Tag System vs. Folder Structure

You know the feeling: You have to put a file on the server and can’t find the right folder or there are too many matching ones? But as you know life is not black and white. So why should it be the same for our passwords and files? Find out how Password Safe cleans up the folder structure and creates space for new systems by tagging …
The first question is: “How do I map my company in Password Safe? Version 8 provides you with a simple answer! We said goodbye to the conventional folder structure for several reasons. Password Safe now shows its colors – with the integration of a tag system: Individually highlighted tags in color now ensure that a password can be assigned to several buzzwords by right click at once. The tags are easily visible in the list view as well as in the header of the password.

Neither fish nor flesh – where does the Password fit in?

In the folder structure, elements such as passwords must be clearly assignable to the folder. For example, if a password is important to more than one department, then the issue is whether it should be stored in just one or more folders. This can lead to confusion and heighten the risk of not finding the password anymore.  The tag system provides you with an elegant solution: Passwords can now be assigned as desired and found quickly and easily.

How to display Permissions in a Folder Structure?

The second challenge with the folder structure is the respective permissions. This is because what we know in the field of hierarchical folder structures – e.g. NTFS file server structures – applies just as much to Password Safe: The more complex an authorization system becomes, the more difficult it is to represent. This is why Password Safe offers a container structure which is kept as flat as possible and groups employees and their functions into organizational units. This limits all manual effort to the minimum! The simpler the structure of the organizational units, the better the system’s performance and the easier it is to understand.

Tagging with Quick Search in Practice

Stephan is Social Media Manager at the agency Presto. He has just opened Password Safe to find a specific password. In his job, time is of the essence. Therefore, he uses a shortcut to call up the quick search. Stephan enters the tag “Social Media” in the search field to get all the passwords for social media accounts. Using Password Safe he need not dig through long folder paths anymore, but can assign his passwords any number of keywords for categorization

The quick search function also transports his search query to the content filter: Password Safe not only searches for tags but also for “social media” in all Password Safe fields. Using a syntax, Stephan can extend the search even further, for example by additionally entering the tag “Video” to search for all video platforms such as Vimeo or YouTube. Stephan can thus use shortcuts alone to filter out exactly those passwords from a very large set that are important to him at the moment, for example, to use them for login. (Of course, the syntax also works exactly the other way round, for example, if Stephan wants to display all social media passwords except those of video platforms – simply by setting a minus instead of a plus). With a folder structure, Stephan would have had to laboriously collect all information from different folders, click back and forth and work with several tabs. This is a thing of the past with version 8!

Tips for people switching to the tagging function

Since Stephan had only worked with folder structures before version 8, it was not so easy for him to get used to the new tag structure. But with a little trick he was able to get used to the new tag structure very quickly: At the beginning he always thought about which folder he would have put the password into and which folders would have been the most important ones – and then he had the categorical buzzwords! In the meantime, the tag function and quick search are a must for Stephan to display and output individual lists in Password Safe quickly and easily and to create passwords!

Have a look at all functions in Password Safe here

July 8, 2020|
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