Migrate/export OTP entries from Google Authenticator to KeePass using KeePassOTP plugin

I have recently migrated all (~15) my OTP tokens from Google Authenticator to KeePass database. Thanks to that I keep all my tokens secured by KeePass strong encryption and far away from uncle's Google always watching spying eye. The method is fairly easy and straightforward but requires some work to be done.

Note that from version 1.3 of the KeePassOTP plugin it is possible to import multiple OTPs combined as one QR code which is possible to be created from Google Authenticator. There should be no need to export all the entries one by one anymore. See the v1.3 release details.

Overview of steps in this guide

Export QR codes for all accounts one by one from Google Authenticator

This guide is based on KeePassOTP plugin for one particular reason. This plugin has an ability to import QR codes exported from Google Authenticator.

For the purpose of this article I have prepared two entries: "First Account" and "Second account". Very original names 😊

**Figure 1.** First and second accounts in google authenticator

To access export feature of the app tap the free dots in the upper right corner and select "Transfer accounts"

Google authenticator menu — **Figure 2.** Tap "Transfer accounts"

and then "Export accounts"

Transfer accounts menu — **Figure 3.** Tap "Export accounts"

Now is the most boring part. You need to export all accounts one bye one. That means you need to keep only one account selected on the list then press "Next" button and save the QR code. Then press back button in the upper left corner and do the same with the next account. The tricky thing here is that Google Authenticator probably won't let you take a screenshot of your screen... I used my tablet to take a picture of the QR codes 😅

Accounts selection screen — **Figure 4.** Export account one by one

Crop images

Connect your device, the one having QR code screenshots, to the computer with KeePass installed. Copy all the QR codes to a folder and use your favorite graphic editing tool to crop the pictures as shown below:

**Figure 6.** Cropped QR code for the first account

**Figure 7.** Cropped QR code for the second account

Install KeePassOTP plugin

You can dig through KeePass website to the KeePassOTP plugin download page or you can just use this link and go directly to its releases page on github 😀 Download the "KeePassOTP.plgx" file from assets and put it into your KeePass plugins folder. Usually that is "C:\Program Files (x86)\KeePass Password Safe 2\Plugins".

Setup OTP hotkey

After you do this restart KeePass to let it load the newly installed plugin. It is possible to use plugin's auto-type placeholder but for me much more convenient option was to assign a hotkey for it. To do so go to "Tools" at the top menu and select "KeePassOTP".

Tools menu — **Figure 8.** Select KeePassOTP

On the "General" tab configure KeePassOTP hotkey. For me "CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+T" was a very good pick.

KeePassOTP General Tab — **Figure 9.** Setup hotkey

Import QR code

Finally it's time to import our carefully prepared QR codes! For every entry in KeePass for which you have prepared a QR code right click it and select "KeePassOTP" and then "OTP Setup"

KeePassOTP context menu — **Figure 10.** Click "OTP setup"

New window will appear. Drag and drop your QR code to the same spot as shown below:

Drag and drop feature — **Figure 11.** Drag and drop QR code image to this place

After you release it the seed and values should appear. Confirm with OK button and you are done!... with this one 😋 The rest to go!

**Figure 12.** Successfully imported QR code

Don't forget to clear storage and cache and remove Google's app!

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Comments

Cryptical

03-08-2021 14:38:19 UTC

This was very helpful, thanks. It takes a bit of effort to get in to the workflow, specially with multiple 2fa accounts, but once it's setup it makes logging in to 2fa secured sites so much quicker and easier.

Asday

05-07-2022 06:08:59 UTC

If you have go installed (1.16 minimum) you can export all the accounts at once, decode the QR code with something like qrab, then do `go install github.com/dim13/otpauth@latest` then run `$GOPATH/bin/otpauth -link "the-decoded-qr-code"`