Hi @tim3towers Bitwarden currently does still copy a local cache of the encrypted data on your device.
So long as you are in a locked state the vault can be accessed and items can be read and used as normal, the only thing that can’t be done currently while offline is editing existing items or adding additional ones.
I believe if the vault is completely logged out, rather than locked this does require online access however.
Hi Kent,
I totally understand this. But I can’t count on that. During my tests I had multiple times the situation where I needed to re-login to the vault. In the other cases offline cache worked perfectly. Haven’t found out why yet…
Ahhh I see, yeah that is very strange.
In our case there are very few times we may be without access, and even with occasional downtime or maintenance from Bitwarden experience little issues.
Even so during times when offline, as mentioned as long as the vault is in a locked stated rather than being fully logged out. This should still allow for offline access to the entries.
Not sure why you would be experiencing so many issues, though hopefully this is something that will be resolved with the anticipated updates to offline editing in Bitwarden.
As far as data security goes, Bitwarden thankfully makes it very easy to export your data. They believe your data should be yours and one of the worst things I hate in the enterprise space is vendor lock-in and holding my data hostage.
We run a simple sync job to export the Organizational vault to an encrypted local container on site.
These are added to off-site backups to yet another encrypted (because why not double encrypt ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) storage container in Azure for disaster recovery purposes.
Perhaps a similar local backup of sorts would be sufficient to remedy any offline access concerns you may have.
Any news on this?
Hi,
I am new to BW…
I just switched to BW from a legacy password manager (actually that was the BlackBerry Password Keeper that went and-of-life this summer) that was only local + backed up on cloud, and only available from one device, to BW… The only thing I’d miss from my previous PK are the checkbox notes and the fields for security question on login infos.
I am also +1 on that feature to be able to access my vault (without have to think I should lock it to access in Read-Only) and to edit any entry offline…
BW is great, I am still using the free version at the moment, and I was intending to switch to the piad version to onboard other family members, but the lack of that offline editing feature is a dealbreaker for me (I overlooked the missing of that important feature) and I am currently looking for other products, such as KeePassXC**… Even though I have to pay for it…
I fee that a product that has a local encrypted DB that syncs to a cloud service and that I can use on different platforms (Windows/iOS and Android) might be sufficient for me…
**p.s. any other suggestion from 1Password or LastPass or Dashlane would be welcomed 
We also think offline editing is important and it is on the development roadmap 
finally!
do you have a rough ETA by any chances?
As soon as we have something locked in, we’ll share it in all of our regular community spaces.
That’s awesome!
I just don’t understand why this is difficult to implement other password managers have figured it out. I have read on other forums regarding this question it’s a problem with timestamps. If a person has made multiple changes, they don’t know how to sync the changes to the server. Why can’t the server just sync the last time stamp?
Is it possible to at least tell us is it coming in 2023? Also, when I go to my vault and end all sessions it takes 9 to 10 minutes to actually end sessions on my windows desktop. I think you really need to fix that if person uses that feature, they could have an urgent reason and waiting ten minutes that could be serious!! I know it sounds like I’m beating up on BW, I do love the product and thanks for all the hard work you all do it’s just these are two big issues!!
When we have more information about offline editing release timelines, we will be sure to update the public roadmap. Regarding session management, you can add features Session management - #2 by Crocmagnon
Regarding session management that is not a feature that it’s bug that needs to be fixed urgently
This is currently expected behavior and as commented in the other thread, it can take up to 1 hour for other client sessions to end.
For situations where the user selfhosted bitwarden inside his home network and doesn’t have access to his lan at the time, or when not having an internet connection in general. Being able to create/edit entries in bitwarden, saving it locally, and then auto-transmitting it to the server when a connection is available would be useful.
Currently, if offline, and trying to add or modify entries in bitwarden results in the client infinitely loading.
The problem is that if there isn’t a date/release identified (and as you say, there still isn’t) then it isn’t actuallyon the roadmap but is languishing in the backlog along with whatever else isn’t deemed high priority enough to actually get worked on. Shame.
Thanks for the feedback @Bobsbits there are many active feature requests and Bitwarden is built in part by community contributors, is offline editing something that you are interested in assisting with?
I’d love to, but unfortunately I am not a developer.