Why sign in to the Community?

  • Submit a question
  • Check your notifications
Sign in to the Community or Sign in to TurboTax and start working on your taxes
Level 2
posted Jan 30, 2020 6:24:47 PM

Why can't I copy/paste passwords into the import brokerage logon screen?

With the move to long, complex, unique passwords and I expect many people using password managers to store them.  Why doesn't Turbo Tax allow these passwords to be pasted into the appropriate box on the import screen.  Running on Windows 10.

25 176 11224
24 Replies
Expert Alumni
Jan 31, 2020 9:58:24 AM

Try to use the CTRL+V shortcut to paste those passwords into TurboTax.   

 

If you need further assistance, 

Please use this link to reach technical support:

https://support.turbotax.intuit.com/contact/ 

Level 2
Feb 5, 2020 1:58:31 PM

FYI - CNTRL-V does not work.  Neither does Edit-Paste from the menu bar, and right clisking on the entry does not bring up a drop-down menu.

 

All of these approaches DO work for User Name immediately above, so this lock-down appears to be intentional. 

 

As mentioned in the original question, using long complex random passwords that are difficult to input makes this VERY DIFFICULT (not to mention incredibly annoying).  The fact that TurboTax does not remember passwords, meaning they have to be inputted every time you  use this function, only makes it much much worse. 

 

Any help in unlocking paste for this function would be greatly appreciated.

Level 2
Feb 5, 2020 2:40:20 PM

I am having the exact same frustration - please allow paste in the password field.  My passwords are very long complex passwords.

Level 2
Feb 6, 2020 6:38:41 AM

You should allow the pasting of passwords throughout your product, especially where you are importing data from your banks/brokerages. There is a common misconception that this is enhances security of your product, however, there is no evidence to back this up. In fact, there is a NIST Digital Identity guideline from 2017 that encourages copy/paste of passwords in conjunction with long/complex passwords. https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-63b.pdf

I hope you take this into consideration for your next version. A patch to the 2019 version would be really appreciated.

Level 2
Feb 13, 2020 11:05:30 AM

I agree.  This is not a new issue this year, and we complained about it before.  Why has it not been fixed?

Level 1
Feb 14, 2020 2:59:48 PM

Has this issue been resolved if not will it be soon?

Level 2
Feb 14, 2020 3:11:59 PM

the field is unpastable. They have to do something specific to block it and they have!

 

Resolved? they first have to care about it and acknowledge the issue which they haven't done for years!

 

this is truly absurd and I recall complaining about it last year and probably years in the past. It's unfathomable that they refuse to acknowledge this and just fix it. Maybe somebody believed it's a security feature? But it really isn't. (If they are worried about automated attacks using this form, there's lots of other ways to detect and prevent that.)

 

 

Level 2
Feb 15, 2020 10:40:32 AM

Donna - are you monitoring your response -- and the subsequent user feedback here?  Does Intuit have any update to this issue?????

Level 2
Feb 15, 2020 11:11:14 PM

+1! This is such an annoying issue -- either A) you delight in penalizing people who have strong, unique passwords for all their sites, or B) you expect people to dumb down their passwords, or C) I'm missing the rationale since the pinned answer completely misses the mark.

Level 3
Feb 17, 2020 11:04:47 AM

My Intuit support ID is [social security number removed], but I am not going to wait the 45 minutes to be told that nothing can be done.  Donna, to be very clear, the community aggravation is that we are being told incorrect information, which  causes us to question any answer that comes from Intuit.  That, coupled with an indefensible security stance, bothers those of us who have been using TurboTax for decades and take security seriously.

 

So, what we are truly asking for is a TurboTax review of this policy of disallowing copy/paste into brokerage accounts, while still allowing it for Intuit.

Level 1
Feb 17, 2020 1:30:52 PM

I have the same concern. I have very long, complex passwords for security purposes. It is almost impossible to type them in accurately. I have tried 3 times but have not been successful. You would think they would at least allow an option to show the password as you type it so you can correct type errors.

Please fix this problem.

Level 3
Feb 18, 2020 6:44:19 AM

It is not a security feature, otherwise, how would they explain that it is available in the online products?!

In other words, if you are using TurboTax online product, you can easily paste the password in that field to import your data. Make it available in the desktop products, people!

Level 3
Feb 23, 2020 8:01:43 PM

I have found Ctrl V works for me using desktop version, but only when I copy the password when it's visible in my password manager when I copy it. In other words, not just copying the .................., I make it visible, then copy with Ctrl C. This is not the only site I've had to do this with..........my bank and brokerage firms are the same way, some others I've run in to as well.

Level 1
Mar 9, 2020 7:00:48 PM

This has gone on for years with absolutely no one listening.  As pointed out above this restriction adds no security enhancement but does add a lot of frustration e.g.,  trying to type in a 25 character machine-generated password.  For some of my accounts it actually easier to type in all the data from the tax forms than it is to type in the password.  Please listen to the community and change this restriction.

Level 2
Mar 10, 2020 6:28:54 PM

If you are comfortable with some simple scripting, you can create your own autohotkey script to individually type out each character from your clipboard.

 

This one-line script will map CTRL-SHIFT-V to type out what you would normally paste:

^+v::Send {Raw}%clipboard%

I've used this to copy/paste passwords from my password manager into TurboTax's import login screen for the past couple years.

 

Expert Alumni
Mar 10, 2020 6:36:59 PM

Thanks for sharing this information.

Level 3
Mar 10, 2020 6:41:34 PM

I installed the software. but not sure where to add this line! Does it require coding education?

Level 2
Mar 10, 2020 7:13:03 PM

You need to create the script. It's just a plain text file, but with a .ahk extension.
Copy that line into the script, save it, and run it. Now you should be able to paste-via-typing by using the CTRL-SHIFT-V shortcut. When you are finished, you can close the script via the systray menu icon.

 

Edit to add, more information can be found in the documentation.

Level 1
Mar 11, 2020 4:27:34 AM

Thanks for you response. That will work very well. I appreciate your help.

Level 1
Mar 16, 2020 7:12:52 PM

You are a legend, saved me from trying to write a program to do this, thank you.

Level 3
Mar 16, 2020 7:20:46 PM

Man, you are awesome!

Level 2
Mar 16, 2020 7:22:16 PM

None of that should be necessary!  CTRL C and CTRL V (or the Mac equivalent) should be all that is needed!

Level 1
Mar 16, 2020 8:02:34 PM

Should - but did not work on Windows 10 at least.

Expert Alumni
Mar 17, 2020 7:20:11 AM

You might want to enter the information manually. Here are the steps: 

 

In TurboTax online, 

  • Sign in to your TurboTax account and select Pick up where you left off
  • At the right upper corner, in the search box, type in "1099div" and Enter
  • Select Jump to 1099div
  • Follow prompts
  • On-screen, Let's get your tax info, select I'll type it myself
  • Follow prompts

Use the same instructions for 1099int or 1099b

 

@DSolimano