With long passwords stored in Keepass, is there a way to automatically fill-in the username / password for a given system?
Overview
One of the most powerful features in KeePass is the "Auto-Type" functionality. This feature allows you to define a sequence of keypresses, which KeePass can automatically perform for you. The simulated keypresses can be sent to any other currently open window of your choice (browser windows, login dialogs, ...).
By default, the sent keystroke sequence is {USERNAME}{TAB}{PASSWORD}{ENTER}, i.e. it first types the user name of the selected entry, then presses the Tab key, then types the password of the entry and finally presses the Enter key.
For TAN entries [21], the default sequence is {PASSWORD}, i.e. it just types the TAN into the target window, without pressing Enter.
Perform-Autotype Command
This method is the one that requires the least amount of configuration and is the simpler one, but it has the disadvantage that you need to select the entry in KeePass which you want to auto-type.
The method is simple: right-click on an entry of your currently opened database and click 'Perform Auto-Type' (or alternatively press the Ctrl-V shortcut for this command). The window that previously got the focus (i.e. the one in which you worked before switching to KeePass) will be brought to the foreground and KeePass auto-types into this window.
The sequence which is auto-typed depends on the window's title. If you didn't specify any custom window/sequence associations, the default sequence is sent. If you created associations, KeePass uses the sequence of the first matching association. If none of the associations match, the default sequence is used.
Global Auto-Type Hot Key
By default, the global hot key is Ctrl-Alt-A (i.e. hold the Control and Alt keys, press 'A' and release all keys). You can change this hot key in the options dialog (main menu - 'Tools' - 'Options', tab 'Integration'/'Advanced'): here, click into the textbox below "Global Auto-Type Hot Key Combination" and press the hot key that you wish to use. If the hot key is usable, it will appear in the textbox.
When you press the hot key, KeePass will look at the title of the currently opened window and search the currently opened database for usable entries. If KeePass finds multiple entries that can be used, it displays a selection dialog. In order to decide if an entry is usable for the current window title, at least one of the following conditions must be fulfilled:
- The title of the entry is a substring of the currently active window title.
- The entry has a window/sequence association, of which the window specifier matches the currently active window title.
The second condition has been mentioned already, but the first one is new. By using entry titles as filters for window titles, the configuration amount for auto-type is almost zero: you only need to make sure that the entry title is contained in the window title of the window into which you want the entry to be auto-typed. Of course, this is not always possible (for example, if a webpage has a very generic title like "Welcome"), here you need to use custom window/sequence associations.
KeePass 1.x
Custom window/sequence associations can be specified using the Notes field of entries.
My e-mail I used to register: test@nowhere.com [22] Auto-Type: {USERNAME}{TAB}{TAB}Some fixed string{TAB}{PASSWORD}{ENTER} Auto-Type-Window: Some Website - Welcome* Here you can continue with your notes if you wish...
If you now have a window open that starts with "Some Website - Welcome" and press the global auto-type hot key combination, KeePass performs the auto-type sequence above.
Some sites, notably banks, use multi-page login schemes. You can use Auto-Type-Window strings to automate these sites. You can also use Auto-Type-Window strings to standardize your LAN login in one KeePass entry.
As many Auto-Type-Window strings per entry can be defined as you wish.
Also, one sequence can be used for multiple windows. For this, first define a window/sequence pair as normal, then continue by appending '-' and a number, starting with 1. Example:
Auto-Type: {USERNAME}{TAB}{PASSWORD}{ENTER}
Auto-Type-Window: Some Dialog - *
Auto-Type-1: {USERNAME}{ENTER}
Auto-Type-Window-1: * - Editor
Auto-Type-Window-1: * - NotePad
Auto-Type-Window-1: * - WordPad
Auto-Type-2: {PASSWORD}{ENTER}
Auto-Type-Window-2: Some Web Page - *Here, the Auto-Type-1 sequence will be used for all Auto-Type-Window-1 windows.
KeePass 2.x
Custom window/sequence associations can be specified on the 'Auto-Type' tab page of each entry.
Auto-Type Sequences
An auto-type keystroke sequence is a one-line string that can contain placeholders and special key codes.
Above you've seen already that the default auto-type is {USERNAME}{TAB}{PASSWORD}{ENTER}. Here, {USERNAME} and {PASSWORD} are placeholders: when auto-type is performed, these are replaced by the appropriate field values of the entry. {TAB} and {ENTER} are special key codes: these are replaced by the appropriate keypresses. Special key codes are the only way to specify special keys like Arrow-Down, Shift, Escape, etc.
Of course, keystroke sequences can also contain simple characters to be sent. For example, the following string is perfectly valid as keystroke sequence string:
{USERNAME}{TAB}Some text to be sent!{ENTER}.
KeePass supports the following placeholders:
| Field | Placeholder |
|---|---|
| Title | {TITLE} |
| User Name | {USERNAME} |
| URL | {URL} |
| Password | {PASSWORD} |
| Notes | {NOTES} |
References
For more information, please visit one of the following pages below:
