Can't search password field -> Reopen this thread [Search All Fields option coming in update]
[search doesn't search password field [Confirmed, use advanced search for now]
Come on guys .. stop making excuses for bad UI design. It should not take 3,4,5,6 steps or clicks to do something that is a normal operation and was available in previous versions. Obviously many people search the password field.
Why would you remove this capability?
I've been developing software for 31 years and I have alway designed the user interface to be smart but never limiting or burdensome. If you have to hide something (no good reason why) give us 2 modes. One mode for dumb users and one mode for advanced users.
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Why would you remove this capability?
When 1Password is being used to generate/store/access passwords that needn't be memorable there seems little reason to have them be searchable by default, i.e. "by password" isn't considered a primary search criteria in the majority of usage cases. Also to be conservative with what is searched by default to keep it light and quick.
If you have to hide something (no good reason why) give us 2 modes. One mode for dumb users and one mode for advanced users.
As an advanced user, I use unique, randomly generated password for all my logins.
Being able to search through =EkNjby/%cPWqc4Mh9aC9,4ZH and TmP]j6hW2tCZ$?42^sonChjYi and kMi7@^6fL2nBJypTUs9:UYNs@ doesn't seem helpful to me at all, especially as a default search.0 -
I still don't see how I can search for a password. What is an "advanced search", and how do I use it to search for a password in the Password field?
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I have a similar problem/comment. In 1Password 3, I always had my "search" function set to default to search ALL fields. That's because I have 773 records, and don't necessarily remember the title, but always remember some detail of the record.
Now, by using Edit>Find>Show Search I can do this once, but next time it has defaulted back to search the name only.
I want to be able to make it a default that searches are in the first instance of ALL FIELDS. Like I could in 1P3. How can I now do that?
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@davidweek You can't change the default search currently.
Since all fields are encrypted in 1Password 4, to search all fields they must all be decrypted (which could take a long time if you've got a lot of data). Details from @MikeT:
The problem with searching in all fields by default is that it'd take a while to search all results since it has to decrypt each item at a time, search through all of them and repeat for the next item. With no limit to what you can put in your note fields, you can imagine it'd take forever for large data files. To save time and be light on your CPU, we only search through the default set of fields.
But he also said that improvements are coming:
We are looking into presenting an option to let you search in all fields if the first search doesn't return what you expected, like we do in the iOS app.
Hope that helps! :D
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Thanks Jasper P. Is it me, or is that an unintuitive way to search for a password? Anyway, it works.
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@necktilt I can agree that it's not super easy to search for a password, but I personally don't think it's something that a ton of 1Password users would use on a regular basis (for the reasons said above). Just curious, why do you use it?
Also, like I said above, some improvements might be on their way:
We are looking into presenting an option to let you search in all fields if the first search doesn't return what you expected, like we do in the iOS app.
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Jasper P: Why did I use it? Could well be a one-off, though maybe that's wishful thinking. You may have seen that Mac Rumours Forums had a security leak and recommended that users change their password there and - this is the bit - change it anywhere else where they'd used the same password. So … I needed to search for 'that password' to see where else I'd used it. (Answer, thankfully: hardly anywhere.)
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@necktilt I can see the Mac Rumours hack being a reason to search your passwords, though personally I still don't think it's all that common - in a special case like that, a couple more steps don't seem an issue to me.
Also, 1Password allows you to be using unique passwords for every single site, therefore a making a leak like Mac Rumours a non-issue (I personally don't have a single password reused). Remember that 1Password 4 also has the security audit section in the sidebar, where you can view all your duplicate passwords.
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If you re-read my original post … you are still making excuses for bad design. Good design works the way a user wants it to not the other way around. That's apple's wrong way of thinking, if they don't think their users need something they just don't do it or they take it away. Which is exactly why independent development companies exist! They fill the gaps that OS developers and computer companies create.
