BUG: Still can't auto fill apps from quick access in Windows

Hey @Kirlac, thanks for reaching out.

Quick Access is working as intended as a way to access your credentials without leaving the app you're currently working on.

I understand that you find opening the full app to be faster and easier. If you're not already, you may find that using keyboard shortcuts can speed up the filling process. For instance, you can use the Ctrl + Shift + Space shortcut to open Quick Access, followed by the Ctrl + C shortcut to copy your username or the Ctrl + Shift + C shortcut to copy your password and paste into the relevant field.

With that said, implementing an autofill feature that will work for applications is certainly something our team is interested in, but we don't have any plans or timeline to share at the moment. I'll pass your comment along to our product team to further highlight interest in this feature.

We greatly appreciate your feedback, let me know if you have any further questions or suggestions.

Ali

PB-36534651

Hi @AliH1P

Thanks for responding.

Firstly, let me say that I'm writing this with love as a long time user who believes that despite all the issues with the current version, 1Password is still one of the better (if not the best) password management option currently available. I sincerely want this app which I use multiple times every day across all of my devices (MacOS, Windows, iOS, sometimes Android) to live up to its potential and be the best it can be.

With that said, let me (I hope respectfully) break down your previous comment and disagree with your statements [Insert obligatory XKCD #386 here]:

Quick Access is working as intended

Intended maybe, but not as ADVERTISED, which is what I said. Are you confirming you intend for it to not work as advertised?

as a way to access your credentials without leaving the app you're currently working on.

This is demonstrably false. This is how it is being advertised, not how it works. Which according to your response means this is not the intended behaviour (see above point).

I understand that you find opening the full app to be faster and easier.

Because it is, at least in my situation. The old 1Password mini was and still is far superior and actually did work as advertised. But with that removed now, the full app is the next best option, with quick access sadly lagging behind. I'd also like to point out here that I'm not anti quick access. I want to like it, I really do, I see its potential and how it can benefit some users but the UX is terrible, it just doesn't work as advertised and results in a significantly worse experience in a lot of cases. I think you have a responsibility to at least acknowledge that instead of acting like the user is dumb for not getting it and failing to learn how to use keyboard shortcuts, which appears to be the attitude I've seen from AgileBits about this feature for the past two years.

As a side note, is the company still AgileBits or have you fully rebranded as 1Password now? It can be a little confusing distinguishing between 1Password the application and 1Password the company. I can see both have LinkedIn pages and your apps on the iOS and Android app stores are both still showing as AgileBits but can't find many other references to that name anywhere, especially not on the website or the app's about screen which only says 1Password. So I hope you don't mind I'm using AgileBits (or sometimes just the collective "you") to refer to the company and help avoid any misunderstandings, and 1Password or 1P to refer to the app itself for the purpose of this comment.

If you're not already, you may find that using keyboard shortcuts can speed up the filling process.

I am and they don't. Shortcuts are only a small part of the problems quick access has. And even then, having to memorize a bunch of different keyboard shortcuts isn't a viable solution for everyone. I'm being a little hyperbolic here for emphasis, but at what point does the opportunity cost cancel out and it either becomes easier to just go back to remembering passwords instead of trying to remember keyboard shortcuts, or we need to start installing shortcut managers to help us remember and fill in all the keyboard shortcuts we need on a daily basis? I think it's doing a disservice to your customer base to not acknowledge that shortcuts aren't a solution for everyone. And again, that's ignoring the fact that they are only part of the problem here and don't solve many of the other issues with quick access.

For instance, you can use the Ctrl + Shift + Space shortcut to open Quick Access, followed by the Ctrl + C shortcut to copy your username or the Ctrl + Shift + C shortcut to copy your password and paste into the relevant field.

Looks like you're missing a few steps there champ. So lets go through the actual "intended" workflow for this feature using those shortcuts to speed up the process as much as possible and see how it really plays out, shall we?

