A way to import passwords from MacOS keychain

Codebook
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I can use the KeyChain Access app on MacOS to manually copy passwords from the Keychain to CodeBook for each website for which I store a password in Keychain. Is there a way to do this more efficiently via an “import from keychain” procedure?

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Hi @JonW

Thanks very much for using Codebook and posting to the discussion forum with this question. We have looked into this in the past as we think it would be useful as well. Unfortunately there was no way that we could find to bulk export the keychain items (either programmatically or through the Keychain Access interface). When you select saved passwords within the Keychain Access interface, the File > Export Items menu item is disabled: Import and export keychain items using Keychain Access on Mac - Apple Support

That being said, if you’ve been saving your Passwords when prompted via Safari, then you should be able to export those passwords to a CSV and then manipulate the header according to the Codebook CSV import format: Codebook Help - Import

You can export your Passwords from Safari to CSV via File menu > Export > Export Passwords. Alternatively if you’re using macOS Ventura, you may have Passwords stored within Apple menu > System Settings > Passwords, click the 3 dots near the search field and then choose Export Passwords.

Let me know if this information is helpful and if you have any further questions. Thanks!

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You answered my REAL question, (which I did not ask), which was “How do I export Safari Website passwords so they can be imported by CodeBook?” Thanks for figuring out my real question and answering it. I was not aware of Safari password export capabilities. I don’t think there is anything in KeyChain Access that I care about other than Safari passwords. I didn’t see this Safari export technique documented on the Codebook import web page. It might be helpful to have something about this there. Thanks for the prompt and helpful response.

1 Like
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@JonW

Thanks for the response and glad that information was helpful.

We think it would be useful to add the Safari export/import technique to our Codebook import documentation page as well, thanks for the suggestion!