Keeping your passwords secure is growing in importance. It seems like every few months, websites are getting hacked and usernames and passwords are revealed for the world to see. Using the same password on various sites can increase your chances of having your accounts breached on multiple occasions. We know it's way easier to remember one phrase than a ton of different ones. Fortunately, there's password management software out there that can help you keep track of all of your different accounts and their unique logins. 1Password is one of our favorites, because it allows you to create, store, and manage all of those accounts and passwords, as well as store account information, notes, software licenses, and even your credit card information--all without the fear that it'll be discovered by prying eyes.
Read on to learn how to set up 1Password and take the next step toward a more secure online presence.
What You’ll Need
>> 1Password 3 ($49.99, free trial available)
>> 1Password web browser extension
1. Creating a new data file
1Password is available in both the Mac App Store and the AgileBits website. If you download the demo from the developer’s website, you’ll install the application by dragging it to your Applications folder after downloading it to your Downloads folder (or wherever you chose to save it).
Once you've installed the application, launch it and create a new data fiile by pressing the “New Data File” button. 
On the New Data File screen, you’ll be prompted to type a master password, re-type the password to verify it, and then provide a password hint. This password should be kept in a secure place, and should be a phrase or word that you can easily remember. Using this one password in the future, you will be able to unlock all of your other passwords. Click Continue when you've finished typing your password.
2. Installing the Browser Extensions
After creating the data file that 1Password will use to store your website account information, you’ll want to install the 1Password browser extensions so that 1Password can store all of your website login credentials. 
To do this, visit the extension installation page on the AgileBits website (bit.ly/nJesJG). Here, you will be able to download a browser extension for the most-used Mac browsers, including Safari, Firefox, and Chrome.
3. Adding logins
After the 1Password browser extension has been installed for your web browser, you’ll notice a new 1Password icon in your web browser’s toolbar. Clicking on this button will present you with a pop up that asks for your 1Password master password. After authenticating, you’ll see all of your account information stored here. 
To add a new login, navigate to a website that you wish to log into, and enter your credentials as normal. Whenever you try to submit the login form, 1Password will display a bar at the top of the page asking whether you wish to store the login information for this site. Enter a name to save the login as, and then click the Save button. 
Optionally, you can click on the small gear icon beside the Save button in order to turn off auto saving on this site, or all sites.
4. Logging into sites
To use your stored website credentials to login into a site using 1Password, you’ll need to unlock 1Password using your master password. Do this by clicking on the 1Password button. 
Once authenticated, all of your passwords will be visible. Login by clicking on any of the websites under the “Open Login in New Tab” section. This will cause a new tab to open, and then you’ll be logged into the selected site.
You can optionally login to a site by navigating to the login form and clicking one of your login credentials under the “Fill and Submit Login” section.
5. Creating passwords
1Password doesn’t just store passwords, it can also help to create secure passwords for you. To do so, click the 1Password button in your browser and then click on the Password Generator icon in the sidebar of the pop up window. 
Under the password that gets generated, you will see the strength indicator. Below that, you can set the password length, check whether or not the password is pronounceable, select how many digits and symbols are in the password, and check whether to avoid ambiguous characters or repeat characters.
Clicking on the Fill button will automatically paste the generated password into a new account registration form on the webpage you’re viewing. You can also view your generated password history by clicking on that button in the lower portion of this view.
6. Syncing logins with Dropbox
To keep your logins in-sync across multiple Macs, 1Password utilizes Dropbox syncing. To set up Dropbox syncing, open the 1Password application on your Mac and authenticate using your master password. 
Once authenticated, navigate to Preferences > General, and click Move to Dropbox. Follow the instructions, and your data file will be moved to your Dropbox account and synced each time you add a new login to 1Password. 
Using Dropbox is beneficial because you can access your passwords wherever you’re at. Simply log into Dropbox from your web browser, and click your 1Password.agilekeychain file, and then click on “1Password.html” A new window will open, and when you type in your master password, you will have access to all of your stored 1Password content.
Cory Bohon is a freelance technology writer, indie Mac and iOS developer, and amateur photographer. Follow this article's author, Cory Bohon on Twitter.