1414784 - ˋTools → Password Manager → log outˊ needs more detailed and precise description in Help

Status: NEW

(SeaMonkey :: Help Documentation, enhancement)

Description

[Rainer Bielefeld]

+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #1413813 +++

Currently nowhere is described for what ˋTools  → Password Manager  → log outˊ can be used.

Comment 1

[lvm]

Actually it is described - in the topic "Logging Out of Your Master Password" of seamonkey's built-in help, but it is stated there that it is used for logging out of the master password which is not [completely] correct - as discussed in Bug #1413813 it logs out of sites using http authentication.

Comment 2

[Rainer Bielefeld]

.

Comment 3

[Torsten Funk]

Hi all,

the mentioned menu entry does NOT log you out of websites - it logs you out of the password manager only.

Or with other words: When you type in master password, you get logged into the password manager, so it can fill out login forms on websites for you. It is like opening a safe. It would remain open/logged-in until you close Seamonkey. So, everyone using your computer could still use your login credentials to websites. To prevent this, it is required to close the safe again - to log-out of the password manager. That is what the menu item is for: to log-out password manager manually.

There used to be a setting in the Preferences, to automatically log-out your password-manager after x minutes. But this feature seems to be gone. Maybe there is a setting in about: config for it still, since the automatically log-out still works in my current version - I just can not custmize it in Preferences any longer. I set mine to 5 minutes years back, and it is still doing this correct.

The above applies to the browser only, although Seamonkey Mail uses password manager too.

But... there seems to be a new bug since 2-3 versions back, which also automatically logs-out password manager for Seamonkey Mail. So, when you have x accounts in Mail, and those check all y minutes for new emails, you get prompted to type in master password very often a day. Typing in master password one time then, does not stop Mail from request it again.
Interestingly, this bug seems to get triggered by using password manager with master password one time in the browser. In this order: need of login to a website -> password manager asks for master password -> you type it in -> you log into this website -> minutes later you get automatically logged out of password manager -> Mail is also logged out of password manager now (should not happen!) -> Mail keeps asking you for master password all day.

There are still parts of that behavior I do not understand. Like, only one email account is not 'logged-In' to password manager, the other still works. some minutes later it is vice-versa.

The paragraph about logging-out password manager in the German help "Vom Master-Passwort abmelden" is correct so far, but is uses some nonsense terminology. For example, it says "Vom Master-Passwort abmelden" (=Log out from master password), which should be "Vom Passwort-Manager abmelden" (=Log out from password manager). One should extend this paragraph about Mail and other things. And there are lots of other wrong used words in the German help when you type in 'passwort' into the Search field. And finally, in the browser Tools menu the password manager is called "Passwortverwaltung", where it is called "Passwortmanager" or "Passwort-Manager" in the help. And then there is the "Datenverwaltung" which manages the passwords... :-)

Maybe one should rename all this to "Open Password Safe" and "Close Password Safe".

Friendly greetings
Torsten