adding my support for not showing all the applications on my desktop by default. I am likely going to be already signed into these and showing them all the time it not useful.
0 -
@defiant According to the team that's an issue we've been aware of and we're working on a fix!
We've also been discussing ways to improve the suggestions list so that it contains more useful results. Not sure yet when this'll be out, but it's in the works. :)
Please let me know if I can be of further help,
0 -
@ag_Gabriele The only apps I see it recognizes for me are MS OneNote, Twitter, and my Apple ID. But I’m far more concerned about websites I haven’t accessed in months showing up for no apparent reason. They aren’t associated with any app that I’m running. Even if I shut down Safari they are still there.
0
