Currently the “Pop out to a new window” function is not available when viewing or editing an item. Please extend this functionality to when viewing or editing an item.
This would be very useful, especially on sites where autofill does not work.
I guess you’re right.
But for now, as this still doesn’t get implemented (even that it is troublesome to be done), I’d advise you to use the desktop app as well, just to make sure you won’t have “troubles” when trying to fill in details.
However, there’s still a workaround if you click to pop out on a new window first instead of doing it directly when within the login details itself.
At now browser extension widget shows “Open in new window” button only on front page. But most often this button is required when users already open some folder, password item, or secure note.
The main problem with this workflow is that finded&opened item in Bitwarden widget will be disappear when user close widget, and user will need to find it again from scratch.
So please make “Open in new window” button available on all web browser widget pages! This will solve described problem.
Feature name
- Ability to “Pop out to a new window” while viewing / editing a single Bitwarden item in the Chrome extension
Feature function
- There are many instances when I am viewing / editing a single Bitwarden item in the Chrome extension pop-up and I need to switch to different browser/app window and then later return back to the original BW item. This is impossible because (at least on my Xubuntu Linux) the extension pop-up closes as soon as I switch to another window. I think the easiest solution to this would be to have the “Pop out to a new window” button also present when viewing / editing specific items. That way I can pop out the current item window and not lose it when switching between browser windows.
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+1 This feedback. This would also let me use the Chrome CTRL+F search function, which is not available in the pop-up mode.
To switch to pop-out mode so that I can do a search, I have to start my workflow from the beginning.
Just adding my +1 for this request. Often when I am manually adding an item I may need to go to another window to copy some more details into bitwarden, only for the popout window to close and I have to start again as it does not persist. It’s always frustrating in this scenario when I want to pop-out the window but that option isn’t available.
This request, along with the below similar one, would make using Bitwarden so much nicer for me.
Add a “Pop out” button to the View Item UI
- Add a Pop out button somewhere here
Feature function
- By having a pop out button in the View Item UI, we can pop out the information we found so it can’t get closed by Chrome.
- Sometimes we need to manually copy/paste information from a stored item. This requires searching for the item and opening it. Once the item (login, note, ID, etc.) is opened, it cannot be popped out. This can be very frustrating because of how easy it is for Chrome to close the extension UI (switch tab, click anywhere outside of the UI, etc.). Once the UI is closed, we have to start from the beginning and open the item. With some foresight, we can pop out the item before this can happen.
Related topics + references
@bw-admin Pinging you about one more easy to implement UX improvement.
We have also another solution for described problem in Persistent Bitwarden UI and maintain unsaved data but proper implementation of that is a long way.
So maybe at first step - implement the easiest workaround, as described here?
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Thanks @Murz, I’ll share with the team 
This would need additional changes beyond just adding the button. Currently, the widget GUI is refreshed on pop-out (or more likely, a completely new widget process is started in the pop-out window). There would still need to be code to capture the unsaved state of the browser extension and transfer this information to the pop-out widget.
So, while making the pop-out button available elsewhere in the GUI is not a bad idea, I don’t think it will solve the main problem.
Yes, we’ll not solve the main problem, but at least give ability to open a currently opened item in a new window, to not lost it when clicking anywhere outside of the Bitwarden popup.
So to clarify what specific behavior you are requesting to be implemented:
If a user has opened a vault item for editing, then clicking the pop-out button should launch the pop-out widget with the starting page being the edit window for the item that was open in the browser extension? What if the user had already started to make some edits in the browser extension before clicking the pop-out button — is it OK if those edits are lost, as long as the pop-out still shows the (now cleared) edit window?
What about something like a vault search? Here, the pop-out button is actually available already in the current implementation, but if the user has entered a (possibly complex) search query and started scrolling through the search results, then clicking the pop-out button will clear the search. Is this behavior consistent with the request you are making in this thread, or do you also wish for the state of the browser extension to be transferred to the pop-out window when it is launched?
is it OK if those edits are lost, as long as the pop-out still shows the (now cleared) edit window?
It’s not OK, but better than nothing like now.
And it’ll be great if Bitwarden can save the current form state (entered values, etc) and restore it in popup window, but as first step I’ll glad to see at least the minimal simple functionality.
This definitely is a workflow miss. Nobody wants to pop out window at the beginning… it is only when you have found an item that you might want to move it to another monitor and edit at the same time.
This is a good point.
I have a suggestion which is simple with only two minor code changes can fix the root problem:
- When viewing item, if the internal URL does not contain
uilocation=popout(which it doesn’t when you click via. browser toolbar icon), it will display a “Pop-out” button rather than an “Edit” button (Code change 1), Example:
- This pop-out button will work almost exactly the same as the other “Pop-out” button on the previous page, where the URL of this Pop-out already contains
uilocation=popoutin the internal URL. Ifuilocation=popoutis already present, the real Edit button will actually show up to be able to edit normally via. this Pop-out.
URL of the current pop-out button:
chrome-extension://nngceckbapebfimnlniiiahkandclblb/popup/index.html#/tabs/vault?uilocation=popout
How this pop-out differs from the existing pop-out button, is that the existing pop-out button loads a slightly different internal URL and also passes the GUID of the currently viewed item. The new popout URL would look like this:
chrome-extension://nngceckbapebfimnlniiiahkandclblb/popup/index.html#/view-cipher?cipherId=<guid_of_previously_opened_item>&uilocation=popout
Example:
Summary of code changes:
- ‘Pop-out’ button instead of ‘Edit’ if it isn’t already in a pop-out
- Pop-out button passes GUID of currently viewed item to the pop-out
Advantages:
- No risk of data loss by accidently clicking away from the BitWarden window, the window will still exist in the background as a window if you alt-tab/close windows/use Taskbar/Task view etc. to find the window again.
Disadvantages:
- It is still possible to click away from the BitWarden window, and it is still possible, particularly for an inexperienced computer use to not realise that there is a background window hiding somewhere and how to get to it, and may mistakenly think that the window is “lost”. It may get lost for real if they shut down the computer or exit the browser fully with Windows still open.
Further enhacements:
-
It may be possible to counter this disadvantage by also introducing this Javascript when in Edit mode if the user has started to input data but has not pressed the Save button: onbeforeunload Event
-
Keep the pop-up on top (on an OS level) even if the user clicks away, unless the Window is closed on purpose, or the save button is pressed.
- Pop-out could be pinned on top of all other Windows, which does not seem like native browser functionality, rather it might require additions to the OS Desktop application to detect the browser pop-out window and pin it. My initial investigation shows that it is possible:
- I used an application called PinWin which can pin it manually
- I have also tested that AutoHotKey/windowspy.ahk to be able to tell the difference between an extension window pop-out called “Bitwarden” and a regular tab/popup calling itself “Bitwarden” - as the regular tab/popups includes the browser name in the title, whereas the popups from extensions does not do that.
- I have tested in javascript that
close()or `window.close()’ is capable of closing the whole popup window rather than sending the user back to the View mode of the item and keeping the always-on-top popup alive. This function could be called upon completion of a save to close the popup.
ping: @bw-admin
Just found that this feature:
Almost does it by pressing this button:
We are almost here, we have all the bits and pieces already in there, just go to tie it together!
I seem to have recently discovered this potential solution, so I want to add my vote.
In my request from today, I described the problem of losing content if I clicked away from the browser extension window.
@DenBesten commented that there was a “popout” facility that preserves the window.
My take on the feature request is that the Bitwarden web extension should always pop out the window whenever it’s being edited - either adding an item or modifying one. (This would replace the current “sliding up” feature.)
Where does action on this Feature Request stand? Many thanks.