Preferences

# Password Safe Preferences

Like many applications, Password Safe allows you to configure its behaviour and appearance to best suite your taste and needs. Many applications store such preferences in the Windows "registry", as a matter of convention and convenience. Previous versions of Password Safe used the registry as well, but this has proven to be problematic for the following reasons:

- Some of the configurable preferences are security related, and storing them in an open repository such as the Windows registry may enable an attacker to gain access to the database (for example, if the attacker were to disable the locking of the database after an inactivity timeout, the user would assume the database was safely locked while out to lunch, whereas the attacker could then access it at her convenience).
- Many people are using Password Safe from a disk-on-key or otherwise sharing the same database across several machines. It's impractical to share the configuration data in a registry in such a manner.

Password Safe has a number of preferences, each with a reasonable default value. When a user changes the configuration to a non-default value, the new value is store by Password Safe.

Password Safe defines preferences as security-related or non-security related. The former are kept in the database, encrypted with the same key as the user's data.

Non-security-related preferences are kept in a configuration file, pwsafe.cfg. This file is in XML format, with sections per host machine and per user, so that the file may be shared between different users, and across different machines.

By default, pwsafe.cfg is kept in the same directory as the pwsafe.exe executable program. If, however, the PWS_PREFSDIR environment variable is set, pwsafe will use the configuration file stored there. This is useful for cases where write permissions to the pwsafe.exe install directory is restricted (See also the description of the -g option in the Command Line Arguments Section).

The following tables describes the configuration items. Most of them are configurable via the "Manage → Options" dialog box. As we use XML to save these values, field names are case sensitive. Preferences stored in the "pwsafe.cfg" file apply to all open databases. Those stored in the database apply only to that database. In Windows Vista or Windows 7, the pwsafe.cfg file can be found in the following directory: "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\PasswordSafe" and in Windows XP, it can be found in: "C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\PasswordSafe". Note both directories may be hidden and Folder Vew properties may need to be modified in order to be able to view it. Obsolete preferences are not listed.

Note that only non-default preference values are stored in the configuration file or database.

Note: Do NOT modify any of the preferences in the pwsafe.cfg file manually, as this may cause unexpected or unpredictable results. Whilst we have made every effort to verify any preference we read in, we cannot guarantee that manually edited values will not cause a problem.

