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How does password autofill work?

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 30 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

colinpirillo
colinpirillo
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I'm curious: when I choose to autofill a saved password, does Firefox copy and paste the password under the hood, i.e. does the password ever appear in my clipboard, or does Firefox emulate the keyboard to fill in the password? Or something else?

Thanks!

I'm curious: when I choose to autofill a saved password, does Firefox copy and paste the password under the hood, i.e. does the password ever appear in my clipboard, or does Firefox emulate the keyboard to fill in the password? Or something else? Thanks!

Chosen solution

Basically, the browser looks for a fill-in box for user-id or password. If found, it calls the Password Manager. The manager will look for and fill in any data it has for that website. If you enter new, or change, the data the manager will ask if you want to save it. The clipboard is not used.

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FredMcD
FredMcD
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Chosen Solution

Basically, the browser looks for a fill-in box for user-id or password. If found, it calls the Password Manager. The manager will look for and fill in any data it has for that website. If you enter new, or change, the data the manager will ask if you want to save it. The clipboard is not used.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Note that the clipboard is used if you click the Copy button on the Lockwise (about:logins) page.