How to keep track of different login types with Bitwarden

How many vault items do you have in Bitwarden? If that number reaches into the hundreds, you fully understand how it can be a chore to find the one you're looking for. Take, for instance, your various email accounts. Let's say your email address is olivia@example.com. Not only do you have an entry for that account, you also use that email address as a username for a lot of other vault entries. So, when you search for olivia@example.com to try and track down the password for that account, you'll wind up with considerably more results than you bargained for.

Fortunately, there are a number of tricks you can use to make this process considerably easier.

First off, the best thing you can do is make use of Folders. Say, for example, you have a number of email accounts (either for yourself or your company). You can create a folder on the web, mobile, and desktop versions of Bitwarden. For this example, click + to the right of FOLDERS and, in the popup, type Email Accounts for the Name, and click the Save button (Figure 1).

Once you've created the folder, track down any of the vault entries associated with email accounts, and edit them to add them to the new folder with the Folder drop-down (Figure 2).

Make sure to click the Save icon to save the changes.

Another very handy trick is to simply name a vault entry in such a way as to indicate the specific use. For example, if you don't have enough email accounts to warrant using a folder, you could always name the vault entry for your email account password something like:

Email Account - olivia@example.com

What if you've added a vault entry for a website or service that uses your Google or Facebook account for the login? For example, you can use your Facebook account to log into Spotify. Instead of adding your Facebook credentials for that entry (which wouldn't work as a Spotify username/password, you might get creative and, in the Username entry, add "Login with Facebook."

Setting the URL/URL for every account in your vault makes it easier to find the item you’re looking for, and also streamlines your login process. If the URL is correct, Bitwarden can autofill your credentials when you land on the login page. This also offers an additional layer of protection against phishing sites that may look nearly identical to the real deal, but the URL is perhaps off by one letter. In this case, Bitwarden autofill will not work, clueing you in to possible phishing activity and giving you the chance to double check your destination. 

Using URLs and URIs also makes it easy to differentiate between standard web logins vs. mobile app logins. If you see an entry that's a URI, it's a pretty safe bet that it's for a mobile app/account. If it's a URL, it's most likely a standard login. For example, a standard Twitter entry will have the URL www.twitter.com, whereas the mobile Twitter app uses the URI androidapp://com.twitter.android. Knowing the difference between these two types can help you identify if a vault entry is for a web browser or mobile app.

It really doesn't take too much effort to keep track of different login types with Bitwarden. And, as always, if there's not a field to help you differentiate, you can always make use of the Notes field to simplify things.

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