Steps for a user to fill in a password with the Slow Access widget (sorry I couldn't help myself, I had to say it at least once):

1. Remember and input the shortcut (Ctrl + Shift + Space by default) to open Quick Access (which as a side note is a really inconvenient keybinding and conflicts with many other common keybindings, especially for software developers where this is commonly tied to IDE tooling - thankfully this one can be changed unlike most of the other keybindings and defaults in 1Password).
2. Enter master password to unlock app.
3. Search for credentials for the app you want to log in to. It's worth noting that you've already had to leave the app and start trying to navigate your way around 1Password instead at this stage (contrary to the advertised feature of not having to leave the app you were using). There seems to be no way to link credentials to an app so they show up if the user opens quick access from said app. No way to pin credentials to quick access so common ones are always visible in an easy to access list. No way to simply view a sorted list of recent/frequent passwords. All favouriting them seems to do in regards to quick access is show a little star icon over them and maybe show them higher in the results when they happen to match what you've typed into the search box. As a result, you still need to type the name of the app you're using into the search box every time and hope it actually matches what the password is saved as - because in some cases it isn't (as an example you may need a playstation/xbox password which is saved as a sony/microsoft account). The only exception when you don't need to type in your search is if you're reopening quick access after you've just searched for the credentials you want and quick access hasn't purged the results yet.
4. Navigate to the correct credentials. In a lot of cases there may be more than one result displayed, especially if you didn't type in the full name of the app and let the search bring back everything close enough from the first few letters. This requires either clicking the desired result with the mouse (which you seem to be vehemently against because it goes against your policy of using keyboard shortcuts) or using the arrow keys to navigate through the list to highlight the one you want.
5. DO NOT HIT ENTER! Whatever you do, don't press the enter button without thinking at the end of your search or you'll regret it. That will take you EVEN FURTHER AWAY from the app you're advertising we never leave and instead open a web browser and try to sign you in there. And the worst part is there's not even any way to customize this so the enter button does something sensible instead like "open in new window" to pin the credentials for easy access, or auto filling the credential using the same virtual-keyboard-like mechanism as dragging and dropping from the full app or "new window" does (I'm not sure exactly how you're doing this but it looks like it's typing, I don't see why we can't configure our own macros for this and set that as the default behaviour ie. type username wherever caret is, type tab key to switch input, type password). For a negative points bonus to your UX score, this behaviour is completely different from what happens in the same situation using the full app, where it instead opens the details for the selected credentials. To paraphrase the great Doc Brown: "Consistency?! Where we're going, we don't need consistency!"
6. Remember and input the keyboard shortcut for copying the username: "Ctrl + C" i believe it was, or was that the one for password? I can never remember which one is which. Thankfully it's labeled at the bottom of the widget because your UX team was smart enough to identify it as a problem, it just wasn't a priority to fix the design so just slap a label there and call it a day.
7. Now we can finally return to the app we wanted to input the credentials for (which again, you advertise as not having to leave because of the hugely productive quick access) and paste in our user name with yet another keyboard shortcut (at least this one is standard across all apps and controlled by the OS).
8. Back to quick access for the password, what was that shortcut again? Ctrl + Shift + Space? Only if you didn't change it because it conflicted with something else in certain scenarios. Thankfully you don't have to enter your master password again yet and it seems to at least remember the previous search so the credentials are still right there. Credit where credit is due, remembering this and opening with the same information it just had a few seconds ago is something quick access does right, so good job there. Now if only we could get that kind of usability consideration across the rest of the feature.
9. Now copy the password. Again, thankfully the shortcut is labeled on the screen.
10. for the second time, return to the app we weren't supposed to leave because of how great quick access is and paste the password into the box.

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1. Open your phone to get your 2FA code because after the rigamarole above, there's no way you're delegating that responsibility to 1Password as well. It's quicker just to open the app on your phone and type in the number. Besides, I'm not even sure if quick access provides a way to copy 2FA codes. I don't see it in my quick access, but again I've never configured TOTP for any of my credentials in 1Password so it may just be omitted because I don't have it. I did do a quick google search for "1password quick access 2fa" and didn't see any mention of it being available from quick access and none of the screenshots that came up had it either. Are you able to confirm whether or not this works? And if so, what is the keyboard shortcut to copy a 2FA code from quick access? You seem to have left it off your list of "Ctrl + Shift + Space shortcut to open Quick Access, followed by the Ctrl + C shortcut to copy your username or the Ctrl + Shift + C shortcut to copy your password" so it's not clear whether it's just not possible through quick access or if you forgot to include it.

