One of the important features of any password manager is to be accessible on many platforms. Having apps on multiple platforms allows users to easily access their passwords on any platform whenever they need to. One of the issues you can face with multiple instances of a password manager being open is that the password databases are not synchronized perfectly. Sending any change made to the central server and then pushing it to all other devices is battery and network-intensive.
Bitwarden automatically synchronizes the local vault with the cloud vault every few minutes. This is perfectly fine for normal use cases. Suppose you just added a password or edited an entry on one platform, however. In that case, it means it won’t be transferred to the other devices immediately. You may have to wait a few minutes for it to be available. If you’re waiting for the change to push to the web vault or to the browser extension, though, you can manually force the platform to re-synchronize and get the change as soon as possible.
How to Manually Synchronize Your Vault in the Browser Extension
To synchronize the browser extension, open the extension pane by clicking on the Bitwarden icon. Next, in the extension pane, switch to the settings tab, and click “Sync.” On the new page, click “Sync vault now.”
How to Manually Synchronize Your Vault on the Website
Synchronizing the website is really easy. Simply click to one of the different tabs at the top: Send, Tools, or Settings and then click back to the “My vault” tab. When the “My vault” tab loads, it will load the latest version of the database.
If you’re using two instances of your password manager at once, it can take a little bit for the changes to synchronize from one device to another. By following the steps in this guide, you can manually force Bitwarden to synchronize, saving you time.
Did this help? Let us know!