How to import passwords into 1Password

Jack Wallen walks you through the process of importing passwords from a CSV list into 1Password.

At this point in our timeline, strong passwords have become tantamount to security. The problem is that many people are stuck in the early 2000s and are using simple passwords they can memorize. Unfortunately, those simple passwords are easily hacked.

What do you do? Start using complicated passwords and attempt to memorize every one of them? That’s a recipe for disaster. Instead, you should be using very complicated passwords and save them to a password manager. By doing this, you only need to memorize one strong password to gain access to a vault filled with your passwords. Some password managers even allow you to add multi-factor authentication to further secure those vaults.

But which password manager should you use? The good news is that whatever password manager you start using, you can always migrate to a new one with more features and more security, such as 1Password.

With 1Password, you can import vaults from other password managers with ease, so you can migrate from your old tool to one that is often tagged as best-in-class.

But how do you import your current password vault into 1Password? Let me show you.

SEE: Password breach: Why pop culture and passwords don’t mix (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

What you’ll need

I’m going to demonstrate the process of importing a CSV (Comma Separated Value) list of passwords, as nearly all password managers can export vaults to that type of list and 1Password supports such imports. That means you’ll need to have exported your password vault from your current manager to a CSV file. How this is done will depend on the password manager you use.

You’ll also need an active 1Password account to import the file into.

How to import the CSV file into 1Password

If you’re not sure how to export your current vault to a CSV file, you’ll want to consult the documentation of the password manager you currently use. For example, with Bitwarden, that export is done from File | Export. Make sure you select CSV as the file format and then save the exported .csv file.

Once you have your CSV file saved to your computer, log in to your 1Password account. The one caveat is that the desktop client doesn’t appear to have an Import option, which means you must handle the process through the web version of 1Password.

After logging into your 1Password account, click the drop-down associated with your name at the top right corner of the interface and click Import (Figure A).

Figure A

In the resulting window (Figure B), click Other.

Figure B

In the next window (Figure C), either drag your CSV file from your desktop file manager into the blue rectangle or click Or Select a File From Your Computer.

Figure C

After adding your file, click Continue. You will then see the mapping of the entries. Look through the columns (Figure D) to make sure each heading matches the content of the column.

For example, make sure the contents of the name column are actually the names of the entries from the app we exported from. You must add labels for each used column, as otherwise the import will fail.

Figure D

Once you’re satisfied with the mapping, click Continue and the import process will finish. Depending on how many entries you have, this can take anywhere from 1-5 minutes.

When the import completes, you’ll be presented with a report showing how many items were added (Figure E).

Figure E

Congratulations, you’ve just imported all of your passwords from your old manager and into 1Password. Those passwords should immediately sync with your desktop and mobile apps as well as the web browser add-on.

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