So just to get this on the record, the above workflow is the "intended" usage of quick access (complete with all the keyboard shortcuts which AgileBits is always so quick to helpfully suggest to streamline and speed up the process) correct?

I don't know about you but this doesn't seem very quick to me. I can see how the feature might be quick for the developers who built the thing around their own personal needs, hardware setups and use cases (and the customers who just so happen to match those same circumstances). Presumably they are on MacOS where auto-fill functionality and associating passwords with apps mostly works as expected and they don't need to search for their credentials every time or manually copy/paste credentials. Maybe they are also on machines with biometric unlock features enabled or have their app set to never lock so they don't need to type their master password every time. Maybe they are using keyboards where the arrow keys are easily accessible rather than a laptop keyboard or 60% design where the arrows are a lot less convenient. Either way, it's unreasonable to expect that your paying customers are all having the same experience you are, and in my opinion it's rather condescending to be so dismissive of their experiences: "works fine for me, just use the shortcuts lol" (paraphrased) is not a very respectful nor professional answer when one of your customers is having problems.

Now let's compare the above process with simply using the full app:

1. Click the 1Password icon. No need to memorize any obscure keyboard shortcuts, just press on the little lock picture.
2. Enter master password to unlock the app.
3. Search for your credentials. Thankfully the full app provides multiple ways to make this step easier, such as different sorting options so recent/frequent credentials are displayed right there at the top of the list without even needing to type anything, or the favourites button to show the passwords you've personally configured to have quick and easy access to.
4. Select the credentials you want to use. In all fairness, trying to use the keyboard for this process is worse than quick access but using the mouse is a lot better.
5. Copy your username from the 1Password app to the app you're trying to log in to. Again, thankfully the app provides multiple ways to make this easier, such as providing the ability to simply drag and drop the username and password to where you want them with the mouse. It's also worth noting that those EXACT SAME KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS (which are apparently the backbone of what makes quick access so quick) are also available here along with all the other usability improvements. Again, credit where credit is due, quick access is slightly quicker at context switching back to the app because it automatically closes on copy (at the cost of having to reopen it to get the password afterwards).
   1. Paste username into the desired app if you didn't drag and drop it.
6. Copy password from the 1Password app to the app you're trying to log in to. We get to skip the second Ctrl + Shift + Space keyboard shortcut here because the app is still open so we can just grab the password directly.
   1. Paste password into the desired app if you didn't drag and drop it.
7. Close 1Password.

You can see how the full app is significantly quicker and easier to use than quick access right? I'm not imagining things or going crazy? Surely I'm not the only customer who feels this way.

Now, that said, there is a kind of middle ground here involving the "open in new window" feature which allows us to keep the password open without needing to re-summon quick access as well as giving the ability to drag and drop passwords, which at least saves us some of the effort by removing a few extraneous keyboard shortcuts. If we were able to swap that with "open in browser" as the default behaviour so pressing enter on a result gave us the new window and "open in browser" can be delegated to "ctrl/cmd + o" instead, that would go a huge way towards improving usability. Even better, if we could just get a search box in that "new window" to allow us to easily change which password is shown (or heck, even just allow an option for "open in new window" to reuse an existing "new window" if one exists if you're that intent on forcing us to use the inferior quick access) we could have something similar to 1Password mini back for users who prefer it with minimal effort on your part. All the pieces for it are already there in 1P8, they just aren't connected up to form a cohesive solution.

With that said, implementing an autofill feature that will work for applications is certainly something our team is interested in, but we don't have any plans or timeline to share at the moment. I'll pass your comment along to our product team to further highlight interest in this feature.

So implementing feature parity isn't even something you're working on at this time? Wasn't that the whole reason for switching to the electron based version with 1P8? Geeze, I'm glad I did make this bug report now. I always just sat back patiently waiting for the feature parity to come, assuming that since it was important enough to justify switching your entire technology stack with a ground up rebuild, and that this issue has been brought up multiple times, that it was something you were working on and hounding you about it was counterproductive. Again, you mostly have a working implementation in MacOS from what I've seen and again, the pieces are all there in Windows they just aren't wired up to quick access for some reason.

