How to Use 1Password: Step by Step With Screenshots (2026)

What you need before you start

You need an email address you can open right away, because sign-up sends a 6-digit code there. Decide where you’ll keep the Emergency Kit, the PDF with your Secret Key. 1Password suggests printing it and keeping it with your passport. If your passwords live in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, Brave, or another manager, have that browser or app open for the import step. You don’t need a card for the 14-day trial.

Step 1: Create your 1Password account

Open 1Password’s sign-up page. It first asks you to add the browser extension. Click “Add it later,” then “Skip” on the second prompt. You can install the extension in step 6. Enter your name and your email address, leave the newsletter box as you like, and click “Next.”

Start the 14-day trial

The trial covers the full Individual plan for 14 days with no card. What’s included and what happens on day 15 is on the 1Password free trial page.

Step 2: Enter the code from your email

1Password sends a 6-digit verification code to the address you entered. Mine arrived within a minute on 10/09/2026. The email says the code expires in 24 hours. Type it into the box and click “Next.” If it doesn’t arrive, use “Send again” on the same screen.

Step 3: Set your account password

This is the one password you’ll remember. 1Password asks for 10 or more characters and says plainly that it cannot recover it for you. Type it twice and click “Set account password.” Pick something long that you can type on a phone. Our password generator makes a memorable word-based passphrase if you want one.

Step 4: Save your Secret Key

Click “Generate Secret Key.” Your browser creates a 34-character key, and 1Password shows it with most characters masked. Click “Save PDF” to download the Emergency Kit. The “Next” button only appears after you save it. The kit holds your sign-in address, email, Secret Key, a space to write the account password, and a setup QR code for phones.

You need the Secret Key every time you sign in on a new device or browser. 1Password has no copy, so losing both the kit and every signed-in device locks you out. After this step the sign-up sent me to the sign-in page, where the email and account password opened the account.

Step 5: Import your passwords from your browser or another manager

In the web app, click “New Item” and then “Migrate data into 1Password.” On 10/09/2026 the screen listed five browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, Brave), ten password managers including Bitwarden, Dashlane, LastPass, KeePass, iCloud Keychain, and RoboForm, and a CSV file. Pick your source and follow the prompts. The help center says the web app takes CSV files with logins, credit cards, and secure notes.

If you export a CSV from a browser first, delete that file when the import is done. It holds your passwords in plain text. The reverse direction, exporting from 1Password, works only in the desktop and mobile apps, not in the web app, per the help center.

Step 6: Install the browser extension

The extension is what fills passwords on websites. On 10/09/2026 the Chrome Web Store listed “1Password – Password Manager” by AgileBits Inc with 7,000,000 users and a rating of 3.1 from 3.5K ratings. Click “Add to Chrome,” confirm the browser’s prompt, then click the 1Password icon in the toolbar and sign in with your email, account password, and Secret Key. 1Password also lists extensions for Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Brave on its downloads page.

I didn’t install the extension in the test browser, so the autofill steps above come from the help center and the store listing. The listing says the extension requires a 1Password membership and now supports passkeys.

Step 7: Save your first login and generate a password

Click “New Item,” choose “Login,” and type a title and your username. Click into the password field and choose “Create a New Password.” The generator opened with Random Password, 20 characters, numbers on, and symbols off. Change the length or switch to a memorable password, click “Use,” add the website address, and click “Save.” My saved item showed the password hidden with the strength “Fantastic.”

Step 8: Turn on two-factor authentication

Open Manage Account from your name at the top right, click “More Actions,” then “Manage Two-Factor Authentication.” On a new account the page says two-factor authentication is turned off. Choose “Set Up App” to scan a QR code with an authenticator app, or “Add a Security Key” for a YubiKey or similar. The help center recommends a separate authenticator app rather than storing the code in 1Password itself, and says to write down the 16-character secret shown next to the QR code.

With 2FA on, new devices need the code once. Existing devices aren’t asked again unless you sign out or change your password or Secret Key.

How to log in to 1Password

Go to my.1password.com. The page remembers your email on a browser you’ve used before, so you only type the account password. On a new device it also asks for the Secret Key from your Emergency Kit. The apps and the extension sign in the same way, and the Emergency Kit’s QR code fills everything on a phone.

Watchtower: check your passwords for problems

Watchtower sits in the web app’s sidebar and in every app. It scores your vault and lists weak, reused, and breached passwords, sites where you could add 2FA or a passkey, and expiring items. On my new account it showed a score of 1000, “Fantastic,” and one alert: the account was missing a recovery code. Clicking “Set up” starts the recovery-code flow in Manage Account.

Generating a password without 1Password

If you only need one strong password right now, you don’t need an account. Our password generator runs in your browser, sends nothing anywhere, and makes random or word-based passwords. 1Password’s own generator inside the app does the same for every new login.

Common problems and how to fix them

The sign-up keeps asking me to install the extension

It asks twice. Click “Add it later” on the first screen and “Skip” on the second. The name and email form appears after that. You can add the extension in step 6.

The verification code didn’t arrive

Check spam for a message from 1Password, then use “Send again” on the code screen. Each code is valid for 24 hours. If the address was wrong, “Go back” lets you change it.

I lost my Secret Key

Sign in on a device that’s still signed in, open Manage Account, and click “Save Emergency Kit” or “Show” next to the Secret Key. If no device is signed in, 1Password can’t recover an Individual account; a family organizer can recover a Families member.

The trial ended and I can’t edit anything

That’s the read-only mode. A trial without a payment method freezes on day 15: you can view and copy items but not add or edit them. Subscribe under “Billing” to unfreeze it. Prices and the cancel steps are on the 1Password pricing page.

When to contact support

Email support@1password.com or use the contact form on 1Password’s site. The plans page promises “24/7 support.” My email on 10/09/2026 at 5:03 a.m. ET got an automatic ticket reply in under a minute; a person had not answered by the time this page was written.

U.S. customer card

Next steps

• See what you’d pay and how to cancel on the 1Password pricing page.
• Read the full 1Password review for the vault, Watchtower, support, and owner reports.
• Compare it with a free alternative in Bitwarden vs 1Password.

Try 1Password

What we checked

• Test account: 14-day Individual trial opened 10/09/2026. Steps 1 to 5, 7 and 8 were done in that account the same day in a desktop browser (web app). Step 6, the Chrome extension, was captured on the Chrome Web Store page and read in the help center, not installed
• Not checked: the desktop and mobile apps, Families sharing, and passkey sign-in

FAQ

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