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Forum Discussion
Username Alias
Hello Support,
Background:
I work at an enterprise size organization and we have lots of resources that use SSO. Some of these systems have variations of the username but use the same password because ultimately it is the same account.
The current "future of 1password" found here, https://www.future.1password.com/ while a great improvement to the platform it does not address this use case. It does not solve it because these systems don't have true sso, they do share identity but don't use saml/oauth/etc.
Situation To Hopefully Be Improved:
For example, we use Office 365 for our email, so the username is my email, johndoe@company.com. We have another system that uses SSO to authenticate users where the username is just johndoe and specifically errors out if provided an email for the username. To help reduce the headache of updating a dozen or so when a password changes (and number of 'vulnerable' accounts in watchtowner) items in my vault have multiple websites, one for each system. I have reduced this down to have an item for each variation of username. This still leaves me with a few items that are for the same account, with the same password, which mean watchtower says they are being reused. Obviously that isn't the case and I am indifferent about watchtower reporting it.
Desired Outcome:
A single item in my vault that can be used to log into multiple systems that require different formats of the username.
You can see below that another column could be added to URLs / websites that allows for another different format of the username. If one is not specified it assumes the overall default defined above.
Potential Solution:
Being able to set an username alias that is associated with the website that is used instead of main username defined at the top of the item. If left empty the main username is used.
Benefits:
Improved organization by unification
Reduces noise in watchtower
Reduces work required by end user to update all SSO accounts
Downsides:
Probably removes the option to autofill OTP due to unification.
Functionality like this would continue to prove that 1Password pioneers and sets the standards for how password management should be done!
Thanks
There are actually many more variations:
name: John Doe
windows username: jdoe
email: johndoe@company.com
Windows Active Directory domain: company
variations:
domain\username
domain@username
email@company.com
username
1Password Version: 8.10.40
Extension Version: 2.27.1
OS Version: Windows 11 Pro
Browser: Edge/Chrome/FireFox
I strongly support this feature request. In corporate environments, it's common to encounter scenarios where multiple internal systems share a single underlying account and password but require different username formats as outlined in this post.
Currently, users have to manage this situation by maintaining separate 1Password entries for each username variation. Although workable, this method is inefficient, creates redundancy, complicates password updates, and generates unnecessary alerts in Watchtower about apparent password reuse.
The proposed solution—allowing username aliases to be linked specifically to individual websites within a single entry—addresses this problem effectively. Although it introduces additional complexity in terms of UI and underlying data management, this complexity is worthwhile because it directly aligns with authentic and widespread enterprise use cases.
My own positive professional experience with 1Password, even though it is not the officially mandated password manager at our organization, led me to adopt it personally. Implementing username aliases would significantly improve usability, streamline credential management, and reinforce 1Password’s value in professional settings.
Thank you for considering this essential feature enhancement!