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For like two years now, you've been telling us how much better it is and that we should give quick access a chance. At this point we have given it a chance and it's still noticeably worse and AgileBits doesn't seem to have any intention of improving it in any way despite the numerous complaints about it over the years. All of which seem get brushed off with a similar comment about how "it works for the developers and some people like it so thanks for the feedback, end of discussion."

If you're having this much trouble with it and need someone who understands good UX principles, I'm a professional software engineer of more than 10 years who's currently looking for work and a long time user and advocate for your software. I'd be more than happy to jump in and help you fix all of these usability issues. Just reach out to me and I'd be happy to discuss further if you're interested. I'd love to be a part of the team and help return 1Password to it's former glory. It's truly sad watching an app I've used for years (even though I only joined in the 1P7 era) degrade and stagnate like this. At this point, as a user I can only hope 1P9 is not too far away and is a drastic improvement over 1P8. One which actually takes the feedback of users who don't fall into the category of "everything works great" and helps improve the experience for long time users who are having problems with the current state of the software. It doesn't have to be either/or. By simply adding a few tweaks and some settings for users to control them you can SIGNIFICANTLY improve things for those of us who aren't having a good experience without hurting those who like things the way they are.

Sorry for responding with a mini novella. I started writing and it just kept coming. In case you can't tell, as a software engineer I'm quite passionate about software being usable which is sadly a trend that seems to be going by the wayside lately and I'll defend it to my dying breath. I hope you do take the time to read it and take it under advisement. And once again, I would like to point out that this comes from a place of love as an advocate of your software for more than a few years now. This isn't some reactionary tantrum over something being changing that I didn't want. It's an observation from someone who makes software for a living, who has genuinely tried to meet 1Password and quick access on its terms, based on experience over a long period of time of trying to use it only to run into constant road blocks and frustrations when it doesn't work the way you claim it should. Then to be told that's "as intended" and "you're using it wrong" whenever anyone tries to voice any criticism over it. Please do better. I want to keep advocating for this company and product because there are so many things you're doing right. This just isn't one of them, at least not for everyone.

Thanks for listening and taking the time to engage with me on this. I hope my words at least make a little bit of a difference for you. If they do, you can pay it forward with a few small changes to make a huge difference for your users.

@Kirlac I'm not able to follow your lengthy description of how tedious it is to retrieve credentials for app login using quick access.

My experience is much faster and actually like this:
- start some app that requires a login. For the sake of this experiment, I started the Epic Games Launcher app. I also use the Microsoft rdp client (mstsc) - no different.
- press ctrl-shift-space to get 1Password quick access
- enter "epi" - the first and only found entry is my "Epic Games" entry
- press ctrl-o to open the 1Password entry in its extra window
- with the mouse, I drag the username entry from the 1Password window to the Launcher username input field.
- the 1Password window gets out of the way automatically at the start of the drag, and reappears after the drag has been completed, so I don't need to switch apps or windows, not even move windows around to keep both windows visible. Just drag, and the 1Password window hides and the app window is activated automatically.
- with the mouse, I drag the password entry to the Launcher password input field.
- I perform the login in the launcher
- the 1Password window is again in the foreground and I close it, since it's not required any more

If it happens it's the first time I use 1Password today, I would be required to enter my Windows Hello pin after pressing ctrl-shift-space. But once I unlocked 1Password, it stays unlocked except I explicitly lock it. I activated Windows Hello use and TPM use, so it's not required to ever enter the full long account password, except once every 30 days.

In my opinion, this is a very acceptable workflow that's hard to make even shorter: ctrl-shift-space + Hello PIN [optional] + "epi" + ctrl-o + drag username + drag password + click login + close 1Password window

Don't use copy+paste! (it's also less secure than drag+drop, because it exposes credentials via clipboard to every app that watches the clipboard!)

