This articles explains how you can password protect your folders and files on your Mac. You can assign passwords for files and folders. Everyone must enter to open the file or folder because the contents of your locked files or folders will be hidden.

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Important note: Although password protecting requires different steps for different file and folder types, it is common for most of them the that there’s no way to recover your password if you forget it.

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This article has two parts: (1) how to lock a folder (2) how to lock a file

See also: Slow iCloud Keychain?

1. Password Protect Folders

By following the steps below, you will create a password protected disk image (DMG) folder on a Mac. If you want to password protect files certain files like images etc, you may place them in password protected folders.

In this tutorial, we are password protecting a folder called macReports.

1. Open Disk Utility (Applications / Utilities / Disk Utility).

2. In Disk Utility, go to File > New Image > Image from Folder…

3. Now, select the folder you want to password protect. In our example, it is the macReports folder, and click Choose

4. You can save this new folder as anything you want. Select where you want to save this folder. You can name it anything you wish. Encryption, select “128-bit AES Encryption (Recommended)” and image format, select “read/write”. When you select the encryption, you will be asked to enter a password. Enter your desired password and click Choose.

5. And after that, click Save. Disk Utility will say ” Creating folder disk image “macReports.dmg”. It may take several seconds, when it is completed, click Done. Now, you may wan to delete the original folder.

2. Password Protect Files

You can also password protect individual files, if you prefer. But the process is different for different file types. here is how:

Password Protect your Notes

See also: How to create text files

Please note that the Notes app uses a one (single) password to lock all notes. Here is how:

1. Open the Notes app on your Mac

2. Create or select an existing note to lock

3. Click the padlock icon and select Lock Note

4. You will be asked to enter your password. It is also recommended that you enter a password hint. The hint will be displayed after you entered a wrong password three times. All of your other Apple devices (iOS, iPhone or iPad and macOS) will use this password if they are using the same iCloud account.

5. Click Set Password

To remove a Notes password, again click the padlock icon and and select Remove Lock.

Password Protect PDF Files in Preview

You can password protect PDF files in the Preview app (PDF won’t open?). Here is how:

1. Open the PDF file you wish to password protect in Preview

2. Go to File > Export

3. Select the “Encrypt” box, enter your password and click Save.

4. Next time you want to open this file you will need to enter its password.

Note that you can password protect other file types using this method. You can simply convert your files to PDF files in Preview by going to File > Export as PDF.

Password protect Pages documents, Keynote presentations and Numbers files

In this article, we are further showing how you can password-protect a Pages document. The steps are identical for Keynote and Numbers as well. Here is how:

1. Open the Pages, Numbers or Keynote file you wish to password protect and go to File > Set Password

2. A new window (require a password to open this document) will appear. Enter your password. You may want to enter a hint also. If you are using the Keychain app, you may want to check the “Remember this password in my keychain” box so that you can add the password to your keychain.

As stated above, you can use the same steps to password protect Keynote presentations and Numbers files.

You can also change or remove your password protected Pages, Keynote and Numbers files by going to Choose File > Change Password. And enter your password, after that you can change or remove the password.

Mac provides a number of features that can enhance your privacy but password-protecting folders isn’t one of them. But, as it happens, there are more than one way to password protect folder on Mac.

In this guide, we have covered 5 of the best ways to password-protect folders on Mac and encrypt them as well. You can use these methods when you need additional protection for your files from co-workers or even your partners. Most of these methods involve enterprise-level encryption. So, if you want to lock a folder on Macbook pro, air even iMac, this guide will help.

Also Read: Ways To Password Protect a Folder in Windows

#1 Password Protect Folder on Mac Using Disk Utility

Disk Utility is an in-built macOS app for managing disks, drives and partitions. As it happens, it also lets you create a password-protected folder in your Mac. It is not a folder, per se. But, you can easily manage all your files. Let’s have a look at the steps now.

Step 1

First, we have to open Disk Utility app on Mac. You can simply search via Spotlight or find it in Utilities subfolder of Applications.

Go to File > New Image > Image from Folder. Alternatively, you can press Shift+Command+N

Step 2

Now, you have to select the folder that you want to password protect.

Step 3

In the upcoming window, you have to select a few things such as the name and security type.

• Give the name for the password-protected folder
• Provide some tags and select the location where you want to save it
• For encryption, choose 128-bit AES Encryption and provide the password

• For Image Format, you have some choices, such as Compressed, read/write, hybrid image and read-only. Choose one of them

Once you are done, click the Save button.

Step 4

Depending on the size of the folder, the encryption process may take some time. Once you get the confirmation message, go to the location where you saved the image.

Type the password and click Okay.

Now, you can see a virtual disk with the same name of the folder. Open it to see the files and access them.

