start with keepass: doing the first data import - with a CSV File: How To do that?

[tarifa]

hello dear Community, 

i need some Instructions for using Calc to import CSV password files into KeePass 2.x.  Well to begin with the beginning: KeePass is a overwhelming and supergreat fantastic, freeware password manager. 
Thank god it is also open-source, making it more secure (you can build it yourself). And i have stored my passwd in the cloud for years.  Those times are gone.  

KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way.  You can store all your passwords in one database, which is locked with a master key. So you only have to remember one single master key to unlock the whole database. Database files are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES-256, ChaCha20 and Twofish). Unfortunately, importing passwords from Calc or CSV files can be a bit tricky and yes: problematic. I have received the error Found invalid data while decoding if the format is invalid. This assumes that we are importing using the 

 

"KeePass CSV (1.x) the old legacy version" import format. I have had a look at the corresponding file format CSV Import Help (over at keepass-info ) for more information. 

The buddies on keepass-info told me to be careful: 

 

- Every value must be enclosed in double quotes. This includes blanks, numbers, and multi-line values.
- The file must be saved as UTF-8 (or ANSI).
- Double quotes must be escaped with with a backslash, like \".
- Back-slashes must be escaped with with another backslash, like \\

 

 

- here is more that i have to follow:   Can i import all my usernames in a csv data formate from Calc - can i do that!?  How to proceeed!?

https://keepass.info/help/base/index.html

 

Quote

KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can store all your passwords in one database, which is locked with a master key. So you only have to remember one single master key to
unlock the whole database. Database files are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES-256, ChaCha20 and Twofish). The database consists of only one file, so it can be transferred easily from one computer to another. Data can also be imported/exported from/to various other  formats (import from more than 40 different formats of other password managers, generic CSV importer, ...). Of course, printing entries is supported, too. KeePass supports groups, which allow you to organize your entries conveniently. For quickly locating specific entries, there are search functions. There are various methods for transferring entry data (like user names and passwords) from KeePass to other applications (clipboard, drag&drop, etc.). 
The powerful auto-type feature can simulate keypresses. KeePass has a strong password generator (you can define allowed characters, length, generation rules, ...). The program features a plugin architecture. Plugins can add features in many areas (integration, transfer, backup, network, even more import/export formats, and much more). As KeePass is open source, you can have a look at its full source code and check whether the security features are implemented correctly.
This documentation applies to KeePass 1.x and 2.x.

 

the question is:  Can i import all my usernames in a csv data formate from Calc - can i do that!?  How to proceeed!?

[tarifa]

On 4/17/2020 at 7:31 PM, tarifa said:

 

 

hi there - some additional things to mention regarding my start with keepass: 

 

 

This is a pretty important topic to me. And i am a Keepass-Beginner -so i am trying to go the first steps.  i do not need more than one inctance on one device.

well i think that i can use Keepass on multiple devices (PCs, Notebook and - even on phones): to do so i think that i could sync them through Nextcloud, which i probably can host on a server at home. But doing a sync via cloud is not the securest way - /(see below the discussion of various methods)

some scenarios:
a friend of mine told me that he has only one install but can launch as many instances of keepass as needed. probably have at least 10 separate databases for verious devices and functions
He also makes usage of Keepass2Android on Pixel. Everything syncs as quickly as OneDrive updates, which is close enough to real-time.

Setup:
Well regarding the Setup here: if i do a install on my home PC, and a install on my notebook. (duuuhh i also can do an install of KeePass Portable on a USB key I use at work so that I don't have to install it on my work computer, )

About the sync:
- i can do this about once a month - in other words how do you think about syncing all the databases once in a month!?
- Well that said: i have many options here: i can synchronise the database via most services across all kinds of devices. But which one is the best method here?!

note: i want to stay safe:
- for example we can sync our database via Dropbox and access it from a Linux machine, a Windows machine and (even the phone)
- but as the database is only single file, we can decide to use local copies as well. And this method does not need to include a Dropbox in the cloud.
if i just copy the database file on the device - eg. my PC, where i want to access it and then i am finished with this step.
This way my database won’t ever reach the internet. i guess that this method is pretty secure.


backup:
What seems very very important to me is the backup:
- i think it is pretty important to never forget to make backups, though!


look forward to hear from you

have a great day

[tarifa]

 

 

first of all - many many thanks for this great forum  -it is really a great place: . Great to be here where we can share ideas, thoughts and discuss everyting.

 

 one question though

 

after  the installation-process of keepass:  what are the next steps.

btw: do you generate a .CSV is one format you can save a spreadsheet in.
 

should we generate a list consisting of the following

 

username - passwd  - pair (eg for this site here) and afterward give the data to keepass!"?

 in other words:  So, once we have generated our list - in their approved style ! - then we could save as 'type Text .CSV'. CSV stands for 'Comma Separated Values' and essentially strips all the spreadsheet formatting out to produce a text file. This file can be then be re-opened should you wish as a spreadsheet ! And this file can be uploaded to keepass - cant it!?

 
in other words: after the installation of keepass - you set a masterpasswd. 

and after this process - do you use the password-generator for the single passwords that you are using for the various sites / etc. etx. !? cf. https://keepass.info/help/base/pwgenerator.html
This password generation method is the recommended way to generate random passwords. Other methods (pattern-based generation, ...) should only be used if passwords must follow special rules or fulfill certain conditions.

Generation based on a character set is very simple. You simply let KeePass know which characters can be used (e.g. upper-case letters, digits, ...) and KeePass will randomly pick characters out of the set.


Defining a character set:
The character set can be defined directly in the password generator window. For convenience, KeePass offers adding commonly used ranges of characters to the set. This is done by ticking the appropriate check box. Additionally to these predefined character ranges, you can specify characters manually: all characters that you enter in the 'Also include the following characters' text box will be directly added to the character set.

The characters that you enter in the 'Also include the following characters' text box are included in the character set from which the password generator randomly chooses characters from. This means that these additional characters are allowed to appear in the generated passwords, but they are not forced to. If you want to force that some characters appear in the generated passwords, you have to use the pattern-based generation.

Character sets are sets:
In mathematical terms, character sets are sets, not vectors. This means that characters cannot be added twice to the set. Either a character is in the set or it is not.

For example, if you enter 'AAAAB' into the additional characters box, this is exactly the same set as 'AB'. 'A' will not be 4 times as likely as 'B'! If you need to follow rules like 'character A is more likely than B', you must use pattern-based generation + permuting password characters.

KeePass will 'optimize' your character set by removing all duplicate characters. If you'd enter the character set 'AAAAB' into the additional characters box, close and reopen the password generator, it'll show the shorter character set 'AB'. Similarly, if you tick the Digits check box and enter '3' into the additional box, the '3' will be ignored because it is already included in the Digits character range.

Supported characters:
All Unicode characters in the ranges [U+0001, U+D7FF] and [U+E000, U+FFFF] except { U+0009 / '\t', U+000A / '\n', U+000D / '\r' } are supported. Characters in the range [U+010000, U+10FFFF] (which need to be encoded in UTF-16 using surrogate pairs from [0xD800, 0xDFFF]) are not supported. Subsequent processing of passwords may have further limitations (for example, the character U+FFFF is forbidden in XML/KDBX files and will be replaced or removed).

 

 

look forward to hear from you 

 

regards