Confused newby

Hi all,
Just created a new Bitwarden account and bought the premium membership.
Very confusing beginning:

  1. Received a Bitwarden Premium License. What do I do with it? Please stay nice.
  2. Biwarden Community Forums asked me to create an account. I thought that I did when I first started.
    Is this a different account as it asked me to login using amongst other things Google account.
  3. When I started the desktop app I have my e-mail address at the top right corner, clicking on it asks me to add an account. What sort of account am I required to add?
  4. Is it best to use desktop app or browser plugin to start importing passwords from previous password manager?

I thought Bitwarden was meant to be simple to use and setup?
Help, please.

Good choice! In case that you do not see the premium features within Bitwarden, “log out” (not “lock”) and back in.

See: License Paid Features | Bitwarden Help & Support
In short: You will need it if you intend to self-host instead of using the infrastructure Bitwarden provides.
This is completely optional.

We do; at least we try really, really hard. But sometimes…well…

The account for Bitwarden (the password manager) does not have to be related to the account for the community forum. Some people (including me) prefer to use different eMail-addresses to keep even the eMail-address for the password manager as some kind of a secret.

This is just a short-cut to be able to create another account for the password-manager for example for your parents, your kids, spouse, etc. Or of course if you would like to use another account for school or business related things. See: Account Switching | Bitwarden Help & Support

I would recommend to install both and then use them for a week or two to figure out what works best for you.

2 Likes

Thank you for clarifying these issues.
It kind of makes sense when it is clarified.

I reached out to Bitwarden support and got a reply that to me at least is confusing.
Support recommended that I “read our Getting Started guides: Get Started with the Web Vault | Bitwarden Help & Support to learn the basics of each Bitwarden client.”
I am confused as what is a Bitwarden client in this instance.
I thought that I was the client or is Bitwarden client some other software or app?
Can you please clarify what it is that I am missing here.

They mean software client, such as the desktop app, or a mobile app, or a browser extension, which in this case connects to a Bitwarden server to access your stored data.

Thanks for clarifying that.