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Tell HN: Bitwarden does not export attachments in backups

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Tell HN: Bitwarden does not export attachments in backups

#21

Post by longrod »

This makes a lot of sense. I use Notesnook [0] which also encrypts everything client side. It also doesn't export attachments in the automatic backups. I asked the devs and this is done to save user's bandwidth and also to make everything more reliable. Suppose the user's internet is slow or metered, what should be done then? Would the backup never be taken? That's obviously a bad idea since the notes are too important not to backup.

So it makes a sacrifice on the attachments to make sure backup of the more important stuff keeps working even when there's no internet. Moreover downloading all the attachments takes a lot of time and doing it every day (or whatever interval) wouldn't be a good user experience.

I think the Notesnook guys were thinking of adding cloud-to-cloud backups for attachments to work around this reliably.

[0] https://notesnook.com

Re: Tell HN: Bitwarden does not export attachments in backups

#22

Post by rsstack »

fomine3 wrote: post #15
johnchristopher wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe businesses forbid attachments in the first place or maybe they haven't realized and are okay with what being now locked in the service. Isn't the bitwarden client opensource enough or the implementation free that someone could come in and modify the export functionality or add the functionality to the API ?

Probably enterprises don't want export feature by user.

Organization export is separate from the user export and it's only available to administrators.

I just checked - it's using the same code and is missing attachments too.

Re: Tell HN: Bitwarden does not export attachments in backups

#23

Post by rsstack »

dspillett wrote: post #13
laurent123456 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm wondering why their enterprise clients are ok with this though. I would have thought they'd get more pressure from them since most businesses would not want to lose all their attachments if there's a problem.

Perhaps attachments isn't an enterprise priority over things like SSO support and other features that have seen changes and additions?

I only noticed attachments exist after this post. They are pretty hidden away and there are other ways to store SSH keys that do get included in the export.

Re: Tell HN: Bitwarden does not export attachments in backups

#24

Post by richardw »

capableweb wrote: post #9
AnonHP wrote: post #8

Bitwarden pivoted to serving enterprise needs (like SSO, collaboration) a few years ago and hasn’t given much attention to improving the basic product itself (there still aren’t additional types, like licenses, WiFi passwords, etc.). You can file this as an issue and wait.

Just like every other product initially launched for consumers, eventually pivoting to enterprises and forgetting about the little guy. Seems it's impossible for people to run companies for the average consumer. Are their cash-flow really so bad they can't help themselves going into the enterprise market or is there something else going on?

Without meaning to disparage the OP, enterprises don’t put you on HN when their feature isn’t supported. They pay enough to focus the mind on important features.

Enterprises are an 80/20 play. Keep your top clients happy and you’ll be fine. The first time you get a large order you realise that’s where your focus should be.

Re: Tell HN: Bitwarden does not export attachments in backups

#25

Post by ancientsofmumu »

Quick note, the Secure Note field can store up to 10k characters (I think it is, last I looked) post-encryption - that's typically big enough for most SSH key types, but may not be big enough for some GPG key exports - I have one GPG key armor export too large to fit. Point being you can stuff a good amount of info in those Notes most times to get exported, but there is a limit to be aware of - the client should fail to save the data once you've crossed that limit if I recall correctly, red error text etc.

Re: Tell HN: Bitwarden does not export attachments in backups

#26

Post by jmull »

... is there some better way to back up your bitwarden data than export?

Because if not, then I don't understand this. If you can't back up attachments, they can't be used for anything important. If they can't be used for anything important, then what are they for?

It would be better to not have attachments at all than not let people back them up.

Re: Tell HN: Bitwarden does not export attachments in backups

#27

Post by gonehome »

leetrout wrote: post #14

I went to bitwarden from dashlane that didnt even export secure notes https://www.reddit.com/r/Dashlane/comments/gfwyvo/comment/fq... This is the same thing again. I switched to 1password before all the funding and feel like there arent any viable alternatives now. Edit: to be clear this isnt me on reddit this thread is just what backed up bitwarden.

1Password remains really great imo - people seem to use worse alternatives for ideological reasons but I don’t think there are any that are actually better.

Re: Tell HN: Bitwarden does not export attachments in backups

#28

Post by hotpotamus »

Youden wrote: post #4

It's been raised but doesn't appear to be a large enough issue to be put on the roadmap: https://community.bitwarden.com/t/allow-attachments-to-be-ex... The project is open-source, maybe send them a pull request?

I like Bitwarden and open source, but attachments are a paid feature for them, so you'd be essentially working to add value to their paid features for free. That feels unfair to me.

Re: Tell HN: Bitwarden does not export attachments in backups

#29

Post by Aeolun »

hotpotamus wrote: post #28
Youden wrote: post #4

It's been raised but doesn't appear to be a large enough issue to be put on the roadmap: https://community.bitwarden.com/t/allow-attachments-to-be-ex... The project is open-source, maybe send them a pull request?

I like Bitwarden and open source, but attachments are a paid feature for them, so you'd be essentially working to add value to their paid features for free. That feels unfair to me.

I think you’d be working to add quality to your backups for free. Sure, they’d also give it to other customers, but what matters is that you have it (and henceforth do not have to maintain your own fork).
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