Tip: Get a little 1Password 3 in Google Chrome (and Opera!) now (Updated)

Google released the first official beta of Chrome for Mac on Tuesday. Many of our customers have been asking for us to support Chrome, so we have both good and bad news about this release. I’ll get the bad news out of the way because I think the good news will make up for it.

The (Temporarily) Bad News

Unfortunately, we have to wait for Google before we can officially support Chrome because extensions were turned off for this release, and Chrome for Mac itself is in a constant state of flux. A lot of under-the-hood changes come fairly frequently - changes you may not see as users, but changes that, as developers, can be quite significant, difficult, and time-consuming to repeatedly adjust for.

These changes are great for progress, but bad for small software shops like us who can’t afford the time and manpower to keep up with such an evolving beta project. Our ability to maintain rapid support response times and update 1Password for the Mac and iPhone would suffer, and I don’t think any of us would want that.

The Good News - Get A Little 1Password in Chrome now!

Update: Thanks to Leo M in the comments below, I’ve updated this process to slim down to just two steps for most users.

If you’re just dying - dying! - to use 1Password in Chrome for Mac right now, the good news is that you can. A little. While we don’t have an official extension that will load in Chrome yet, you can use 1Password 3’s new Logins Bookmarklet feature to create a 1Password bookmarklet in Safari that contains your Logins, then import your Safari bookmarks into Chrome. Here’s a quickie on how to set it up:

1. Create a Logins Bookmarklet in 1Password 3 from the gear menu in the lower left.

Pick which logins and folders you want this bookmarklet to contain, set an access code at the top (make it a good one!), and click “Update Now” in the lower right to add the bookmarklet to Safari.

2. Drag your Logins Bookmarklet from Safari to Chrome

• Open both Safari and Chrome, then resize or move them so you can see both on screen at once.
• In Chrome, choose View > Always Show Bookmarks Bar
• In Safari, choose Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks, then drag the Logins Bookmarklet from Safari’s bookmarks sidebar to Chrome’s Bookmarks Bar

Alternate Version: If you want to import all Safari Bookmarks

Chrome allows you to import all your bookmarks from Safari (and Firefox for that matter). If you go this route instead, you’ll have to move your Logins Bookmarklet to Safari’s Bookmarks Menu or Bookmarks Bar before importing into Chrome, as Chrome cannot see bookmarks in Safari’s “Collections” sidebar.

After performing Step 1 from above, continue here:

2. Organize your Logins Bookmarklet

Because Chrome For Mac does not offer even basic bookmark organization features, you’ll need to organize your Logins Bookmarklet in Safari before importing to Chrome.

By default, 1Password will add your Logins Bookmarklet to Safari’s Collections area, so you’ll need to move it to a more Chrome-friendly location. Open Safari, go to Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks, then click either the Bookmarks Bar or Bookmarks Menu sections. Drag the Logins Bookmarklet into the section or folder you prefer.

3. Import into Chrome

The first time you start Chrome, it will offer to import your information from another browser. If this is your first time running Chrome, Make sure Safari is selected, then click “Start Google Chrome” to perform the import and get to Chroming.

If you have already been running Chrome and need to import your Safari bookmarks, go to Chrome > Import Bookmarks and Settings option to start the import tool manually.

4. Enjoy a little 1Password in Chrome

When you need to log into a site in Chrome, just click your Logins Bookmarklet to open a nifty 1Password overlay window. Type in the Access Code you set in step 1, click the proper Login, and watch the magic happen.

Let us know what you think

The Chrome for Mac beta just came out this morning, so we haven’t had a lot of time to test how our Logins Bookmarklet performs in Chrome yet. It should be able to fill most sites that 1Password can, and it should present only the relevant Logins for each site. As always, though, we’re open to feedback, so comment here or get in touch with support to let us know how it goes.

As a reminder though, official support for Chrome is coming, but we don’t have an ETA to share yet. Google definitely means “beta” this time, so we’re keeping an eye on Chrome’s progress and will enhance it with 1Password as soon as possible.

Super Extra Important Things To Know

• Our Logins Bookmarklet feature is one-way, so you can’t add new Logins to it from Chrome. It was originally designed as a tool to make it easier to use your Logins in Mobile Safari on iPhone and iPod touch, but it just so happens to work fine with desktop, standards-based browsers like Chrome, too
• Just like its name states, the Logins Bookmarklet only does 1Password Logins; it does not bring your 1Password Identities or Credit Cards to Chrome
• Be sure to use a complex password for your Logins Bookmarklet Access Code. You can make it the same as your 1Password Master Password if that’s already pretty strong, but for the ultimate in security, you should probably make it something different. All the usual rules still apply: use a special character or two, use capital and lower-case letters, no plain language words, etc. Just like 1Password, and any password management system for that matter, the security of the information in your Logins Bookmarklet relies on the strength of your Access Code.
• Opera users: After brief testing, Logins Bookmarklets appear to work in Opera 10, too. While our official policy on Opera support is still that we can’t do it because Opera does not (and does not plan to) offer the proper extension support that third parties like us need, a Logins Bookmarklet is at least an option for you.