With the ability to store and encrypt any password on Macintosh systems, the Keychain can be a mixed blessing. It’s easy for users to save time and effort with a single sign-on system for email, website, and file sharing access. It’s equally easy to lose track of passwords that, thanks to a secure and convenient alternative, people seldom type themselves. Most users know the pain of an important but forgotten password. Next time it happens, there’s a painless way to save their day.

In the Utilities folder you’ll find the often-overlooked Keychain Access. Open it, and scroll down the main window to find the password item you need. If a user has multiple keychains, you may have to search more than one, but you can skip those named “System” and “System Roots” in Leopard (as well as “X509Anchors” and “X509Certificate” in Tiger). Select “Get Info” from the file menu to see the entry details, then click on the “Show password” button and enter the owner’s main keychain password.

If your users can’t rescue an essential password from their memories, this approach can retrieve it from the OS X Keychain instead.

Recommended Reading: Giles Turnbull has an extensive overview of Keychain Access available at the extensive O’Reilly MacDevCenter.