Username, passwords and groups together with the additional parameters are managed in 4 tabs:
Basic: all necesarry elements for password management
Additional: additional specifications, including history
Dates and Times: expiry and statistics
Password Policy: specific differences to the default
Basic Tab
In this tab the most inportant elements are combined.
The following bits of information are associated with each
password entry:
Group: A name for grouping (organizing) several related entries
Title: A friendly name for a password entry
User name: The user name
Password: The password
Notes: Free-form general notes field
Only the title and password fields are required; all others are optional.
In addition, the field URL may be set in this tab:
URL:
The URL associated with the entry. If this field is not empty, then the "Go" button
is enabled. If the protocol is not specified, then "http://" is assumed
(e.g., "www.foo.net" is the same as "http://www.foo.net").
Go:
If the URL field is not empty, clicking on this button will browse to the specified URL. Clicking with the Control key
pressed (Ctrl+Click) will, in addition, invoke the autotype
function on the opened browser page.
The following notes describe the way URLs are handled in more detail:
By default, Password Safe will use the browser that your
PC usually opens web pages with. If desired, you can specify an
alternate browser by
putting '[alt]' before the URL, e.g., "[alt]http://www.foo.net". This
is useful, for example, if your default browser is Firefox, and you
wish to access a website that works best with Internet Explorer. To
configure an alternate browser, use the Manage->Options->Misc. dialog box.
You can specify an e-mail address such as
mailto:joe@somewhere.com as the URL, in which case your default mailing
application will be invoked by the "Go" button.
If '{alt}' is put before the URL, then it is passed
'as-is' to the alternate browser, that is, without adding 'http://' if
no protocol is specified. This is useful if the alternate browser is a
remote access application, e.g., an SSH client. [ssh] will achieve the
same effect.
If '[autotype]' is found before the URL, then after the
URL has been displayed/actioned, Password Safe then perform the Autotype
action using this entry's Autotype field, or the default value if not
specified.
Additional Tab
Autotype:
If this field
is not empty, the its content replaces the default value for the
autotype function. For more information, see the
"Auto Type" help topic.
Run Cmd: This field can
be used to specify a command or program to be run via the 'Run Command'
action (via the Edit menu, right-click popup menu or Ctrl-R). Password Safe is able to pass arguments to the command
such as the entry's username, password, etc., as described here.
Double click on entry:
This allows you to define what action PasswordSafe will take when
you double-click on an entry. The default is to copy the entry's
password to the clipboard. The default action is set in Manage->Options->Misc..
Password History:
It is possible to configure Password Safe to save the last few passwords of an entry. This can be done either when the entry is created,
or when viewing an existing entry. To view the recent passwords associated with the entry, or to change the number of
recent passwords that are kept, click on the "Password History..." button. This will invoke the Password History
dialog box. The Edit dialog box indicates if previous passwords are kept for the entry, and if so, how many.
Dates and Times Tab
Password
Expires on:To
set a password expiration date, click on the "Set..." button and
specify the desired expiration date, either as an absolute date (e.g.,
"March 17th 2007"), or relative from today (e.g., "30 days from now").
When the exiration date approaches, Password Safe
will notify you upon startup that the password should be changed,
as well as marking the entry in a distinct color.
If you choose "In N days",
then you may specify a "Recurring" expiration. This will cause a
new expiration
date to be calculated based on the specified number of days and when
you change the entry's password. For example, if you create an entry on
January 1st and specify a 5 day recurring expiration. You will get an
expiration notice starting on January 6th. If you change the password
on January 7th, then the new expiration will be on January 12th (5 days
after the password has been set).
To cancel the expiration, click on "Clear".
Date/Time
Information:
These read-only fields help keep track of when the selected entry was
created, last accessed, etc.
Note: Password Safe will
only warn the user when passwords
have expired. It is the user's responsibility to change the password.
Open the database where you wish to place the new entry
From the Edit menu, select Add Entry
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.
Notes:
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
Select the password entry to edit from the list
Select Edit/View Entry from the Edit menu
Note: By default, passwords are obscured. To see
the password associated with the Entry click Show Password.
Add a New Group
Select Add Group from the Edit menu
Enter the Group name
Edit a Group Name
Right-click on the group and select Rename Group
from the drop down list
Note: Group names
can be "nested," placing a group name within/under another group name.