This experience is the same for every other app. Just drag+drop userid+password and watch how the 1Password window is auto-hiding and auto-reappearing during drag+drop.
If there was a TOTP input required, it would just be a 3rd field to drag+drop from 1Password to the app.

Former Member

Hahaha. I love it when random people on the internet leave comments that start with "I didn't bother to read your comment. Here's my hot take without understanding the point you were making." No bother though, I wasn't replying to you so you didn't have to read it.

That said I will take the time to read and respond to you, referencing back to points I made in my admittedly very long rant.

enter "epi" - the first and only found entry is my "Epic Games" entry

As I mentioned, this isn't always the case for everyone. Some of us have a lot of passwords saved, and sometimes even multiple for the same site/app, sometimes in different vaults. Your experience is not always the same as someone else's.

press ctrl-o to open the 1Password entry in its extra window

As I mentioned, there's a lot of unnecessary keyboard shortcuts to remember here. My suggestion was to allow us to set this as the default action instead of hiding it away and making "open in browser" the default. Alternatively, they could improve quick access to the point where opening the "new window" isn't required to solve basic tasks. Besides, the point I was making was that trying to log in with quick access (as is the recommended way by 1Password every time the subject comes up) is slower and offers a worse experience. I assume you agree since you admit opt to use the "new window" instead - as do I for the record, hence my comment about the app being faster than quick access.

with the mouse, I drag the username entry from the 1Password window to the Launcher username input field.

This goes against what I can only assume is the official 1Password policy of "use the shortcuts" given how often that's their response whenever the subject comes up. Which again, was the point I was making. Why can't we drag and drop from quick access without having to open the "new window" to so it? And if they're so keen on pushing us towards keyboard shortcuts, why not have a shortcut which works the same as dragging and dropping? Just hide the window and auto type the username/password where the cursor already was before opening quick access.

But once I unlocked 1Password, it stays unlocked except I explicitly lock it. I activated Windows Hello use and TPM use, so it's not required to ever enter the full long account password, except once every 30 days.

Not everyone has the same setup and therefore not everyone has the same experience. Some people have stricter security requirements that prevent them from keeping their password manager unlocked indefinitely. Some people don't have access to Windows Hello or TPM. And those experiences are suffering and being shrugged off as user error or the feature working as intended by 1Password support when clearly it's not. My point was that it's not a great way to be treating paying customers who are having a bad experience.

In my opinion, this is a very acceptable workflow that's hard to make even shorter:

Great. You're entitled to that opinion. You do agree that other people are also entitled to their opinions as well though, right? Like the one that it's not an acceptable workflow and is actually fairly trivial to make the process shorter and simpler. Again, as I mentioned, all the pieces to do so are already in place, they just aren't wired up. I provided suggestions of how this could be done.

Don't use copy+paste!

"Don't use the application in the way the developers designed and intended it to be used" is not a valid criticism of my opinion. If anything, it only backs up what I was saying: there's a problem with the official recommended workflow which needs to be addressed - hence my very long and detailed comments.

If there was a TOTP input required, it would just be a 3rd field to drag+drop from 1Password to the app.

Again, the discussion is about quick access (not 1Password) and how it's very much not working as advertised to the point that we need to use the "new window" or full app to get basic functionality that should be there. As it stands, quick access is how 1Password is recommending that users interact with the software but it doesn't even have feature parity with the 1Password app itself for the most basic functionality expected of a password manager - filling in passwords.

TL;DR just to sum up my point here so you don't have to read through my more detailed comments: if you find that more often than not you're only using quick access to launch the application (either the full app or the "new window") so you can do what you need to do, then there's clearly a usability issue with quick access itself which needs to be addressed. It's not fulfilling the purpose it's claiming to serve and for some reason 1Password doesn't seem interesting in doing anything about that. It's great that you found a workaround that you're happy with, but it doesn't mean there isn't a problem. As I mentioned a few times, I want to like quick access. I want to use quick access. I can see a lot of potential benefit to it, but the way it's working now is insufficient to the point where we as users have to work around it rather than with it. I just want to see it improved and turned into something more usable.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience and thoughts on the matter. I hope you have a great day.

