All Your Passwords in the Cloud: How to Use Dropbox with KeePass

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KeePass and Dropbox: A match made in heavenThere are two types of people in this world: those who use different passwords for each website, and those who use the same or similar password for all their logins.

Oh, you may think using your birthdate or “123456” going to outsmart the hackers, but you’re wrong.

But how are you going to organize, store, and access all your passwords?  Easy.  Dropbox and KeePass.

You can use KeePass to store all your login information in an encrypted file, which can only be unlocked by you.  You can then use Dropbox to bring this file to all your mobile devices.  The best part?  They’re both free and work on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more.  In other words, they work on everything.

For this tutorial, I’ll be using my Windows PC and Android phone, but the same process applies to other operating systems.

Get KeePass

Get KeePass for your desktop computer.  For Windows, you can download either the EXE installer, or the zip file if you want to use it without installing.

For Android, we’ll be using KeePassDroid.  iOS users can use MiniKeePass.

Get Dropbox

https://www.dropbox.com.  Download it for every device you want to access your passwords on.

KeePass, Meet Dropbox…

Open KeePass and select File > New.  Create a new password database and enter a strong password that only you will remember.  You can also write it down and put it in an actual safe, in case you ever forget.

Now, put your newly created .kdb file into DropBox, and get ready for some hot Dropbox on KeePass action.

Dropbox with password database

Bingo!  You can now access your passwords from anywhere, safely and securely.

Limitations

Although KeePass and Dropbox are both great (and free), there are a few caveats. On Android, KeePassDroid has read-only support for KeePass 2.x files.  This isn’t so bad, because 1.x is pretty much the same as 2.x.  Most users won’t even need the extra features.

Also, Dropbox needs to be running on your mobile device in order to update your password database.  The app “listens” in the background to upload any changed files.  This means if you open your password database by running the KeePass app, you’ll probably access a cached local file.  This is fine if you just need read-only access, but if you want to add a password you’ll need to open it within the Dropbox app.

Geoff Akerlund

Geoff Akerlund

Geoff Akerlund is the founder and editor-in-chief of BackupReview.com. He enjoys attending music festivals, whitewater kayaking on the American River, and board game nights in his free time.

Geoff Akerlund

@backupsoftware