strongbox-password-safe
Ability to Open Multiple Databases (similar functionality to KeeAutoExec)
It would be awesome to be able to have multiple databases open and searchable at the same time. I.e. Personal/Family/Business databases simultaneously. And also be able to decide which one to add to when saving new passwords.
I am currently in the testing phase of the Pro version. This is currently the only feature I'm missing with Strongbox. Otherwise, I am very satisfied so far.
Thanks @m-a-v - Can you describe how you see setting this up in the UI, how you would expect it to look/work?
Glad it's working out well for you otherwise
From a user perspective, this probably only makes sense if you have a handful of databases. But I can well imagine that this scenario could exist relatively often. For me personally, it's also similar to @jramer in that I have about 3-4 databases that I want to keep separate.
In Strongbox it probably only makes sense to use an automatism like Face-ID for opening, to then unlock all (selected) databases in the background. Then you would simply have to consider the prefix of the corresponding database in the searches. If there are multiple entries, the entry/entries of the main database should probably get a higher weight. Or do you see problems there?
I think the most important thing would be the search. Otherwise it probably doesn't bother so much if you have to open the corresponding database explicitly. Searching in other databases probably happens much more often than saving in other databases.
Any news on this feature? This is really the only thing that I find quite annoying at the moment. Still, I've decided to buy the lifetime version. It would be nice to see some progress in that area.
Ha @m-a-v - No news here, I'm afraid this is not something we can get to in the super near term.
Just to clarify, this request is for iOS right? not MacOS? Thanks for your support :)
OK. The way I see this possibly working is that you could define a group of databases. You would need to enable Convenience Unlocking for all members of the group so that Strongbox can automatically unlock with one Face ID/PIN Code entry.
From there you'd have a union of all entries which you could search through.
I'm unsure about adding an entry to group, seems niche to me. The primary use case really seems to be search.
I have distinct databases/files. How would I define a group of databases in Strongbox?
Yes, the primary use case is search. If this would work better/faster than I would be very happy (without loosing the ability to have separate databases).
The idea is you would just define it yourself, e.g. Create a Group > Add Databases already in your list > Give it a name. The group displays in a separate section of the main Databases List screen. A tap on that + Convenience Unlock unlocks all databases in the group for search/browse.
Uh this would be great... I have 3 databases that having to flip between is a pain. Unified search and group unlock would make the flow so much easier
Any update on this? I would really appreciate this "search across databases" functionality.
Hi @ralphzimmermann - No update as such, we might be able to do something here as part of the Browser AutoFill component which we hope to add this functionality.
This could be extended beyond search, to a single merged "All Databases" view of all open databases (or a custom manual selection of them). This would make items appear as if they were part of a single database, with Strongbox doing the necessary bookkeeping in the background for each distinct physical database. This way for example a private and family shared-database could be used as a single list of items.
~~Another useful feature would be to allow moving/copying entries between databases.~~
On macOS you can drag entries between open and unlocked databases. And iOS you can do it as well in the menu option.
I'd really like to see this happen, I like to separate my personal, business and client databases but it's quite annoying juggling them at present, it would be great if they could show up in separate tabs perhaps.
Hi @sammcj - Could you describe how you see this working? This is for iOS or macOS? What is the requirement you are looking for here?
@strongbox-mark I think you've outlined a really good solution here:
https://github.com/strongbox-password-safe/Strongbox/issues/401#issuecomment-793635971
I now have several databases which I want and need to keep separate as several people access them. Would be awesome if we could get a solution with the groups with search function. I would welcome that very much.
That seems like quite a sensible suggestion, being able to have multiple tabs (of databases) at the top of the app window could be nice though to limit searching / browsing to a specific database (useful when separating work secrets from personal secrets).
Hi @sammcj - You should already be able to have multiple tabs at the top of the window, what are you seeing?
@strongbox-mark they show in completely separate windows for me, and selecting the view->show tabs doesn't merge them into a tabbed view.
What happens if you go Window > Merge All Windows? Tab support is native macOS (nothing custom) so this should just work like any other app.
@strongbox-mark Actually, when I wrote above my first contributions to this issue, I meant we are talking about the iOS application. It would be great to have multiple databases combined (absolutely OK if only in a read-only mode).
That's very odd, what version of macOS are you running? Are you using Stage Manager?
It might be worth trying a full Factory Reset on Strongbox (Settings > Advanced > Factory Reset) but make sure you backup or know where all your databases are, this removes all Strongbox settings and databases (does not delete database files).
FWIW, I'm also seeing the "Merge All Windows" menu grayed out. Running macOS Ventura 13.4.1
@ericmoret Interesting, and presumably you have more than 1 database open? Does the Factory Reset mentioned above help? Are you using Stage Manager?
@ericmoret Interesting, and presumably you have more than 1 database open? Does the Factory Reset mentioned above help? Are you using Stage Manager?
Indeed, 2 databases opened and not using Stage Manager. Not too keen on performing a factory reset of Strongbox.