Joe Kissell - Take Control of 1Password

This book was sponsored by AgileBits, makers of 1Password. Thanks to Jeff Shiner and Dave Teare for all their efforts to help bring this book to life, and especially for their able assistance with answering technical questions.

You can access extras related to this ebook on the Web (use the link in , near the end; its available only to purchasers). On the ebooks Take Control Extras page, you can:

• Download any available new version of the ebook for free, or buy any subsequent edition at a discount.
• Download various formats, including PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket. (Learn about reading this ebook on handheld devices on our Device Advice page.)
• Read postings to the ebooks blog. These may include new tips or information, as well as links to author interviews. At the top of the blog, you can also see any update plans for the ebook.

If you bought this ebook from the Take Control Web site, it has been added to your account, where you can download it in other formats and access any future updates. Otherwise, you can add it to your account manually; see .

Here are a few pointers that will help you read this ebook:

• Links: All blue text in this ebook is hot, meaning you can click (or tap) it, just like a link on the Web. If you click a link to switch to a different part of the ebook, you can return quickly to where you were if your ebook reader offers a back feature. For example, if you use iBooks in iOS to read the EPUB version of this ebook, you can tap the Back to link at the lower left of the screen. Or, if you use Preview on the Mac to read the PDF version of this ebook, you can choose Go > Back or press Command-[.
• Menus: Where I describe choosing a command from a menu in the menu bar, I use an abbreviated description that puts the name of the menu ahead of the command. For example, at the end of the previous paragraph, Go > Back means choose the Back command from the Go menu.
• Credentials: I frequently use the term credentials to refer to the complete set of information you need to log in to a site or servicetypically a username (or email address) and a password.

Nobody likes dealing with passwords. After all, they exist solely as barriers to keep unauthorized people from accessing Web sites, servers, and other digital resources. Entering the occasional password is no big deal, but when youre prompted for passwords dozens of times a dayforced to prove, over and over, that you are who you say you areit can be mighty annoying.

Naturally, people take shortcuts to reduce that annoyance, such as picking short, easy-to-type passwords and reusing the same password everywhere. Unfortunately, those shortcuts also make it easier for another person (or, more likely, a computer) to guess your password, which can lead to all sorts of nasty consequences. And that sticky note or cheat sheet that makes it easier for you to find your passwords can make it equally easy for a thief or snoop.

1Password solves these problems, making it convenient to be secure. It offers a painless way to create, store, and enter passwordsso every one of them can be unique and strong without any extra effort. Because all your passwords are protected with a single, master password, thats the only one you have to rememberhence the name 1Password. Once youve unlocked 1Password, logging in to any Web site is as simple as pressing a keyboard shortcut or clicking a button.

Nearly every Web browser can save and fill passwords, too, but 1Password is more versatile because it lets you use a single tool for all major browsers and platformsand it safely syncs your data among them automatically. 1Password can also fill in other information on Web forms (such as your addresses and credit card numbers) and it can store software licenses, notes, and any other data you want to keep secure. Its not the only password manager out there, but Ive tried many others and 1Password is my favorite by far.

Merely installing 1Password wont magically fix all your password problems, though. Youll need to configure it to meet your personal needs and tastes, add your existing passwords, and identify the workflow that suits you best. In this book, I walk you through that entire process. Whether youre an absolute beginner or a seasoned 1Password user, Ill help you discover how to use 1Password to its best advantage.

This book isnt meant to replace the 1Password documentation or to be a comprehensive reference guide. Instead, I concentrate on the most common tasks youre likely to perform and help you find the quickest and easiest ways to accomplish them. In the process, I show you some cool features that you may have overlooked and share my favorite tips.

I cover only the latest versions of 1Password as of publication time4.0 for Mac, 1.0.9 for Windows, 4.3 for iOS, and 1.8.5 for Android. I spend more time talking about the desktop (Mac and Windows) versions than the mobile (iOS and Android) versions, and I put particular emphasis on the recently released 1Password 4 for Mac. (If youre upgrading from an older Mac version, please see for help with the transition.)

The core features of 1Password are pretty much the same on every platform, and I call attention to platform-specific differences as necessary. As youll see in , near the end of this book, to check for new versions of this book and read posts to the books blog. Because of the rapid pace of new releases, some aspects of the book may go out of sync with the newest versions of 1Password, so if you see something here that doesnt quite match whats on your screen, thats likely whyand Ill get to it as soon as possible.

Once youve mastered 1Password, you may want to learn more about password securitythings like how password attacks work, what makes multi-factor authentication useful, how to deal with security questions, why everyone needs an emergency password plan, and how a password manager such as 1Password fits into a larger password strategy. I cover all this and much more in my book