How do I get the macOS/iOS keychain to accept an all-numeric account name?

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Level 1

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How do I get the macOS/iOS keychain to accept an all-numeric account name?

My Fidelity account uses my Social Security Number as an account name. I can't add a keychain item, however, that is only digits.

I first tried to add my account on my iPhone, but the "Done" button stayed disabled and I couldn't add the account. I canceled, tried again, and had the same result. Then I discovered by experiment that adding a letter to my account name (which made the name incorrect) activated the "Done" button.

So I saved that invalid account, hoping to fix it on my laptop using the Keychain Access app. But that app doesn't accept my edits, unless it's an edit which includes at least one alphabetic character in the account name.

How do I get my proper account name entered, which really, truly consists of only ASCII digits?

MacBook Pro (2020 and later)

Posted on Oct 20, 2021 6:37 PM

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Answer 1

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skyviewcafe Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 20, 2021 8:32 PM in response to skyviewcafe

I understand better what the problem was now.

It wasn't that the account field was all numeric which prevented it from being accepted. It was that the account was identical to the account in another keychain item for the same web site, but an item that (for whatever reason) wasn't made available to me on my iPhone when I I tried to access my keychain there.

Once the non-functional keychain item was deleted, I could properly edit the new keychain item to its correct all-numeric value.

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

113,596 points

Oct 20, 2021 7:29 PM in response to skyviewcafe

The keychain "Name" has nothing to do with the account name. It is the name of the keychain entry.

The Account field would have the SSN.

I have a Marriott number as the account and the name was automatically created with the website address and the number in parentheses.

I just created a test account using numbers for the account and a random name.

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Answer 3

skyviewcafe Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 20, 2021 8:08 PM in response to Barney-15E

I'm talking about the account name field (which yes, in the dialog just says "Account"), not the item name field. And the dialog won't accept any change unless there's at least one letter in that Account field. The equivalent field when adding an account using iOS is User Name.

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

113,596 points

Oct 20, 2021 8:23 PM in response to skyviewcafe

And the dialog won't accept any change unless there's at least one letter in that Account field.

Strange. As noted, I just made a test entry with a all numbers, and have been using an entry with all numbers for almost twenty years (at least the account is that old—I don’t remember when Keychain started).

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How do I get the macOS/iOS keychain to accept an all-numeric account name?

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