User Names, Passwords, and Groups: Basic

Username, passwords and groups together with the additional parameters are managed in 4 tabs:

Most labels in the Basic and Additional Property Pages are Smart Labels. This means that when you click on them, the current contents of the relevant field are copied to the clipboard. The label will flash green to show that the data has been copied. The currently supported labels are:

Basic Tab

In this tab the most important elements are combined.

Edit/View Entry

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 a short/brief amount of text and has a character limit of 30,000. 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.

The Notes field contents may be edited using an external editor by right-clicking on the field. Note however, that the contents will saved temporarily on disk in clear text. In addition, some external editors will use an existing instance to edit the temporary text file and this will cause Password Safe to immediately return leaving the data unchanged even though the temporary text file is still available in the external editor. If the external editor supports it, it is possible to specify command line parameters to force a new instance for editing the Notes field to prevent this (for example: "-multiInst" for the Notepad++ editor). See "Manage → Options → Misc.". If you do specify command line parameters, do not enclose them in quotes unless your chosen external editor requires them. The value you specify will be used as-is with no changes.

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


The following notes describe the way URLs are handled in more detail: 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 based on 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.


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. Protected entries will be indicated in red at the bottom of this tab.

Edit/View Entry