Bitwarden adds a new autofill option right inside form fields

Highly requested by the Bitwarden community, the new inline autofill menu greatly enhances the user experience, enabling users to fill login credentials faster than ever.

The auto-fill icon appears inside relevant form fields and displays a menu of credentials associated with the web service or account. This streamlines the login process, especially when multiple logins are saved for the same site. If a login is not saved for a particular site, simply add new logins to the Bitwarden vault from the menu.

While presenting speed and ease for end users, the autofill feature requires a careful, security-minded approach. Because the autofill process involves injecting code and DOM elements into pages not controlled by the extension, this is especially important for user security.

• The autofill menu will only fill credentials when a user selects a form field they want to interact with. This protects users from potentially malicious form fields or web pages and ensures sensitive information will never be populated without user knowledge. 

• Users have the option to password-protect login information for an additional layer of security when autofilling. 

• Extensive third-party penetration testing was conducted to identify security gaps prior to release

Read more detailed developer information on the strict security measures put in place for inline autofill in the Bitwarden documentation.

Informed by user and community feedback, the inline autofill menu features an accessible and intuitive design that makes it even easier to automatically fill login credentials:

• The autofill menu populates login credentials in the selected form field above all other elements on the web page, so nothing obstructs the menu. 

• The autofill menu reacts to user behavior and repositions itself based on page resizing or scrolling.

• For better accessibility, users can easily navigate login items in the menu via up and down arrows. 

• Login items load gradually in the menu as the user scrolls, instead of all at once, for users with less powerful computers. 

• The autofill menu displays only when a user is logged into the browser extension to minimize distractions.

At release, this feature is off by default for existing users. Follow these steps to enable the feature for your account: 

Step 1: Log in to your account via the Bitwarden browser extension.

Step 2: Select Settings → Auto-fill, then locate the Show auto-fill menu on the form fields dropdown. Select your preferred autofill menu behavior.

Step 3: Disable your browser's default autofill option.

The inline autofill menu is currently available in all supported browsers. Self-hosted support will be coming soon in a future release.

Bitwarden offers a wide selection of autofill methods including keyboard shortcuts, a dedicated context-menu, autofill on page load, manual autofill, and now the inline menu. With comprehensive URL matching, Bitwarden users can also set specific URL requirements that will determine when a login will be offered for autofill. This ensures sensitive information is only shared with trusted websites.

Find the autofill method that best fits your needs in this help article.

Ready to start your password management journey? Secure your online life by setting up a free Bitwarden account, or protect your team or enterprise by initiating a 7-day free trial of a business plan.

Editor's note: As of the September 2024 release, Bitwarden inline autofill now supports cards, identities, and passkeys.