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How to use the Bitwarden built-in password history tool

JW
authored by:Jack Wallen
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Let me set the stage. You've recently created a new vault entry in Bitwarden and saved it. That new entry is crucial to your job or the new service you've just signed up with. You log into that new account and then do whatever it is you need to do.

But then, drama strikes! The next day, you go to log back into that account and you either can't remember what you named the entry in Bitwarden or, for whatever reason, you cannot find the entry.

What do you do? You could scroll through your entire vault, but if you're like me there are literally hundreds of entries to comb through. Do you take the time to do that, losing precious productivity, or do you give up and create a new account for that website? 

Thankfully, there's another option - the Bitwarden password history tool. This feature offers exactly what it sounds like, a secure way to see the recent passwords you have generated in Bitwarden. This also comes in handy if you generate a password for a new entry and accidentally close it without saving. If you know that was the most recent password you generated, you can easily find it again using this tool.

Now, let's find out how to access that history feature. This blog will walk you through how to use this feature on the desktop application, but you can access the password history tool from the browser extension, mobile app, and web vault as well. 

To install the desktop client, make sure to download the installer for your operating system from the official Bitwarden download page and walk through the installation process. Another piece of good news is that this feature is found on all versions of the desktop client, which means Linux, macOS, and Windows.

And now, how to access that history.

Accessing your Bitwarden history

Open the Bitwarden desktop client and then click the View menu entry. From there click, Password History (Figure 1).

The Bitwarden File menu

Figure 1: The Bitwarden File menu

From the Bitwarden Password History popup (Figure 2), you should see a long list of passwords that have been saved to the clipboard.

The Bitwarden Password History list

Figure 2: The Bitwarden Password History list

The next question is, do you remember which password you're looking for? If it was the last password you copied to your clipboard, all you have to do is click the copy button associated with the entry and you're good to go. If you don't remember, you'll have to use the process of elimination to figure it out. 

Clearing the history

What if you don't want to keep that history intact? At the bottom of the Password History popup is a trash can icon (Figure 3). Click that icon to clean out your history.

Clearing your password history

Figure 3: Clearing your password history is but a click away

And there you go, you've used the Bitwarden password history tool to save yourself some extra work and also learned how to clear your history.

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About the author

Jack Wallen is an award-winning author and avid supporter of open source technologies. He has covered open source, Linux, security, and more for publications including TechRepublic, CNET, ZDNet, The New Stack, Tech Target and many others since the 1990s in addition to writing over 50 novels.

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