How To: Configure Dropbox Syncing

This article explains how to configure Dropbox to sync your 1Password data file. While Dropbox is our favorite sync service, there are a few other tools available, such as those listed on our sync solutions page. You should pick a solution that meets your needs.

What is Dropbox?

Dropbox is a file-based sync service and our recommended way to keep your 1Password data in sync between your Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, and other devices. Dropbox is incredibly fast, maintains a revision history of your files, is accessible from any browser (useful when traveling), and enables you to share files with others.

Let’s get started.

Step 1: Create a Dropbox account

Dropbox has an excellent video on their site that shows how to get up and running quickly. Note that your browser will need Flash to watch it; if you don’t have Flash, the page might appear blank.

Step 2: Set up Dropbox on the first Mac

• Open the 1Password app and go to 1Password > Preferences > General
• Click Move to Dropbox
• 1Password will ask you to confirm that you’d like to move your data file to your Dropbox folder. Go ahead and confirm it

Your data file is now being copied to your Dropbox folder, securely uploaded to your Dropbox account, and downloaded to any other computers and devices on which you installed Dropbox. Crucial note: Please wait for the blue sync badge on the Dropbox icon in your menu bar to turn into a green check mark before moving on to the next steps. That green check mark signifies the sync process has finished, and that your data file is ready to sync back down to your other devices.

Connecting Other Macs

To configure 1Password on your other Macs:

1. Set up Dropbox on them using the steps above
2. Make sure you have the latest version of 1Password installed and running
3. Locate your 1Password.agilekeychain file in your Dropbox folder (it’s probably in the very top level of the folder). If it has a green check mark badge, the sync is complete and you can continue. If it has a blue sync badge, you must wait until the badge is a green check mark before proceeding. Failure to do so could result in data corruption
4. Double click the 1Password.agilekeychain file, and 1Password will confirm that you want to use it.

After clicking Yes to confirm, 1Password will configure itself to use this new data file. Since the data file is monitored by Dropbox, any change you make to your data file will be automatically synchronized to all your other Macs. 1Password and its browser extensions will detect these changes and automatically reload the data file, allowing completely automatic and seamless syncing.

Video of Dropbox and 1Password in Action

Don McAllister of ScreenCastsOnline created a great video of using Dropbox to sync 1Password data. Please note that this video was made for 1Password 2 and some of the options are different in 1Password 3, specifically the new ‘Move to Dropbox’ option:

This section was part of a members-only video about using Dropbox, but Don was kind enough to extract the 1Password portion of the video and make it available to everyone.

The high resolution version of the video can be found on our web site.