Announcing the Palm Strip Export Utility
Back in 1997 we released the first version of our mobile password manager and data vault Strip (Secure Tool for Recalling Important Passwords) for PalmOS. It quickly grew to be one of the best and most widely recognized security applications for the platform, gathering accolades from the likes of ZDNet and CNN. A few years ago we dropped support for PalmOS Strip after the decline of the Palm platform. Then, last year, we resurrected Strip by bringing a completely redesigned system to the iPhone sporting a flexible data model and new open-source encrypted database engine.
Yet, many former PalmOS Strip users have let us know that they are still trapped on their old devices, in dire need of a way to export information from their Palm databases. Some people have switched to Strip for iPhone, others just want to back up their information in case of device failure.
Today we are pleased to release a free utility that can export your legacy PalmOS Strip databases out to a simple Comma Separated Value file. Once your databases are exported you can print them, open them in Excel or import them into a separate program. Most importantly, these export files will be directly importable to the iPhone when we release our first Strip desktop sync tool in the coming months.
How To Export
Note: This exporter only works with Palm Strip 1.0 or 2.0 Databases. If you are not running one of these versions you should upgrade first. This utility is not intended for use with the iPhone version of Strip (we will be releasing a iPhone sync package soon that will provide similar functionality).
Start off by downloading the exporter program:
Save the program to your computer and then run it:
- Enter the password for your Palm-Strip database. This is the same password you would enter into the program normally.
- Click the “Choose Directory” button, and navigate to the location of your Strip Databases. These will usually be in your Palm desktop install folder, usually something like
C:\Program Files\palm\<username>\backups. - Click the “Save As” button to choose the location to export the file.
- Click the “Export To File” button.
The system will then export your entire database out to a CSV file at the selected location. Your data will be left intact, with the exception that line breaks will be removed from Note fields to allow the export. Open your file in a spreadsheet like Excel or in a text editor like Notepad to verify the results.
Credits & Code
This new exporter tool is based on the pioneering work by David Dribin’s perl-strip, an early exporter for Strip databases. We’ve taken his great Palm::Zetetic::Strip module and forked it on GitHub. Our updates include the use of newer digest libraries and updates to support the full Strip 2.0 database format (including service types). We’ve also released the source to the palm-strip-export application on GitHub.
Sunday, January 03, 2010
HappyUser says:
Thank you!!! Hostage to my Treo no more!
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Nadz says:
You guys are the GREATEST!
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
BigBlue says:
That’s great! I tried it and it does work very simply. Now, how long until STRIP for iPod/iPhone actually has an import capability?
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Billy Gray says:
Glad things are working out so far! We’ve had zero bug reports, which is nice but makes you wonder.
BigBlue wrote:
> Now, how long until STRIP for iPod/iPhone actually has an import capability?
Soon! We’re working on it, that’s all I can tell you. We’ve been making rapid progress, but we’re not ready to announce a release date yet, lest we blow it. Thanks for being so patient!
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Bill says:
Great work, folks! I really appreciate all you’ve done on this over the years, and I look forward to a version of Google Android that incorporates SQLCipher.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Thomas says:
Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you!!
BTW, did I mention thank you?
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Gregor says:
THANK YOU! Good old Palm, you can retire…
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Peter T says:
“We’ve had zero bug reports” No problems here either!
Thanks for the tool. Even better if you had Windows and Nokia N900 versions and I could keep using Strip!
Monday, March 01, 2010
Richard D says:
Thanks a bunch! I am sorry to see my Handspring Edge go but progress is progress!
Hopefully you guys will consider getting on the Blackberry!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Lee says:
I cant get the utility to see what look to be my strip backup files. They have names like StripSystems-SJLO.PDB, Strip.PRC and StripAccount-SJLO.PBD. Are these the right files or not or are they just from the wrong version?
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Stephen Lombardo says:
Hi Lee,
Those are definitely the right files that the utility needs to export your information. There should aso be another required file called StripPassword-SJLO.PDB in the directory.
Note that they are all required for the exporter to run, therefore you want to enter the folder they are found in the Directory box. The application should automatically located them with that folder. The databases will need to be 1.0 or greater, or you’ll get an error message. However, you can upgrade to 1.0 or 2.0 if you need to before exporting.
Let us know if that helps!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Lee says:
I am still having trouble getting the utility to work. The strip related files I have in my backup directory under the Palm directory are: Strip.PRC, StripAccounts=SJLO.PBD, StripPassword-SJLO.PDB and StripSystems-SJLO.PBD. I am referencing the fully qualified path to the backup directory. If the database is the wrong version, will I get a message specific to that problem? Any ideas you have would be helpful. Thank you.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Geoff says:
I looked at the perl exporter code and it dose not get past trying to set the strip directory. It never says that my version is out of date. I have the previously mentioned strip files present.
Code:
if ($@) {
Tkx::tk___messageBox(-message => “Unable to find a Strip database in that location\n”, -type => “ok”);
return;
It doesn’t check for version until the next line of code
any thoughts?
Monday, May 17, 2010
Stephen Lombardo says:
@Lee @Geoff – A few question:
Monday, May 17, 2010
Janos says:
I’ve been looking for a tool like this for a few years now… Thanks!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Jak says:
Excellent, I have kept about 30 items in STRIP since my PalmPro days, exporting and using it all the way up to my Treo 680. Moved to Android, and wanted to copy them over – your export utility worked like a dream once I had the 3 PDB’s in the one place. Thanks.
Friday, July 02, 2010
alex says:
Hy guys. A big thanks! for slapping this up. Finally can send my Tungsten to RIP. Yeehaw!
Three observations that made the import non-trivial:
iconv --from-code=ISO-8859-1 --to-code=UTF-8 ./oldfile.csv > ./newfile.csvvirevealed that in fact some Entry fields were empty. After I fixed that (vi(1)), import went fine.BTW, will we hear about Strip desktop any soon? ;)