After the use, Eject the drive to make sure that no one else can access the folder.

Note: If you had selected read/write for Image Format, you will be able to copy and paste files easily. But, it depends on what kind of protected folder you want.

You can count on this method if you need something native. As you see, we don’t need a third-party app to protect folders on Mac using Disk Utility.

#2 Password Protect Mac Folders Using Hider

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If you want to password protect folder in mac without disk utility, then third-party apps are better option.

Macpaw Hider is an popular app to enable password protection for folders and files. However, it does work like having a secure space inside your Mac. Hider is a paid software (starts at $19 for single license) but you can check out the free trial for 15 days.

You can use this method to encrypt and protect folders, files and secure notes. It also has an impressive UI to make things cool. Once you are installed, you can add whatever you want to protect into the Hider 2 UI. It also offers an option to hide the document/folder.

Read: The Best Ways to Password Protect PDF File

This is the best thing we loved: once you close Hider 2, everything is secure. You have to enter the password to access contents from the Encrypted folder. Hider 2 is a premium software and it comes at $19.95 for one license.

You can try this method if you need a more accessible way to password-protect files and folders. You cannot use this method if you want to send/transfer the locked content.

#3 Encrypt Files via Terminal, using OpenSSL

Here is another built-into-Mac method to protect your folders and files. You should use this method if you want to add files to encrypted folder in Mac. We are going to do this using Terminal and it involves some code. If you would, let’s have a look at the steps.

Step 1

Open Terminal on your Mac and enter the following command.

Now, in this command,

openssl and aes-256-cbc designates the encryption type.

–in ~/Desktop/Photo.jpg designates the file you want to encrypt and its location

-out ~/Desktop/Encrypted.file designates the location where the encrypted file would be saved

Step 2

Enter the command and provide the encryption password when asked

Confirm the Password to continue

Step 3

Now, you can see the Encrypted.file document on your Desktop. Depending on your need, you can change the directory and encryption methods

Note: To decrypt the same file, enter the following command

Make sure you change the file-names and add ‘-d’ without quotes.

As we said earlier, you can use this method to encrypt and protect individual files. Since everything can be managed via Terminal, you don’t need a third-party software. Well, the limitation is, you can’t do it for folder.

#4 Use Concealer to Password Protect Files, Folders and More

Concealer is an advanced Mac app that lets you encrypt and store files and folders. In addition, you can take care of sensitive documents like Notes, Credit Card and software licenses. All of these are protected by one master password.

In addition to that, Concealer allows you to set individual password for stored files as well. Just like we said in the case of Hider 2, it also uses 256-bit encryption. Once closed, everything is clean. Without the master password, whatever you stored in Concealer will be inaccessible.

There are also some other smart features that may interest you. But the point is that you can simply drag-n-drop files and encrypt them with best security. Of course, don’t expect to share these files easily. Unlike the Terminal and Utility Disk methods, you should have Concealer app for encryption and decryption.

Concealer for Mac is available at a price tag of $19.99. However, there is a free trial version that allows you to save a limited amount of data.

#5 Password Protect Files Using Compression

Here is another method to protect files/folders via Terminal. However, we are going to compress the folder or file with a password. This way, the contents cannot be accessed without a password. But, since it’s a ZIP file, you can easily send/transfer it.

Let’s have a look at the steps.

You have to open Terminal and bring it to where you’ve stored the file. In my case, I had my files on Desktop.

Now, after the confirmation, you have to enter the following command.

So, this means the file Photo.jpg will be converted to a ZIP file named photo.zip. You have to provide a strong password after the command. Repeat the password and you’re done.

In a second or two, you can see the zipped file on your Desktop. Now, whenever someone tries to open the ZIP they will require a password to open a folder on Mac. Do one more thing: delete the original file, since the same is safe inside one ZIP file.

As you can see, this method works like a piece of cake. You don’t have to worry about anyone accessing the files, especially if you deleted the originals. Also, this password protection would work even if you transfer the ZIP file to somewhere else.

Bonus Tip

Want to prevent some folders from showing up via Spotlight? Here’s a method.

Add ‘.noindex’ after the folder name. If the folder name was Photos, make it Photos.noindex

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The folder will not be shown in Spotlight search anymore. Keep it somewhere away and it’s a kind of safety.

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So, we have covered the 5 best ways to make a private folder on macOS. The first four methods use higher levels of encryption while the fifth one is compression. Anyway, it’s sure that others won’t have access to your files. If you ask us, Utility Disk is our favorite one. You don’t need a third-party app, but you have access to a read/write folder. Which one do you think you’d choose? Let us know in the comments.

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Read: 4 Things You Can Do If You Forget Your Wi-Fi Password