Those of us that haven’t found a magical solution for remembering all of our usernames and passwords are probably still struggling while we’re looking for it. Of course, a simple solution would be to write them down in a document and then password protect it so we would only have to remember a single password to access the rest. But what about all of that precious time we spend accessing websites and manually filling out (sometimes) lengthy forms over and over again?
RoboForm is not your average password manager as it can securely store pretty much all types of online form data, including login credentials, passwords and personal information and allow you to fill out forms and login with a single click.
Installation & Requirements
RoboForm’s install process is very simple and you only have to perform a small number of settings, namely choosing your language, browser and application integration, personal data and installation folders and which version of RoboForm you wish to install (if you downloaded the free trial and haven’t purchased a license yet). In other words, you have to decide between RoboForm Desktop and RoboForm Everywhere. RoboForm Everywhere has all of the features of RoboForm Desktop, but you also get the possibility to backup your data online and access it from anywhere. In the end the program will prompt you to create a RoboForm Everywhere account and set up a master password for the desktop client.
While these steps are very good in terms of personal data security, there is a slight problem. The master password cannot be recovered so if you forget it, all the personal data that you stored in RoboForm Desktop will be deleted. However, users that also have a RoboForm Everywhere account will be able to restore their online backed up data.
The latest versions of RoboForm Desktop and RoboForm2Go (portable) work on Windows XP, Vista and 7 operating systems, but you should know that this amazing password manager has versions for many other platforms, including Intel Macs with Mac OS X 10.5 or higher, iPhone/iPod/iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Palm and Symbian. Moreover, RoboForm also has browser add-on versions for Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera.
Interface
The interface of RoboForm is clean and straightforward: the left sidebar features 6 different tabs for Logins, Bookmarks, Applications, Identities, Contacts, Safenotes and All. These provide a simple way of keeping your private data organized and easily accessible.
The central pane displays a tree view of your saved data for the currently selected category with detailed information shown in the main area. Whenever you attempt to login or submit a form onto a website, RoboForm offers to store your information. For any saved online account you have various options to ease your login task, such as Login (sends you to the website, fills required information and automatically logs you in), Go Fill (only opens up the web page and fills the info) and Go To (just sends you to the website).
Besides online accounts and forms, RoboForm can also save application related login credentials and identities. Creating an identity allows you store and manage all of your personal data such as Address, Credit Card, Bank Account…etc. and instantly fill any lengthy form whenever you need.
The basic “File” menu we’re so used to see in most application resides in the upper left corner of the GUI under the name of “RoboForm”. From there you can access RoboForm’s settings (under “Options…”). The bad news is that this particular menu is vast and may be confusing at first. The good news is that from here, you can tweak RoboForm’s behavior for many aspects such AutoFill, AutoSave and how to display categories within the program’s interface. To conclude, even if the “Options…” menu offers an extensive list of settings, it allows the user to tweak even RoboForm’s smallest details, which in our opinion makes it a truly powerful tool.
Pros
– Intuitive, simple interface.
– Excellent password capture/replay and automatic form filling.
– Supports fingerprint authentication.
– Password generator.
– Options to import stored login data from the supported web browsers.
– Support includes Manual on Editor, entire Manual and FAQ.
Cons
– If lost or forgotten, the Master Password cannot be recovered.
– iPhone/iPad/iPod and Android versions of RoboForm have Save and Edit Logins options disabled. You can only use logins previously saved with RoboForm Desktop and synched with RoboForm Everywhere account.
– Cannot identify/fix weak passwords.
– Free version allows you to save only 10 passwords.
Alternatives
RoboForm comes with great password managing features but its licensing plans can be at least confusing if not expensive to a certain degree. There are a few password managers that offer similar functionality at lower prices or even for free, such as LastPass, KeePass, 1Password.
Conclusion
Besides its state-of-the-art data encryption, password capture/replay and automatic form filling, RoboForm can be easily customized, plus it comes in many flavors to ensure you can use it from all your favorite devices. Moreover, RoboForm is available as an add-on for the supported web browsers and has various licensing plans, which makes it not only an effective time-saver, but also a reliable one.
