Storing User Info for Websites, Utilities, Emails, ETC

Hello, first time here.
If this is the wrong place for this question, please point me in the right direction.

Anyway,
A few years ago, I built a small DB to store and update user names and passwords for every utility, website, email, and any other place where a user name and password is required. This was necessary because my wife and I forget the logon information when needed.

I use a Value List for Categories like "WebSIte", "Email", "Credit Cards", "Apps" and so forth. There are 145 records to date.

My reason for this topic is for my own learning experience in designing functional databases. When I built this, this info was taken from an excel file, and I wanted the data to be more secure.

What I am requesting is some feedback on how the tables and fields might be redesigned to work more efficiently, etc. Also, i have not built in any scripting, but would like to.

Any help is appreciated.

Hello @BohannanRob ,

welcome to TheSoup !

TBH your database seems fine. No reason to make it more complicated.

If there are specific things that aren't working the way you want then it might make sense to redesign it, but from what you're showing here it seems like it does everything you need it to do, so I'm not sure why you'd change it up.

It sounds like you want to redesign the database and add scripts for the sake of redesigning and adding steps... but complexity will just make it more complex to maintain.

As a side note, if security is a concern you should probably consider using either the built-in Apple Password Manager (Free) or something like LastPass (Free Tier) or 1Password (paid). The other advantage to a real password manager is the data is automatically filled in using plugins in browsers on your phone and computer, and it's also accessible on your phone easily.

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I agree with @JasonMark, that your data structure seems fine. If you're wanting to add some functionality requiring some scripts, it would be helpful if you'd share what you'd like to do in terms of actions.

I have a similar solution for access credentials which I designed for iPhone. It has only two tables and a total of just 15 fields. I don't store CVC or contact info in this little app. It has a total of nine (9) scripts for simple navigation, new record, edit, save, quit, etc. on the iPhone and a "find-as-you-type" feature used on List View (hence the second table and five of the scripts for the finds). I don't even have categories, just property name, so you're ahead of my design. :wink:

Of course a desktop solution is likely to benefit from the elements I avoided for simplicity.

One comment: I use Encryption At Rest (EAR) on this app and a strong pass phrase for access (as I do on all business solutions), and I suggest you consider EAR as well for something like this, if not already doing so.

Do post back if you have specific tasks you'd like to accomplish and we'll try to provide some scripting guidance.

Just to add a +1: Jason's suggestion to look at dedicated password managers for security is worthy of consideration. And even the use of hardware passkey for certain banking activities or sensitive data if appropriate. (I work in a security-sensitive space so we often use hardware keys and separated credential storage, etc.)

My use-case is a bit different than what I gather part of yours is, in that I store credentials for access to systems and services not accessed by the same device. For example, I store certain server credentials; credentials to access Raspberry Pis used as DNS servers, and various PINs used for certain services. I think there are about 150 records in the "app". It's handy to have them in an easily accessible form, but security is something I keep at front of mind.

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