Measuring The Best (and The Not So Great) Ways of Organizing Passwords

Passwords Here, Passwords There, Passwords Everywhere!

Measuring The Best (and The Not So Great) Ways of Organizing Passwords

Not just passwords, you probably have several login credentials, personal notes, banking-related details, Social Security Numbers, crucial documents, so on and so forth scattered everywhere. You have probably stored the details related to some of them in a word processor, in an excel sheet, in a diary or notebook (mind you that’s risky) and if you are a careful user, you have probably taken the aid of a password manager.

But, why are we stressing to keep all passwords and credentials in one sorted place? That’s because when you have your credentials scattered here and there and possibly at unsecured places then –

You might easily forget them i.e. at the eleventh you might be clueless as to where you saved your passwords or credentials. The next risk is if someone snooping on you might get their hands on these details. So, here it is always advisable to keep all your passwords, login credentials, and other such details under one roof. You would then easily be able to track your credentials if you know the art of organizing passwords and other credentials.

In this blog, we are going to share the best ways to keep passwords (and other credentials/ personal notes) organized, and we’ll even measure the pros and cons of each option.

Taking Help Of A Password Manager For Organizing Passwords

Password managers charge fees and you put all your eggs (passwords) in one basket. Those are possibly the only downsides there are to using a password manager.

Yes! Most password managers offer you services for a minute fee or offer fewer features with their free versions. Also, if a hacker or cybercriminal can break into your password manager, all your passwords will be in danger. This is highly unlikely unless you have chosen a sketchy password manager. Putting that aside, the pros of a password manager are way more than the cons. And, here’s why – Almost all password managers –

  • Come packed with military-level security
  • Store different passwords for different accounts and the best part – you don’t even have to think of a password
  • Let you save credentials in a vault further locked by a master password
  • Let you enable multi-factor authentication
  • Help you generate strong passwords with the right mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, special characters, length, complexity, etc
  • Give you the functionality to sync passwords across a variety of devices
  • Let you autofill saved passwords on a website

Tips When Using A Password Manager –

If you are a password manager for organizing passwords, here are some smart tips that will help you use a password manager to the best of its potential.  For this blog, let’s take an example of one of the best password managers – TweakPass.

Download TweakPass Password Manager Best Way To Keep Passwords Organized

Read Full Review of Tweakpass

# Tip No. 1: Delete All Accounts That Are no Longer Needed

Store password

It’s no use crowding your password managers with logins, passwords, form fills, debit/ credit card details, and various other credentials that you don’t want. After all, your password manager is also a tool that can enhance your productivity. This means you should be able to just locate credentials and fill them in on a website quickly without having to go through hundreds of other logins.

# Tip No. 2: Destroy Sessions That You No Longer Need

Knowing the fact that you can sync credentials across devices and even browser extensions, you should make it a habit to destroy sessions. Don’t know what that is? Let’s say you have your password manager opened on your smartphone, PC and as an extension on for eg. Chrome, you can keep your active session opened on your PC and close all the other sessions. This way, even if someone has gotten access to your smartphone, he or she won’t be able to snoop in on your password manager.

In TweakPass, you can do that by clicking on Account Settings and then, clicking on the Destroy Sessions button next as shown in the screenshot below –

Password manager

# Tip No. 3: Add Proper Folders and Tags

Secure Password

Arranging credentials in folders and tags would make the job of choosing the right credentials at the right time all the easier.

# Tip No. 4: Review Password Strength from Time to Time

Almost all good password managers let you choose random passwords. It is always a good habit to check their password strength from time to time. And, you needn’t go elsewhere to do that. Your password manager also let’s check how credible or strong your passwords are.

To generate a secure password –

  1. Head to TweakPass Chrome extension (Also available for other extensions as well)
  2. Click on Generate Secure Password
  3. Click on the Generate Password button
  4. You can even change Password Length, Minimum Numeric Characters and choose Advanced Options as shown in the screenshots below –

Generate password

– Using A Google Spreadsheet or Excel As A Way To Store Passwords – Tedious And Somewhat Secure

Manage password

In case you don’t want to invest in a password manager, you can note down your passwords or other credentials on a Google Spreadsheet. And, since the Spreadsheet is available on the cloud, you can access it anywhere, using any device you want. You can always create a template and then enter the fields you want. For instance, below are the kinds of fields you can add –

  • Name of the website
  • Username
  • Email ID
  • Password
  • Other Notes

Having credentials neatly sorted on a spreadsheet can also be considered a secure way of organizing passwords. However, this method is not as secure and efficient as a password manager, especially in the event a hacker can access your account.

That’s because, for one, you don’t get military-grade AES protection as you would have on a password manager. Moreover, you will not be able to generate random strong passwords, sort passwords into folders, or add tags. And, you will have to manually copy and paste credentials from your spreadsheets. Plus, there are a ton of other benefits that you won’t have when you use a password manager (even for free).

– Going Old School The “Pen and The Paper Way” – Should Only Be Used When Needed

Regardless of how less of a tech-savvy person you are, we highly recommend that you refrain from noting down passwords on paper or even in a notebook. Let’s quickly have a look at why you shouldn’t write down your passwords or other credentials –

  1. Unless you have a strong safety to local your password notebook or diary, someone or the other could easily get hands-on your password notebook.
  2. The chances of you noting down wrong details on a paper are very likely as opposed to digital means where you can copy and paste the same characters.
  3. Updating credentials can be a very big challenge. For example, you might note down the character “I” and then later confuse it for the number “one” or you might initially write down the number “0” and later confuse it for the letter “O”. You might not be able to notice the problem here but such problems occur when writing.
  4. Whether it’s a piece of paper, notebook, or diary, all such items are perishable. For instance, you may accidentally spill coffee on the page of your diary where you have noted down credentials.

However, there might be instances where you might not have access to a smartphone or a computer or a laptop or any digital device for that matter. And, you might have to take note of an important credential on a piece of paper or a notebook/ diary that’s readily available. Here we recommend that

  1. Double-check that you have entered the password or note correctly
  2. Keep this password as close as possible and under “lock and key” or at someplace that no one has access to. Also, make sure that you are well aware of the place where you have hidden this note
  3. After you have taken a note of that credential, immediately transfer it to a digital medium and then destroy the note before someone else has access to it

Which is The Best Way To Keep Your Passwords Organized?

To sum it up, when you have several passwords and credentials to remember, it is highly recommended that you keep them neatly sorted so that you can access one whenever you need them. Through this post, we have measured some common ways users use to organize their passwords both on ease and security front. And, password managers are probably the best way to keep passwords organized and secure. What’s your take, do let us know in the comments section below.

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