How to sign-in using autofill

Windows version of Password Agent can autofill sign-in forms on web sites or in software programs semi-automatically with user ID and password stored in your password database file. Password Agent is self-contained program that does not use any web browser plug-ins, meaning hassle free use when switching between different web browsers. Using autofill with global hot keys may seem complicated, but actually it is not – it just takes a bit practice and you’ll soon find it convinient and easy.

Security note: To autofill text from Password Agent to another application simulated keystrokes are used, as you were typing the text on keyboard, meaning that potential malicious key logging programs in your system will be able to capture your logins sent using autofill the same way it can capture your logins entered on keyboard. Thus autofill function is not more secure than typing your login by keyboard, it just offers automation.

Types of autofill

  1. Autofill matching item (from version 2016) is the most automated way of autofill – you browse the web and if you require to log in then just select the text box where to send login credentials and press global shortcut key to initiate autofill. There is no need to leave your web browser as Password Agent running on the background will automatically find the item matching to current web page and will fill the matching item fields to text box you have selected. This requires that you have assigned given web site link (or server part) to an item in your database, so matching item will be found by current web site URL. You don’t need to have an item selected in your password database.
  2. Classic autofill requires you to manually select an item in Password Agent first, then switch to web browser or destination app, select text field where to send your login and press global shortcut key to invoke autofill. Fields from selected item in Password Agent will be filled. This type requires more manual work.

Both require Password Agent to be running on the background with a password database unlocked (master password entered). Power users will likely use both types on different cases.

Prerequisite to use autofill

To use autofill you’ll need to disable web browser’s autocomplete for passwords, otherwise both Password Agent and web browser itself may try to fill in your sign-in form simultaneously. If that is the case, Password Agent will typically show you a notification about how to disable web browser’s autocomplete.

Autofill matching item – step-by-step example

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Item detail pane showing web site URLs added to Link field
Lets imagine you have an account on eBay auction site and you have an item stored in Password Agent database titled “eBay”, your eBay user ID and password are assigned to appropriate fields of the item. See screenshot at right, it displays item details pane of hypotetical eBay item. Here I use eBay as an example, all this applies to any web site.

  1. To use autofill matching item functionality with eBay you need to assign eBay URL to Link field of your eBay item. Just write/paste eBay URL to Link field of your eBay item, like shown on the screenshot at right. Use only server part of the URL to make it short (until first “/” after server name). From now on, if you are on eBay web site and invoke autofill matching item command by global hot key, Password Agent on the background can find your eBay item by the current URL from the browser and can fill your User ID and Password for eBay.
    Note: On the screenshot there are 2 links in the Link field, separated by space, like “https://www.ebay.com https://www.ebay.co.uk”. This makes it possible to match this item to both US (ending with “.com”) and UK (ending with “.co.uk”) eBay site. If you also use German eBay site, you can add “https://www.ebay.de” as well (separated by a space).
    Note: You can also open this link in Password Agent when you select this item and invoke Item | Open link command (Ctrl+K). If you have multiple URLs in the Link field as on our screenshot, then the first one will be default link and that will be used for Open link command.

Now it is time to test how the autofill matching item feature works. Keep Password Agent running on the backrgound (can be minimized) and your data file must be unlocked with master password (not locked). You do not need to select your eBay item in you data file, Password Agent will find it by matching web site URL to your item by Link field of the item.

  1. In your web browser open eBay web site (navigate to https://www.ebay.com). Once there navigate to sign-in page, so sign-in form is displayed. If you are already signed in, you need to sign out first for this test. Here somewhat complicated example is used as eBay may use different sign-in prompts in different cases, but these explain different usage scenarious quite well.

When trying to sign in you’ll typically see a form asking for either user name plus password, only user name or only password. Depending on what you see on your sign-in page, you need to choose one of the following steps:

  • Sign-in page asks for both user name and password on the same page – select the user name/e-mail text box to put input focus there and press Ctrl+Shift+Q global hotkey (hold down both Ctrl and Shift, then press Q so you press total 3 keys simultaneously). The hot key tells Password Agent that is running on the background to autofill only User ID matching current web page (eBay in our example). If the user name and password were filled in after pressing hot key combination then submit the form.

  • Sign-in page asks for only password – select the password text box to put input focus there and press Ctrl+Shift+W global hotkey (hold down both Ctrl and Shift, then press W so you press total 3 keys simultaneously). The hot key tells Password Agent that is running on the background to autofill only password matching current web page (eBay in our example). If the password was filled in after pressing hot key combination then submit the form.

  • Sign-in page asks only for user name – select the user name/e-mail text box to put input focus there and press Ctrl+Shift+E global hotkey (hold down both Ctrl and Shift, then press E so you press total 3 keys simultaneously). The hot key tells Password Agent that is running on the background to autofill only User ID matching current web page (eBay in our example). If the user ID was filled in after pressing hot key combination then submit the form and if it now asks for password then see previous step on how to autofill only password. More web site are using multi-page sign-in forms to make automated attacks more difficult.

If something did not work as expected then see troubleshooting section below. To use autofill matching you should assign associated web site URLs to all items you want to use with autofill matching.

Autofill selected item – step-by-step example

Classic autofill does not try to mach item, instead it will autofill from the item you have currently selected in Password Agent. You will typically use this type of autofill when you have manually found the item to autofill from.

  1. Select an item in Password Agent from which you want to autofill. You can select an item manually or it can be result of typing something in search box and pressing Enter to select search result.

  2. Open web page and select a text box to put input focus where you want to insert text by autofill.

Note: If Link field of the selected item is not empty you can use Open link command (Ctrl+K) to open the link.

  1. Press global hotkey Ctrl+Shift+A to autofill user ID and password, Ctrl+Shift+S to autofill only password or Ctrl+Shift+D to autofill only user ID. To press hot key combination hold down both Ctrl and Shift, then press A,S or D, so you press total 3 keys simultaneously. The hot key tells Password Agent that is running on the background to autofill from currently selected item. If the sign-in form was filled after pressing hot key combination submit the form to complete sign-in.

If something did not work as expected then see troubleshooting section below.

Autofill to another application (not web browser)

You can autofill to another software program, like a FTP client or book-keeping program – the procedure is basically the same as autofilling to a web page. If you want to use autofill matching then you need to add program’s executable file name to the Link field of the item. For example if you have an item with credentials to log into a FTP server and you use FileZilla FTP client program, you can write filezilla.exe to the Link field of the item (if you also want to run it with Open link command, use full path to executable, in double quotes like “C:\Program Files\FileZilla FTP Client\filezilla.exe”). Then when FileZilla prompts you for user ID and password, you can just press global hot key Ctrl+Shift+Q and Password Agent will autofill both user ID and password from the item that has filezilla.exe assigned to Link field. If more than one item matches filezilla.exe you’ll be prompted from which item you want to autofill from.

How to memorize global autofill hot key combinations

Default autofill hot keys are usable with left hand only. For autofill maching upper row Q,W,E keys and for classic autofill from selected item lower row keys A,S,D are used, all combined by Ctrl+Shift. You can write down the keys, but can also memorize them: Q - quick (matching) autofill all (ID and password), W - password, E - user ID and A - autofill all (ID and password), S - password, D - user ID. You can change default keys under Password Agent settings, but it is not recommended for common usage, as that may block hot keys used other programs and Windows.

Troubleshooting autofill

See Autofill issues.