#### Boolean (true ('1')/false '(0')) preferences

Preference | Default | Where stored | Comment
AlwaysOnTop | false | pwsafe.cfg | Main window always on top
ShowPWDefault | false | database | Password is displayed by default in Add/Edit
ShowUsernameInTree | true | database | Username is displayed in Tree View
ShowPasswordInTree | false | database | Password is displayed in Tree View (requires Username to be displayed)
ShowNotesDefault | false | database | Show Notes in Add and Edit
ShowNotesAsToolTipsInViews | false | pwsafe.cfg | Show an entry's Notes as a tool tip in both Tree and List views (only the first 250 characters will be displayed)
SortAscending | true | database | The last sort direction in List View (ascending or descending)
UseDefaultUser | false | database | Use the default user text preference when adding a new entry
SaveImmediately | true | database | Save database after every Add or Edit
PWUseLowercase | true | database | Password generation policy - use lower case characters
PWUseUppercase | true | database | Password generation policy - use upper case characters
PWUseDigits | true | database | Password generation policy - use numbers
PWUseSymbols | true | database | Password generation policy - use symbols
PWUseHexDigits | false | database | Password generation policy - generate a password with only hexadecimal characters (always an even number)
PWUseEasyVision | false | database | Password generation policy - use Easy-Vision characters so that one character isn't mistaken for another e.g. number 0 (zero) and letter O (capital O) etc.
PWMakePronounceable | false | database | Password generation policy - convert generated passwords to be more pronounceable
dontaskquestion | false | pwsafe.cfg | Don't ask for confirmation when copying password to clipboard
deletequestion | false | pwsafe.cfg | Don't ask for confirmation when deleting a single entry
DatabaseClear | false | pwsafe.cfg | Lock database on minimize, which implies clear database from memory
QuerySetDef | true | pwsafe.cfg | Ask user each time they add an entry whether to use the Username for all new entries
UseNewToolbar | true | pwsafe.cfg | Use New or Classic toolbar
UseSystemTray | true | pwsafe.cfg | Put Password Safe icon in Windows System Tray
LockOnWindowLock | true | pwsafe.cfg | Lock Password Safe database when the user locks their Windows session
EscExits | true | pwsafe.cfg | The ESC key will close the database and exit Password Safe (if the System Tray is not being used)
HotKeyEnabled | false | pwsafe.cfg | True if the user has defined a Hot Key to get quick access to Password Safe
MRUOnFileMenu | true | pwsafe.cfg | Most recently used databases are shown in the File menu or in in their own sub-menu from the File menu
MaintainDateTimeStamps | false | database | Entry last access times are recorded, if the database is in Read/Write mode
SavePasswordHistory | false | database | Save entry's old passwords when a new password is assigned
BackupBeforeEverySave | true | pwsafe.cfg | Rename current database following the Backup settings before saving any changes to it
PreExpiryWarn | false | pwsafe.cfg | Warn user on database open if there are any entries with expired or soon to expire passwords
ExplorerTypeTree | false | pwsafe.cfg | Show groups first in tree view
ListViewGridLines | false | pwsafe.cfg | Show grid lines in list view
MinimizeOnAutotype | true | pwsafe.cfg | Minimize Password Safe during AutoType. Database may also be locked depending on the setting to lock it on minimize
ShowToolbar | true | pwsafe.cfg | Show Toolbar
ShowDragbar | true | pwsafe.cfg | Show Dragbar
ShowFindToolBarOnOpen | true | pwsafe.cfg | Show the Find toolbar when Password Safe starts. This is determined by the state of this toolbar when Password Safe was last ended
DefaultOpenRO | false | pwsafe.cfg | By default, set the Read-Only checkbox during the open of databases
MultipleInstances | true | pwsafe.cfg | Allow multiple instances of password Safe to be started. Chnage this value will require Password Safe to be restarted to take effect.
ClearClipboardOnMinimize | true | pwsafe.cfg | Clear the clipboard of Password Safe information on minimize
ClearClipboardOnExit | true | pwsafe.cfg | Clear the clipboard of Password Safe information when Password Safe ends
NotesWordWrap | true | pwsafe.cfg | Note will be wrapped in its display area during Add/Edit
LockDBOnIdleTimeout | true | database | Lock database if the user has not used the PC for a number of minutes. See "IdleTimeout" integer preference for the threshold value in minutes
HighlightChanges | true | pwsafe.cfg | Highlight changed unsaved entries in blue
HideSystemTray | false | pwsafe.cfg | Hide the Password Safe System tray icon. Only able to be set if the user has already set a Hot Key
UsePrimarySelectionForClipboard | false | pwsafe.cfg | Determine which clipboard to use (Linux only)
CopyPasswordWhenBrowseToURL | false | database | Copy the entry's password to the clipboard when invoking the entry's "Browse to URL"