@Kirlac

It's great that you found a workaround that you're happy with,

No, I'm not using any workaround. I investigated the tools I was given, and I'm just using these tools in a way it's genuinely best for the given task.

As far as I see it, you've lost yourself in a death spiral of "it's so awful to work with, and it gets even more awful the more I think about it". Take a fresh, a different approach. Free yourself. Forget what you've done before, because it's clearly not working for you. So why do you insist on it? I also don't know why you deny drag+drop. Give it a chance.

The key to efficient work with quick access is really just ctrl-o and drag+drop. If your search results in a large result set, use the cursor keys (up+down) to scroll and find the entry you're actually looking for. While browsing, you can use cursor-right to "half open" an entry if you consider it as result, and cursor-left to get back to the result list. All this enables me a lighting fast way to work through a bigger result set.

An additional thing to remember is proper item naming. Find, choose and remember unique descriptions, so you need to type just a few characters to directly find an entry - like my "epi" example for "Epic Game Store".

In the end, you need to realize that you need to adapt to the workflow the app (1Password) is offering. You will not be able to force your personal workflow on the app, if it differs from the intended workflow. If you're unable to adapt, I recommend you're looking for a different password manager product, because if you don't do this, you will just get frustrated and more frustrated. 1Password is too polite to tell, but I'm just some forum user who is able to tell you this truth.

Former Member I don't know why you're so adamant to argue about about this and can't acknowledge that there is room for improvement. Once again, if you actually read and attempted to understand what I was saying, I'm specifically talking about quick access and how it can be improved. I'm not talking about the other tools available outside of quick access, aside from pointing out how they contain functionality which should be in quick access itself.

As far as I see it, you've lost yourself in a death spiral of "I'm going to argue with someone on the the internet who's having a different experience I am even though I don't care to understand what they are saying or acknowledge that their opinion is just as valid as mine and the suggestions they are making would actually improve my experience as well." Take a fresh, different approach. Free yourself. Forget what you think I'm complaining about, because clearly you're getting hung up on whatever strawman you've constructed and are trying to project on me. I'm not some novice user getting frustrated and having a tantrum. I'm a professional software engineer, who builds software for a living, offering feedback on how the software works and can be improved.

I also don't know why you deny drag+drop. Give it a chance.

I've said multiple times that I do use drag and drop. I found that workaround long before you so helpfully suggested it and have given it chance and found that it works better than what quick access currently offers. Hence my suggestions to improve quick access so that functionality can be used from within quick access proper instead of requiring the extra steps to leave quick access to get them.

I'm glad it works for you and you're satisfied with how it's currently working. I really am. That doesn't mean it can't still be improved or that everyone else needs to be satisfied. Please understand that people can have different experiences and opinions, and yours in no more valid than theirs. I'm not saying yours is wrong, you'd do well to learn there's room for both.

In the end, you need to realize that this comment isn't for you. As you yourself admit, you're just some random forum user who didn't take the time to understand what I was saying and for some reason seems to just be looking for an argument. I was offering feedback to 1Password on how their product can be improved. If you aren't in a position to do anything with that feedback, won't take the time to understand where I'm coming from and can't acknowledge that any opinion not matching your own is stall valid, then we don't really have much more to discuss. Maybe stop trying to derail this thread and distract from my attempts to provide feedback. Please move on and find someone else to harass.

Have a great day!

Thank you for both the extremely detailed feedback and for being 1Password customers and advocates.

@Kirlac we appreciate your passion for good software design and we share that passion ourselves.

Quick Access is currently helping many customers access their items quickly, conveniently, and from inside of any app but I agree that we can do more to make Quick Access an indispensable tool for everyone. I’ve passed along your feedback and suggestions to our product and design teams and they’ll consider it as they’re planning future updates to 1Password.

As a side note, is the company still AgileBits or have you fully rebranded as 1Password now? It can be a little confusing distinguishing between 1Password the application and 1Password the company.

I’m sorry for the confusion. The company’s legal name is AgileBits Inc. but 1Password is how we mostly refer to ourselves nowadays.

As a quick reminder to everyone: please be kind. Be respectful of other customers and of the 1Password Team Members that are part of this community. 💙

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