And JasperP - claiming that a user shouldn't be using their own designed passwords or shouldn't be able to search them is ridiculous! The password generation function is a feature and not a requirement. I continue to use, upgrade and support agilebits even though apple is now incorporating the 1password functionality into the OS. _ Agilebits should be very nervous_ and scampering for ways to stay ahead of apple (and the 3rd party competition) with MORE features and BETTER enhancements before it becomes obsolete.0 -
@sacorp I'm just a user, so can't speak for AgileBits, but:
If you re-read my original post … you are still making excuses for bad design. Good design works the way a user wants it to not the other way around.
Good design works the way the majority of users want, not just what you want. I realize that it may be helpful in your case, and maybe to the two others who posted in this discussion - but I personally don't believe it's something that most people find as a key feature of 1Password. It seems that AgileBits made these decisions to keep the default search quick and snappy, and be light on CPU, which I bet would offer the best experience for most users.
And JasperP - claiming that a user shouldn't be using their own designed passwords or shouldn't be able to search them is ridiculous!
Didn't say that.
When 1Password is being used to generate/store/access passwords that needn't be memorable there seems little reason to have them be searchable by default, i.e. "by password" isn't considered a primary search criteria in the majority of usage cases.
And I also didn't say you shouldn't be able to search your passwords, I think you should be able to - and you can search them. Using the advanced search function, there is an option to search by password. It just doesn't seem to me like something necessary to search by default. Isn't a major point of 1Password that you don't have to remember your passwords? So if most users aren't memorizing all their stored passwords, why would they search for them?
Agilebits should be very nervous
If I were AgileBits, I personally wouldn't be too worried.
In addition, @MikeT said in another discussion that improvements may be coming:We are looking into presenting an option to let you search in all fields if the first search doesn't return what you expected, like we do in the iOS app.
Sorry that you don't agree, but those are my thoughts. I'm also curious what you use password search so often for.Hopefully someone from AgileBits will address your feedback soon too ( @Megan or @sjk ?). Maybe they can offer some further insight into the decisions made in regards to search in 1Password 4.
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Jasper P,
I can see the Mac Rumours hack being a reason to search your passwords, though personally I still don't think it's all that common - in a special case like that, a couple more steps don't seem an issue to me.
Agreed: not all that common. And a couple more steps wasn't the issue: the bit I found unintuitive was what I needed to do to get to those few steps. Now I know it's there: obvious, of course.
Also, 1Password allows you to be using unique passwords for every single site, therefore a making a leak like Mac Rumours a non-issue (I personally don't have a single password reused). Remember that 1Password 4 also has the security audit section in the sidebar, where you can view all your duplicate passwords.
My Mac Rumours password was an old one I'd generated (read "made up very simply") before using 1Password, which is why there were a few other older, similar ones (also pre-1Password for me) that I wanted to check. Hence the search. It's made me think about sorting through my other old passwords and generating lovely new 1Password passwords for the lot. At least that will be something good (for me) to come from Mac Rumours's misfortune.
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And a couple more steps wasn't the issue: the bit I found unintuitive was what I needed to do to get to those few steps. Now I know it's there: obvious, of course.
Understood. I can see your point there. Hopefully AgileBits decides to add the improvement that @MikeT said (that I've mentioned above), I think that'd be a great idea and would made it much simpler and clearer to expand your search.
It's made me think about sorting through my other old passwords and generating lovely new 1Password passwords for the lot. At least that will be something good (for me) to come from Mac Rumours's misfortune.
Great idea! :D
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Thanks for the lively discussion of this topic, guys. :)
Adding on what @JasperP suggested in post #4, you can create a Smart Folder with the same or similar search criteria and leave the search field empty, e.g.:
Then whenever you want to search for items with certain password text start by selecting that Smart Folder in the sidebar, type Control-Option-Command-F (Show Search Options), enter text (ended with Return) in the empty password field, then retype Control-Option-Command-F when ready to cancel searching. It's not elegant, and exposes some items list display/refresh issues we're already aware of, but easier than reentering the custom search criteria each time. :)
Again, quoting @MIkeT's quote that @JasperP quoted a few times:
We are looking into presenting an option to let you search in all fields if the first search doesn't return what you expected, like we do in the iOS app.
