I am a big fan of the incredibly useful 1Password. The latest beta release (2.8.3.BETA-11) introduces a new keychain format that, among other things, allows 1Password to detect changes made to the file by other programs and reload the changes on the fly. I am using this now to keep my 1P data synchronized between my work and personal accounts on my machine. Here’s what I did:
- In my work account (dza), switch to the AgileKeyChain format by following the instructions.
- Modify the ACL for my ~/Library/Application Support/1Password/ folder to allow my personal account (zamboni) read/write access. I did this using the “Sharing & Permissions” section of the Info dialog for the folder, and then choosing “Apply to enclosed items” from the cogwheel menu in that same section.
- Switch to my personal account.
- Quit 1Password, run the defaults command from the instructions, restart 1Password.
- Export my existing 1Password data in the “1Password Interchange file” format. To do this, choose File -> Export all -> 1Password Interchange File, and save it to a file in my desktop.
- Double click /Users/dza/Library/Application Support/1Password/1Password.agilekeychain and click “yes” to start using that file.
- Import the data from step 5: File -> Import, and follow the prompts. Wait for the data to import.
- Switch back to my work account and verify that the imported items are seen there as well.
This is incredibly useful. I had been trying to use the my1Password service to achieve this, but the service is still not very mature and I had been unsuccessful. With this, I can access my data from both accounts without having to send the data through the network or use any third-party services, which is great.