Password Safe Main Window

The main window consists of a menu bar, a toolbar, and the entries of the current database.

The Menubar

The menubar has the following items (shortcuts, where available, are listed next to the item [like this]:

File

For reading and writing PasswordSafe databases. You can create a new database, open an existing one, save the current database, under the existing name or with a new name, and export the database, either to the old, version 1.7, format, or as a text file, readable by a text editor or spreadsheet application.

New Database [Ctrl+N]

Create a new password database. You will be prompted for a new "safe combination", after which a new, unnamed database will be created.

Open Database [Ctrl+O]

Select this menu item open a different password database. You will be prompted to save the current database if necessary/desired. You can see the name of the current database at the top of the main window.

Save [Ctrl+S]

Select this menu item to save the current password database.

Save As

Select this item to save the current password database under a different name. A version under the old name (without the most recent changes) will still exist.

Edit

For adding or deleting an entry, changing an existing one, finding entries with a given text, or manipulating the clipboard, as described below:

Add Entry [Ctrl+A]

Select this menu item to add a password to the current database.

Edit/View Entry [Ctrl+Enter]

Select this menu item to view or change the currently selected entry.

Delete Entry [Del]

To delete an item, highlight its title and select this menu item.

Rename Entry [F2]

(In tree view only) This command allows you to directly edit the name of the currently selected entry.

Find Entry [Ctrl+F]

This command will prompt you for a text to search for in all the text fields (except the password) of all the entries in the database. The number of matches found is displayed. If there is more than one match, repeatedly pressing "Find Next" will select each matching entry in turn. By default, the search is case-insensitive. This can be changed by checking the "Case sensitive search" checkbox.

Add Group

(In tree view only) This command will create a new group, named by default "New Group". The group is automatically selected, and the name is directly editable.

Copy Password to Clipboard [Ctrl+C]

To copy a password to the Windows clipboard, just double-click on the desired title. Or, you can highlight the title and select the Copy Password to Clipboard menu item. You can then paste the password into whichever Windows application requires it. (If the application does not provide a Paste command on its menu, you can still paste by hitting Control-V or Shift-Insert.)
By default, the clipboard will be cleared when you exit or minimize Password Safe.

Copy Username to Clipboard [Ctrl+U]

To copy a username to the Windows clipboard, highlight the title and select the Copy Username to Clipboard menu item. You can then paste the password into whichever Windows application requires it. (If the application does not provide a Paste command on its menu, you can still paste by hitting Control-V or Shift-Insert.)
By default, the clipboard will be cleared when you exit or minimize Password Safe.

Clear Clipboard [Ctrl+Del]

To securely clear a password from the Windows clipboard, select the Clear Clipboard menu item. If another application has copied data to the clipboard, the clipboard will not be cleared.

Perform Auto type [Ctrl+T]

Autotype allows you to send keystrokes directly to the window behind password safe. This allows you to put your user and password into web forms, Terminal
Server Sessions, etc. with out copying and pasting. Invoking Autotype (from the Edit menu or by typing Ctrl+T) does the following:
  1. Minimize PasswordSafe
  2. Paste the Username of the currently selected entry to the current window (the last that was selected before PasswordSafe)
  3. Tab to the next field
  4. Paste the Password value
  5. Simulate the Return key being pressed.
Note that this behaviour may be customized by adding a specially formatted text in the Notes field of an entry as follows:
    autotype:\u\t\p\t\n

This will send username (\u) then a tab (\t) then password (\p) then a second tab then the enter key (\n) - that is, the default behaviour. To send, for example, only the password, the following text should be added "autotype:\p\t\n". '\r' will send the Return key.
In addition, you may change the default delay between characters by \dnnn when nnn is the delay in milliseconds. The default value is 10 milliseconds. To pause for half a second, and then continue at 10 milliseconds per character, you can enter "\d500\d10".

You have to put the cursor in the text box that you need to start receiving the keystrokes before activating this feature.

View

For selecting how the password entries will be displayed. Either as a list, or as a heirarchical tree. Also for selecting the new or old toolbar icons.

Manage

For changing the safe combination (master password) of the currently open database, making a backup copy or restoring from a backup copy, and for setting various options.

Change Safe Combination

Select this menu item to change the Password Safe combination for the current database. Type the combination in the box marked "Safe Combination," then again in the box marked "verify." Then click OK. The OK button will only be activated if you typed the same Safe Combination in the same case both times.

Make Backup

Choose this item to make a backup of the current password database.

Restore from Backup

Select this menu item to restore a previously made backup of a database. The restored version will be unnamed. You will have to give it a name in the Save As dialog if you wish to keep it.

Options

The options dialog box is described here.

Help

Help - For accessing the online help, accessing the project homepage, and for showing the version of the PasswordSafe application.

The Toolbar

The toolbar consists of buttons that provide shortcuts to the most commonly used functions. Move the cursor over a button to get a short description of what it does.

The Entries

Depending on the currently selected view, the entries are either displayed as a flat list, or a tree. When displayed as a list, the entries can be sorted according to the displayed fields by clicking on the title of the desired column. When displayed as tree, the entries can be arranged by catergory, sub-category, etc., providing a means to group related passwords together.