Conveniently and intuitively searching "everything for anything" (mostly) could satisfy a good majority of search-related requests for 1Password 4, even without being the default. And that isn't the only possible improvement to searching we have in mind. :)
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i had been posting about this subject in a different thread before I came across this one. pardon me for reposting here, but this thread seems more pertinent.
First, I'd like to weigh in as a user who greatly desires that a global search capability, similar to that in 1P v3, be restored ASAP. Specifically, I desire an intuitive, one step, default request implemented via keystroke that dynamically displays results for ALL items in ALL fields for text CONTAINING the search term.
This was the way I used v3 every time I launched it. Much of the above discussion questions or defends the need, frequent or otherwise, to search the password field. I personally do this often, and miss the ability to easily do so. But even if you don't, what about other fields? Do you not have a need to frequently search the notes field? how about the website field? As davidweeks mentions above, I too will often remember some aspect of an item other than the title that only a global search in ALL fields will discover.
Regardless, why NOT search all fields?
from above: "The problem with searching in all fields by default is that it'd take a while to search all results since it has to decrypt each item at a time, search through all of them and repeat for the next item. With no limit to what you can put in your note fields, you can imagine it'd take forever for large data files. To save time and be light on your CPU, we only search through the default set of fields."
Seriously? I have a fairly large database and I detect no slowness when i perform a global search in mac v4. Similarly, I detect no significant delay using the much less powerful processors of my IOS devices to perform the "Everything" search of all fields. Is there anyone out there that experiences slowness issues when searching all values in mac v4? BTW, does anyone know which fields besides the title are searched in the "default set of fields"? I haven't been able to find this in the docs or forum.
Too many results? A minor inconvenience compared to routinely invoking the tedious, global search workaround in the v4 mac app. Besides, if implemented dynamically in the same way as our current, limited search, the results of a global search would be immediately updated as the search term is typed, providing immediate feedback and allowing a user to intuitively modify a search term to narrow down results. Note: the workaround for a global search described below and in other threads does not provide dynamic searching as does the current default search.
Can you imagine if Apple had set up Spotlight's default to only search file and folder names? Are you not somewhat annoyed that they did not provide a sticky preference to allow default searching in the Library folder as well?
Using what we've got.
This is the easiest workaround i've found so far, and requires the fewest steps to perform our badly missed, easy to invoke global search.One time setup:
CTRL OPT CMD F
click +
change Title to Any Value
change begins with to contains
leave the search field blank
click Save
name the newly created Smart Folder (I suggest "Tedious Workaround Smart Folder")Performing the search:
CTRL Click the smart folder
select Edit Smart Folder from the popup menu
click in the search term box (the box to the right of Any Value - contains)
type the search term into the box
Type Return (the search is not dynamic. you need to type return or tab to invoke it)If anyone has a simpler way of doing this, please post.
Perhaps those who prefer a global default search are in the minority. 1P TS seems to posture that this is the case. I would encourage those in favor to weigh in here to improve our chances of improvement.
Similarly, I would be interested to hear any additional comments and reasoning from those who would like to keep the current capabilities as they are.
Assuming a significant number of users in both camps, could Agilebits not just implement a sticky preference checkbox, "perform global search" that would satisfy ALL users? Even better, a preference that provides sticky checkboxes for each type of field (title, pw, notes, labels, additional section titles, etc.)? (Sticky here, means that preferences would remain selected during subsequent searches and even after app relaunch.)
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Hi everyone!
A new search option has been added in 4.1.BETA-5:
- Added search in all fields.
I'm sure a few of you will enjoy using this! :)
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Outstanding! Checking it out now. Thanks!
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Hi there, @jmd. You can replace my now-outdated previous post with …
New searching functionality has been added in 4.1:
Added the ability to Search across all fields.
With that option disabled this button will appear when entering search text:
There's an issue where that button may be "hidden" below the items list until the list is scrolled or short enough for the button to appear. Could use some other polish, too. Certainly hard not to find this useful even as it currently is. :)
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