How do I force Safari to remember site logins/passwords?

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Level 1

26 points

How do I force Safari to remember site logins/passwords?

Hi.

I'm using a new Mini running Mountain Lion and Safari 6.0.5. I installed the computer fresh, rather than migrating from my old computer (2007 Mini), as I was dragging a lot of dead weight in settings, preferences, and cache. Safari DID acquire my bookmarks from the cloud on first use.

I am frustrated that some of my registered websites/passwords have not been saved; they are not listed in the preferences. Is there any way to force Safari to store the sites? Is it possible to migrate ONLY those settings from my old computer?

Mac mini (Mid 2007), Mac OS X (10.5.8), run Snow Leopard & Lion too

Posted on Jul 2, 2013 2:14 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 2, 2013 2:24 PM in response to Jeany

Just in case there any outdated keychains ..

Open Keychain Access located in HD > Applications > Utilities

Select Passwords on the left.

Type in the name of the sites you want Safari to remember passwords for then delete the current keychain for each one.

Back to Safari. Navigate to a site you deleted the old keychain for.

Login with your username and password. Click Yes when prompted to save that data to a new keychain.

To make sure Safari syncs Bookmarks with iCloud, open System Preferences > iCloud

Make sure Safari is selected.

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Answer 2

Jeany Author

Level 1

26 points

Jul 2, 2013 2:35 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Thanks, Carolyn. There's no listing in Keychain Access for the site in question, nor is the site listed in Safari forms prefs.

As far as i can remember, Safari has never asked about saving the forms for this website.

I'm squeamish about using sync, to be perfectly honest. After ruining my dot-Mac account, I've never trusted that I can safely sync ANYTHING without destroying mission critical data. I have an iPad that may have some unique keys, plus my old mac, which I'm still cleaning off, and I am just deeply insecure about using sync.

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Answer 3

Jul 2, 2013 2:42 PM in response to Jeany

Safari has never asked about saving the forms for this website.

So it's a specific website that's the problem? You mentioned, "some of my registered" ... ??

To access saved paaswords in Safari, it's Safari > Preferences > Passwords

And check Safari > Preferences > Autofill

Make sure: User names and passwords is selected.

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Answer 4

Jeany Author

Level 1

26 points

Jul 2, 2013 2:49 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

I've looked in Safari > Preferences > Passwords and Safari > Preferences > Autofill, that's how I know there is nothing for this website either place. And of course all three items are checked.

There is one website that's annoying me at the moment, because it has a complex password that's a PITA to type out. I designed it that way. I want it saved so I don't have to type it.

How do I coax/force Safari to save it?

Why doesn't Apple allow me to manually add a site?

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Answer 5

Jul 2, 2013 3:05 PM in response to Jeany

You may have better luck using another browser for the one website.

If Safari won't save the data for that one site to create a new keychain, then there's a reason for it, perhaps being, "complex" ...

It's a good idea to have another browser installed as a backup regardless.

Mozilla Firefox Web Browser — Free Download — mozilla.org

Chrome Browser

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Answer 6

Jeany Author

Level 1

26 points

Jul 2, 2013 3:09 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Thanks.

I use Safari, Firefox, and iCab Pro. The latter has the most intelligent and robust forms system.

The website in question is PayPal, and excuse me for living, but I have used it IN SAFARI for as many years as I've had the flipping account and it is ******* me off hugely that I can't seem to fix this stupid little problem.

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Answer 7

Jul 2, 2013 3:15 PM in response to Jeany

It would help to tell us that you've already tried different browsers in your original post 🙂

And PayPal has a long standing issue with Safari saving passwords, goes back to 2008 > Paypal Advises Users To Stop Using Safari - Slashdot

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Answer 8

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,526 points

Jul 2, 2013 4:21 PM in response to Jeany

Some Safari versions respect the autocomplete property for input fields. Paypal & others set it to 'off'

http://lapcatsoftware.com/blog/2010/06/10/safari-extension-autocomplete/

explains further, and links to a safari extension which works here on paypal & likely others.

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Answer 9

Jeany Author

Level 1

26 points

Jul 2, 2013 8:13 PM in response to andyBall_uk

Now we're getting somewhere. 😀 I was seriously considering trying moving the old Form Values file from my Leopard start-up volume to the new one, to see if I could get around whatever the problem is.

Andy, do you know if the script works with Safari 6? I am a novice with scripting and command-line in general, but I did manage to make my library visible. Holy cow, that totally threw me. Being an old systems engineer, I can totally understand why you would want to cut off novice/enterprise users from mucking around, but to make it the default?

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Answer 10

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,526 points

Jul 3, 2013 6:08 AM in response to Jeany

I'd skip the script (not tried it in any version) & use the extension, which did work in 6, for me.

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Answer 11

Jeany Author

Level 1

26 points

Jul 3, 2013 8:15 AM in response to andyBall_uk

I had downloaded the extension last night; I installed it earlier today and successfully logged in and captured my password, thank you very much, Andy.

And thanks to Carolyn, too, for helping to clarify. I'm really glad there's a solution.

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Answer 12

Dec 7, 2013 9:02 AM in response to Jeany

I am using Safari 7 with Mavericks, and this extension does not work for me. Does it work for others using Safari 7?

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Answer 13

Jan 20, 2014 9:05 AM in response to Jeany

Open Keychain Access

under Keychains, click login

dropdown menu, click file/new password item

copy url of login page you want it to remember and paste it in the URL

then add your login then your password and save

it should work. Frustration got me lol

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Answer 14

JeremyW9

Level 1

4 points

Jan 28, 2014 12:47 PM in response to Jeany

This works for me (Safari 7 with Mavericks)

In Safari go to Preferences -> Autofill.
Click on the "Edit..." button next to Usernames and Passwords;
Enable the checkbox at the bottom: "Allow autofill even for websites that request passwords not be saved";
Also verify that the "Autofill usernames and passwords" checkbox is enabled.

After you have made this change, you will have to re-save your passwords for those sites again once. But from then on the autofill should work.

Good luck.

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Answer 15

tincha

Level 1

50 points

Apr 16, 2014 8:31 AM in response to JeremyW9

It seems the latest version of Safari 7 has removed the feature to "Allow autofill even for websites that request passwords not be saved".

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