[racer-v]

I keep all my passwords in a text file. I can't imagine remembering them all. I suppose I should keep that file encrypted and synced to multiple devices with rsync or so. Would a password manager give me any advantage over this scheme?

[jobigoud]

A password manager will have an integrated password generator where you can configure the spec (include special chars, brackets, custom characters, etc. or not). And you can keep password spec "favorites". So you can quickly generate a 20-char with special chars and accents password, or an 8-char, only letters and numbers for those websites that requires that.

It will allow you to organize the passwords in a hierarchical way with folders (banks, administration, forums, whatever), and set icons.

It will also keep the date of the last time you modified it. Sometimes this can be useful to know if you are impacted by a breach revealed after the fact. You can also make passwords expire if you like.

You can also add extra data in a way that doesn't clutter the main view. This can be interesting when credentials are more than login/password. For example you could add a PIN there. For my car radio there is a code to enter to make it work after the battery dies, I added the entire procedure to the extra data as I always forget it and it's not intuitive.

I just checked, I have 957 passwords in my KeePass.

[calebh]

Yes, a password manager is just an encrypted database for your passwords. 1Password synchronizes all of your passwords across devices and makes sure everything is secure. You only need to remember a single "master password", which is never sent outside of your local device. In the event that you lose or forget your master password, the password vault is completely unrecoverable.

1Password can also store other information besides passwords such as credit cards, software license numbers, passport numbers, etc. There is also a secure notes feature for storing arbitrary text.

The other password manager that I tried before 1Password is Lastpass. I ended up choosing 1Password since I think it's better designed and overall feels slicker. The /r/lastpass subreddit is littered with complaints about broken updates and bugs...

[PuffinBlue]

You might like this password manager:

https://www.passwordstore.org/

It uses a similar philosophy of encrypting plain text files and you can sync them how you wish. It might do some of the 'heavy lifting' for you.

[osteele]

Sync, browser integration, password generation, audits on password age and duplicates, validation against pwned passwords, shared vaults — nothing that you can't do yourself on top of a text file, if you've got the time and energy for that. TOTP, ACL, secure notes and files — these can't easily be done with a text file, but don't need to be part of a single password management system just because the commercial vendors have added these.

[freeone3000]

No, that's basically what they do, but in a more user-friendly format.

[sushid]

Well if he's not keeping that text file encrypted, I'd argue that there is a very significant difference in his methodology vs 1Password et al.

[i1856511]

Yes. Among the many features a manager app like 1Password would provide is a way for easily pasting in a password to a login field with a simple keystroke.

[justwalt]

I have all of mine on my desktop background, but it's rotated 180 degrees to make it a little harder for would-be hackers.