Password history
How PulsVault retains old passwords and sensitive-field values, and how to tune the retention settings.
Every time you change a password, PIN, or other sensitive field on a vault item, the old value is saved encrypted in your vault history. This lets you recover from accidental changes or answer a service that still expects an old password — without ever exposing those values to the server.
Where to find old passwords#
Old values live with the item itself: open the item and use the History tab (or the Field History drawer) to reveal, copy, or restore a previous version. The full workflow is on the Item history page.
Retention settings#
Configure how much history is kept under App Settings → Password History ("Manage how long your old passwords and sensitive fields are retained when you update them"):
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Maximum history entries per field | How many previous values one field keeps. When a new version is saved, the oldest beyond this number is dropped. |
| Retention period | How long any version is kept. Anything older is cleared automatically each night. |
Both are capped by your plan:
| Plan | Entries per field | Retention period |
|---|---|---|
| Free | up to 5 | 30 days |
| Premium | up to 10 | up to 90 days |
| Solo Professional | up to 10 | up to 90 days |
| Family | up to 10 | up to 90 days |
| Team | up to 25 | up to 180 days |
| Business | up to 50 | up to 365 days |
| Enterprise | up to 50 | up to 730 days |
The page shows your plan's maximum next to each control, and offers longer retention periods greyed out so you can see what a larger plan allows. Leave the entries box empty, or pick Match my plan, to always use your plan's maximum — that way an upgrade widens the window without you coming back here.
If you picked a larger value on a previous plan, your choice is kept. The page tells you which number is currently in force, and the original applies again if you upgrade.
Click Save Settings to apply changes. Values outside your plan's range are refused rather than quietly adjusted, so what you see saved is what is in force.
Team Business Enterprise On organization plans an admin policy can enforce a minimum number of entries — the page then shows an Organization policy badge and you can't set the value below it.
Old values are encrypted on your device with the vault's key before being stored, and are only decrypted when you reveal them from an unlocked vault. Retention limits reduce how much sensitive material exists at all — a shorter period is the safer choice if you never look back at old passwords.
Generated passwords are not logged#
The password generator does not keep a list of the passwords it produces. A generated password is only retained if you save it into an item — after that, changes to it are covered by field history as described above. If you generate a password and navigate away without saving, it's gone.
Related#
- Item history — reveal, copy, and restore old versions
- Password generator
- Sensitive fields & reveal