Feature Request: 1Password-style drag-and-drop filling with “type on drop” for KeePassXC

[ShakieVan]

Hi everyone 👋

I’d like to propose a desktop UX improvement for KeePassXC: drag-and-drop filling of individual fields (username, password, TOTP, custom fields) into other apps, similar to what 1Password does today.

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Related work / why a new discussion

• Drag and Drop #1987 (old, now closed)
  This was a broad “add drag & drop like KeePass” request. It was created years ago and later closed during cleanup, but it never defined a concrete, cross-platform flow (what exactly is dragged, what happens on drop, how to handle security, what to do on RDP/VM). I’m not reopening that scope – I’m narrowing it down.

• Drag n Drop fields #2285 (marked duplicate of Drag and Drop #1987)
  This one shows there was real user demand for dragging individual fields out of KeePassXC. But because it was linked to Drag and Drop #1987, it inherited the same “too general” problem and also never reached an implementable spec.

• Clipboard vulnerability; replace everywhere by Drag & Drop #2724 (clipboard vs drag & drop)
  This was more of a security argument (“clipboard is risky, drag & drop is better”). That’s an important point, but it wanted to change filling everywhere, which is a big behavioral change. What I’m suggesting here is intentionally not a global change – it’s an opt-in, field-level drag → type flow.

• allow drag and drop to RPC window #10477 (allow drag & drop to RDP window)
  This is the closest one to what I’m asking for: drag something to a window that doesn’t accept paste and let KeePassXC auto-type it. My proposal can be seen as the generalized, better UX version of that: hide the KeePassXC window during drag (like 1Password), and on drop simulate typing instead of pasting. So this discussion is meant to consolidate that idea and make it more discoverable.

In short: the previous issues showed demand, but they were either too broad (hard to implement), got closed during cleanup, or focused only on the clipboard angle. This discussion is intentionally scoped to a single, well-defined, 1Password-proven UX.

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What 1Password does today

• You can drag a field (e.g. password) from the desktop app to another window/app to fill it. This works even for apps that don’t have a browser extension.
• The main window gets out of the way (fades/minimizes) as soon as you start dragging, so the target window isn’t covered.
• For cases like Remote Desktop, VMs or dialogs that block paste, 1Password can simulate typing instead of putting the secret on the clipboard.

That combo (drag → window hides → drop → typed input) is what I’m asking for in KeePassXC.

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Why this is useful

1. Remote Desktop / VM / elevated prompts
   Many of these windows don’t accept paste (or you don’t want to put secrets on the clipboard). Simulated typing works there.

2. No clipboard exposure
   Drag-and-drop should not copy the secret to the system clipboard at all.

3. Field-level control
   With drag-and-drop you explicitly choose which field to fill (username vs password vs OTP). That’s clearer than global Auto-Type.

4. Discoverability
   Dragging from the entry view is very intuitive for non-power-users.

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Proposed behaviour for KeePassXC

1. Start drag

   • From the entry details view, make username, password, TOTP and custom fields draggable.
   • Optionally show a small drag handle / icon.

2. While dragging

   • Temporarily minimize / fade / send to background the KeePassXC main window so it doesn’t block the drop target (parity with 1Password).

3. On drop

   • Do not paste.
   • Instead, simulate keystrokes (Auto-Type) of the dragged field’s value into the currently focused window.
   • For passwords: type characters one by one, just like normal Auto-Type.
   • Optionally add a short configurable delay to make RDP / slow apps safer.

4. Security / options

   • Add a per-app or global option: “Allow drag-and-drop to type” (enabled by default).
   • Do not leave data on the clipboard.
   • Respect existing database lock / unlock state.

5. Platforms

   • Ideally: Windows, macOS, Linux. Android would be nice, too, if possible.
   • If simulated typing differs per platform, KeePassXC can fall back to current behaviour.

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Possible UI entry points

• Make fields in the entry details view draggable.
• Or: context-menu on a field → “Drag to window (auto-type)”.

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TL;DR
Several older issues asked for drag & drop, but they were too broad or focused only on the clipboard aspect. This proposal is narrower: drag a single field → KeePassXC gets out of the way → on drop, auto-type into the target window, mainly to support RDP / VMs / non-pasteable dialogs.

[droidmonkey]

We already support typing just the username/password/totp from the Global Auto-Type dialog. Press Ctrl+1/2/3 respectively. We also support virtual mode typing for those stubborn VM's on Windows that don't like key presses.

[ShakieVan]

If you feel this fits better as ‘new UI on top of current Auto-Type’, I’m totally fine with that – the key bit for me is the drag → hide → type flow.

[droidmonkey]

That would be a rather complex thing to implement to be honest.