Getting started with a password manager

A password manager remembers your passwords so you don’t have to. How to set one up safely and start using it at work, step by step.
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A password manager is an app that creates, stores and fills in your passwords for you. You remember one strong password, and the app remembers the rest. It’s the easiest way to have a different strong password for every site. This article shows how to get started. NTS uses Bitwarden, either the Bitwarden cloud or a private Bitwarden server that we run for your company. We’ll tell you which one you have.

What you’ll need

• Bitwarden, and the invitation or sign-in details we’ve sent you
• your phone and your computer
• 20 minutes where you won’t be interrupted

Set it up

1. Install the Bitwarden browser extension in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, and the Bitwarden app on your phone. Get them from your browser’s extension store or your phone’s app store, not from a link in an email.
2. Accept the invitation we sent you, or create your account if we’ve told you to. If your company uses a server we run, open the Logging in on dropdown on the sign-in screen, choose Self-hosted, type the server address we gave you into Server URL, and select Save. Then sign in.
3. Choose your master password. This is the one password you must remember. Make it long: a sentence of four or five unrelated words works well. Don’t use it anywhere else.
4. Turn on two-step sign-in for the password manager, using an authenticator app on your phone.
5. Save the recovery details (a recovery code or kit) if the app gives you any. Print it and keep it somewhere safe, not on the same computer.
6. Install the app on your phone and sign in.

Start using it

1. Visit a website you use and sign in as usual. When the app offers to save the password, say yes.
2. Next time, let the app fill in the sign-in for you.
3. When you create a new account, use the app’s password generator, and let it make a long random password.
4. Over the next few weeks, change your most important passwords first: email, banking and anything with company information.

Good to know

• Never share your master password, with anyone. We’ll never ask for it.
• Lock the app when you walk away from your computer, and keep your phone locked.
• If you lose your phone or leave the company, tell us so we can sort out access.
• Your company may keep shared logins, such as for a supplier website, in a shared area of the app. Ask us before you put one in your personal space.

Want to know why this matters? Read our blog post “Why Your Business Needs a Password Manager (and What Happens When Staff Leave)”.

If it doesn’t work

• You’ve forgotten your master password. Most apps can’t recover it for you. Use the recovery code you saved, or email us.
• The app won’t fill in a site. Copy the password from the app and paste it in, then check the website address in the app is the right one.
• A site refuses a long password. Use the longest one the site allows, with the generator set to match.
• You’re nervous about keeping all your passwords in one place. That’s a fair worry. A good manager keeps them locked with encryption that even the company can’t open, which is far safer than reusing passwords or writing them down.