How To Password Protect Folder on Mac

admin, How To , January 5th, 2023 , 0

In this digitally driven world, data is one of our prime assets. It plays a vital role in our modern lives and helps us to be more productive. To make sure that our private and sensitive info is not sabotaged, one needs to take extra measures to enhance security and privacy to protect our data.

Password protected

Password-protecting our folders is a great idea to prevent unauthorized access and to keep the content of the folder private. Be it your family pictures or some important financial documents, password-protecting a folder will ensure that the contents of that folder are only accessible to those who are authorized to access them. So, yes, you can easily store any sensitive content on your device and then password-protect it to stop people from accessing it.

Wondering how to password protect folder on Mac? We’ve got you covered. In this post, we have listed a complete guide on how to lock a folder on Mac by adding a password.

But before we begin…

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How to Password Protect Folder on Mac ?

To password-protect a folder on a Mac, you can select one of these methods. Either take the help of Mac’s built-in Disk Utility tool to create an encrypted disk image of the folder or use third-party tools to get the job done.

Method 1: Password Protect Your Folders with Disk Utility Tool

Step 1: Launch the Spotlight search and look for “Disk Utility”. Alternatively, you can also navigate to Applications> Utilities> Disk Utility to open the app.

Disk Utility

Step 2: On the top menu bar, tap on File> New Image> Images from Folder.

Image From Folder

Step 3: You will now see a list of folders on the screen. Pick the folder that you need to password-protect and then tap on the “Choose” button.

Important Document

Step 4: Now, tap on the “Encryption” option and then select “128-bit AES encryption”. Hit on the “Save” button to proceed.

Encryption Options

Step 5: Enter the password and then re-enter it in the “Verify” text box. Hit on the “Choose” button to set the password.

Password Verification

Alternatively, you can also ask macOS to pick a strong password for you. Tap on the key icon placed in the window to review suggestions.

Password Assistant

Step 6: After choosing the password, tap on the “Image Compression” option. Select “read/write” so that you can easily add or remove contents in the password-protected folder.

Save document and select image format

Step 7: Hit on the “Save” button.

Create Folder Disk Image

The Disk Utility tool will now get to work and create a password-protected folder on your Mac to encrypt its content.

Once this process is done, whenever you tap on this folder, macOS will prompt you to enter the password.

Enter password to access Important Document

Enter the password and hit on the OK button to access the content of the folder.

Method 2: Use the Third-Party Tools

Alternatively, you can also use third-party tools to password-protect folders on Mac. Compared to Disk Utility, third-party tools will offer an added set of features and functionality.

Although, encrypting folders using the Disk Utility tool has one catch and i.e. anyone can easily find and delete your password-protected folders. Hence, in this case, using a third-party tool will offer you more security to protect the folder’s content. Some of the most popular apps that you can use for password-protecting folders on Mac include Encrypto, Folder Lock, Data Guardian, Concealer, and more. These tools are reliable and worth checking out!

Also read: How to Fix “Your Connection is Not Private” Error on Mac

How to Password Protect Individual Files on Mac ?

macOS also allows you to password-protect individual files from native apps like Notes, Numbers, Keynote, and Pages. So, if you want to password-protect one or two individual files rather than sealing the whole folder, here’s what you need to do.

Step 1: Launch the application, and tap on File> Set Password.

Set password

Step 2: For the Notes app, right-click on the note that you need to encrypt and select “Lock Note”.

Lock Note

Conclusion

This wraps up our guide on how to password-protect folder on Mac. You can either use the built-in Disk Utility tool or the third-party tools for password protecting your files and folders on macOS. Encrypting your folders with a password will prevent unauthorized access and will protect your data.

Do let us know which method you would prefer for password-protecting folders on Mac. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments box!