Switching password managers: it took two hours, here is the order

Everyone postponing a password manager switch has the same reason: not knowing where to start. The order matters.

1. Build the recovery chain

Before moving to the new vault, print your two-factor recovery codes and store them offline. The one percent who skip this lose an account — a small number, with no way back.

2. Email first

The email account is the reset key to every other account. Move it first, everything else after.

3. The critical ten

Banking, government, work, primary social. Finish those ten on day one; spread the rest over weeks.

4. Then the rest

Export the browser's saved password list, import it, verify by logging in one by one. Autofill handles ninety percent; the only manual checks are payment pages.

5. Before deleting the old vault

Wait two weeks. Then delete. Those two weeks rescue the account you forgot.