tl;dr fix backup-doc to treat backup-verification as a first-class topic, and specifically callout quirks of portability-focused cases (offline/serverless verification: that no, there’s really no bitwarden tooling).
The export-your-data page should really make “testing your export” a first-class concept. Even if it just links out to another “how to test your page”, but then I’d guess the two pages would drift in feature-parity.
Most important for me personally: data portability and offline-first functionality. I want to know that my backups will work, even without a bitwarden server (hosted by bitwarden or anyone). The password-protected variant of the JSON-encrypted backup is perfect for this goal except that the page makes no mention of how to do a simple test (and please don’t tell me to setup a test account, or import the backup into my own account; these are really subpar methods). In this thread I learned that keepassxc can solve this problem. So my suggestion is:
- a new “test your backup” section
- specifically outline testing all the variants of a backup (how does Bitwarden product team suggest you test for each of these variants)
- selfishly: at least outline the JSON-encrypted, password-protected variant
- outline that the very prominent keepassxc supports this backup-variant via its import flow
- don’t just mention “third parties” can decrypt: be opinionated: keepassxc is as trustworthy as it gets, until bitwarden binaries offer an offline solution themselves.
- selfishly: at least outline the JSON-encrypted, password-protected variant
- explicitly mention that bitwarden doesn’t provide its own backup-reading/verification tool (ie: nothing that bitwarden is itself integration-testing against with every release, that people should consider the reference-solution). Requiring another account (or mutating your real account) is not a verification/read solution, that’s a write-solution and I can’t possibly believe bitwarden wants every user to own two accounts, the second just for testing.