User Names, Passwords, and Groups: Basic

Username, passwords and groups together with the additional parameters are managed in 5 tabs:

Basic Tab

This tab has the most important and commonly used elements.

Edit/View Entry - Notes displayed Edit/View Entry - Custom Values displayed

The following bits of information are associated with each password entry:

Only the Title and Password fields are required; all others are optional.

The Notes field is intended for short texts, and is limited to 30,000 characters. Whilst it is possible to add more than this limit when the entry is added, warnings will be issued when the database is re-opened. The Notes field will be truncated to this limit if the entry is edited. However, if the entry is protected or the database is opened in read-only mode, then it can be viewed without any truncation.

Custom Fields is where you can add your own named fields to each password entry. For each custom field, you can specify a name and a value, as well as specifying if the value will be displayed or displayed as "******" (masked). There's no limit on the number of custom fields you can add, but each field name must be unique for the entry, and cannot be empty. To copy a value to the clipboard, right-click the entry, select Copy Custom Field Value from the context menu, and then select a custom field.

In addition, the following fields may be set in this tab:


A few details about URL handling: The email address is according to the standard rules (per RFC 2368):

Creating a New User Name and Password Entry

  1. Open the database where you wish to place the new entry
  2. From the Edit menu, select Add Entry
  3. Enter information into the Edit/View Entry dialog fields as necessary

Note: If a Group name is selected and then a new entry added, that entry will have that Group name prefilled in the Edit/View Entry dialog. If a name of a new group is added to the Group field, that Group will be created.

Generating and Editing Passwords

If you wish, you can enter your own password into the password field manually, or you can have Password Safe generate a new one using the current Password Policy. To have Password Safe generate a password, just click on Generate in the Edit/View Entry dialog. If you're unhappy with the result, you can click on Generate again, or edit the password manually. A strength meter underneath the Password field gives a rough indication of the strength of the password. Red indicates a weak password, Yellow a medium-strength one, and Green indicates a strong password.


Note: If you're using a "single sign-on" system that allows you to share the same password across different machines/servers/applications, etc. you can setup Password Safe entries accordingly, so that changing one password affects all other related entries. This is called "aliasing" entries, and is explained in detail here.

Editing Existing Entries

  1. Select the entry to edit from the list
  2. Select Edit/View Entry from the Edit menu

Editing Existing Entries via the Tree View

  1. Select the entry to edit from the list then:
  2. Select Edit/View Entry from the Edit menu OR
  3. Right-click on the entry and select Edit/View Entry from the context menu
  4. You can change the fields that are displayed in the tree view directly. To do so:

Notes:
  1. By default, usernames and passwords are not displayed in the Tree View. Displaying the username and the password are controlled by preferences (see: Display Tab). They work in a hierarchy i.e. passwords can only be displayed if usernames are displayed.
  2. Also by default, passwords are obscured when editing the entry. To see the password associated with the entry click Show Password when editing it.
  3. The title and password are the only mandatory fields for an entry. Therefore, if they are omitted during rename, they will retain their previous values. However, you may clear the username field, as long as it is being displayed, by entering "[]" during the rename implying an empty value.
  4. Since square and curly brackets are used to delimit the username and password, it is NOT possible to rename an entry in place (e.g. using F2) if the title, username (if displayed) or password (if displayed) contain any of these characters. Instead, you must Edit the entry either via the Edit menu or by the right-click context menu as indicated above.

Add a New Group via Tree View

  1. Select Add Group from the Edit menu
  2. Enter the Group name

Edit a Group Name


Notes:
  1. Group names can be "nested" i.e. placing a group name within/under another group name.
  2. A group cannot be renamed to multiple groups through the Rename Group menu item or shortcut, i.e., group "a" cannot be renamed to "x.y".

Protected Entries

If the entry is protected, you will not be able to change any fields until you unprotect the entry via the Edit menu or right-click context menu.

Edit/View Entry