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R
rschmetzer
November 24, 2021
Question

Windows 1Password vs Browser extensions

  • November 24, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 2930 views

I use 1Password pretty much to keep track of the hundred or so different userid/password combinations and was recently encouraged to install the Windows app as it was supposed to provide additional functionality in version 8. All I see from the Windows App so far is a considerable additional overhead in the Firefox browser. What am I missing?

1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Not Provided

2 replies

A
Anonymous
November 24, 2021

Nothing, except that the desktop app provides more functionality than the browser extension. If the browser extension is all you need, you're fine. The desktop app helps you to organize your data better. It has tags for customized categories, and the editor is better than the web-based one.
It also has the advantage that you configure it in a way that it shares its unlock with the browser extension, and you can configure the desktop app to conveniently unlock with a pin instead of always having to enter the long master password. So you need to enter your master password only once after every machine reboot, but after that you only need to enter the pin.

I see the browser extension as read-only user of my data, while I see the desktop app as editor and manager of my data.
However, I'm not sure what you mean with "additional overhead" in the Firefox browser.

1P_PeterG
Community Manager
1P_PeterG
Community Manager
November 24, 2021

Former Member has offered some great perspective here!

One of the nice things about the 1Password apps is that they can be used in different ways, or you can omit certain ones entirely.

I likewise think of 1Password in the browser as my "daily driver" - I can do a quick lookup of credentials here, generate a new login, and so on. This is the app that also makes it possible for 1Password to auto-fill passwords into your browser, so I consider it a key piece of software for that reason.

When it comes to more full-featured editing, I much prefer the 1Password desktop app. This is where I do things with Collections, check over Watchtower results, remove any duplicates, erroneous items, or no-longer-valid logins, and work with Secure Notes.

When I need to fill a username / password combination into an app, or pull a login really fast for some other non-browser destination, I use Ctrl + Shift + Space to call up Quick Access.

But that's me - and for the most part, there's no one right way to use 1Password. While we do believe that the apps work best together, if your current setup with 1Password in Firefox is meeting your needs and making things easy, that's great! 😀

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