How to Generate Secure Passwords and Passphrases with Bitwarden
Learn how to use Bitwarden's browser extension to generate secure passwords and passphrases. Discover tips for customizing your security settings.
In this guide, we'll learn how to generate passwords and passphrases using the Bitwarden browser extension. Bitwarden offers a convenient way to create secure passwords, passphrases, and usernames tailored to your preferences. We'll explore how to use the generator to customize your passwords, including setting length, special characters, and capitalization. Additionally, we'll cover how to save these credentials in Bitwarden for easy access and management.
Let's get started
To generate a password from Bitwarden, click on the browser extension.
At the bottom, there are four buttons. Click on the second one from the left labeled "Generator."
At the top, you can choose between generating a password, passphrase, or username. For a passphrase, you can select the number of words and the word separator. You can also decide whether to include capitalized letters and numbers.
If you want a password, click it at the top.
You can choose it's length (if you're generating one through Bitwarden, the minimum length it allows is 14 characters - which is roughly the bare minimum experts consider to be a secure length).
You can select whether to include capital letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. You can also define the minimum # of numbers and special characters you want the password to include.
Personally, I like to use passphrases more often than passwords. For an example, I'll generate a passphrase with five words, including capitals and numbers.
The default word separator is a hyphen, which is fine with me. This counts as a special character, enhancing security. You can change it but it is wise to make it a special character (things like !, ?, $, #, _, etc)
If you're using the generator to create a password for signing up for a service, you'll notice two small buttons next to the generated password. The first button, resembling a recycling symbol, is for regenerating the password.
A new password will appear. When you find one you like, press the button that looks like two stacked, staggered pieces of paper. That's the copy button.
It will say "Passphrase copied."
Now, you can paste it and sign up for whatever you're doing.
Creating a New Login for the Vault
Then, sometimes, Bitwarden will prompt you to save the credentials. If it doesn't, open the extension again right away (while you still have that password/passphrase on copy).
If you're not already in the vault, click it at the bottom.
Click the New button at the top. (the Text Blaze account you see under "Autofill suggestions" in the images below is a different account than the one I was creating in this guide - sorry for any confusion)
Choose Login from the dropdown menu, as we're going to manually create a stored login for the website we just made an account for.
It should automatically know what website you're on, and assume you're making the entry for it. So now you can paste the password (assuming you still have it copied! which is why it's imperative to do this right away if Bitwarden doesn't prompt you to automatically save it).
Now you can type your username.