#### Numerical preferences

Preference | Default | Where stored | Min | Max | Comment
column1width | n/a | pwsafe.cfg | n/a | n/a | The width of the first column in the List View when Password Safe was last exited
column2width | n/a | pwsafe.cfg | n/a | n/a | The width of the second column in the List View when Password Safe was last exited
column3width | n/a | pwsafe.cfg | n/a | n/a | The width of the third column in the List View when Password Safe was last exited
column4width | n/a | pwsafe.cfg | n/a | n/a | The width of the fourth column in the List View when Password Safe was last exited
sortedcolumn | 0 | pwsafe.cfg | 0 | 15 | Previous column used to sort the List View
PWDefaultLength | 12 | database | 4 | 1024 | Default password length
maxmruitems | 4 | pwsafe.cfg | 0 | 20 | Number of most recently used databases saved in the File menu
IdleTimeout | 5 | database | 1 | 120 | Threshold in minutes to determine whether to lock Password Safe due to inactivity
DoubleClickAction | Copy Password | pwsafe.cfg | n/a | n/a | See Help entry DCA Values export
HotKey | none | pwsafe.cfg | n/a | n/a | The Hot Key value. (This is stored as a decimal integer created from the virtual keycode for the character in the lower word plus the Microsoft Foundation Class CHotKeyCtrl modifier flags in the higher word.)
MaxREItems | 25 | pwsafe.cfg | 0 | 25 | Maximum number of "Recent used entries" to be saved in the database and displayed from the System Tray icon to allow quick access
TreeDisplayStatusAtOpen | AllCollapsed | database | n/a | n/a | Values are: AllCollapsed, AllExpanded or AsPerLastSave
NumPWHistoryDefault | 3 | database | 0 | 255 | How many passwords to keep in an entry's password history field
BackupSuffix | 0 | pwsafe.cfg | n/a | n/a | Values are: None, datetime or an incremental number
BackupMaxIncremented | 1 | pwsafe.cfg | 1 | 999 | Only valid if an incremental number is used for the BackupSuffix
PreExpiryWarnDays | 1 | pwsafe.cfg | 1 | 30 | When to warn on about-to-expire passwords
ClosedTrayIconColour | 0 | pwsafe.cfg | 0 | 0 | Change the colour of the closed database Password Safe icon in the System Tray. 0 = Black, 1 - Blue, 2 = White and 3 = Yellow
PWDigitMinLength | 0 | database | 0 | 1024 | Default minimum number of digits in a generated password
PWLowercaseMinLength | 0 | database | 0 | 1024 | Default minimum number of lower case characters in a generated password
PWUppercaseMinLength | 0 | database | 0 | 1024 | Default minimum number of upper case characters in a generated password
PWSymbolMinLength | 0 | database | 0 | 1024 | Default minimum number of symbols in a generated password
OptShortcutColumnWidth | 92 | pwsafe.cfg | 10 | 512 | Size of the columns in the Manage → Options → Shortcuts tab
ShiftDoubleClickAction | Copy Password | pwsafe.cfg | n/a | n/a | See Help entry DCA Values export
DlgOrientation | 0 | pwsafe.cfg | 0 | 2 | How to choose wide or tall dialog screens: 0 - automatically (default), 1 - force tall, 2 - force wide.

#### Textual Preferences

Preference | Default | Where stored | Comment
currentbackup | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | Path and name of last backup file
currentfile | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | Currently (i.e., last) opened file
lastview | tree | pwsafe.cfg | Last view selected: Tree or List view ("tree" or "list")
DefaultUsername | <none> | database | Default value for the Username field when creating new entries
treefont | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | Information about the font used in the Tree View
PasswordFont | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | Information about the font used to display the password
BackupPrefixValue | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | Usually the current database name is used to prefix any backup file names. This can be overridden using this preference
BackupDir | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | Usually the database backup is stored in the same directory as the database. This can be overridden using this preference
AltBrowser | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | Full path to an alternate browser
ListColumns | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | Non-default column order in List View. Note the list of comma separated column numbers reflect internal numbering of the fields and should not be edited manually
ColumnWidths | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | Non-default column widths inList View
DefaultAutotypeString | \u\t\p\t\n | database | The database's default AutoType string. Note that each entry may override this value
AltBrowserCmdLineParms | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | Special command line parameters for the alternate browser, if specified
MainToolBarButtons | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | A list of the Toolbar buttons and their order as customised by the user. A separator is shown as a ~
TreeListSampleText | "AaBbYyZz 0O1IlL" | pwsafe.cfg | Sample text to use when deciding what font to be used in the Tree View
PswdSampleText | "AaBbYyZz 0O1IlL" | pwsafe.cfg | Sample text to use when deciding what font to be used to display passwords
VKSampleText | "AaBbYyZz 0O1IlL" | pwsafe.cfg | Sample text to use when deciding what font to be used in the Virtual Keyboard
VKeyboardFontName | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | Name of the Unicode font to be used to display all characters used in the Virtual Keyboard. This includes both Latin and non-Latin characters
LastUsedKeyboard | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | Save the code of the last Virtual Keyboard used
AltNotesEditor | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | Full path to a text editor to be used to edit an entry's Notes field rather than the Windows default application.
LanguageFile | <none> | pwsafe.cfg | The code of last language file used by the user. It is in the form "LL" or "LL_CC", where LL = ISO 639-1 two-character Language code e.g. EN, FR, DE, HE... see http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/ and CC = ISO 3166-1 two-character Country code e.g. US, GB, FR, CA... see http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/index.html
DefaultSymbols | <none> | database | The default list of symbols to be used when generating a password with symbols. Note: each entry may override this value.