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Even if you’re the only user on your Mac, there’s nothing wrong with adding an extra layer of security. You may have files within folders that contain sensitive information. Or maybe you do share your Mac with others in your household and have private items that you don’t want anyone to accidentally come across.
With this in mind, you can encrypt and password-protect folders on your Mac, and here’s how.
Lock a folder on Mac with a password1) Create a Finder folder on your Apple computer and put the files in it that you want to lock with a password. You can also add files to this locked folder in the future. If you already have such a folder, then you can set password on that, and there is no need to create a new one.
4) In the next window, choose the location for the new folder image and optionally give it a different name or add a tag.
5) Then select your Encryption from the two options. 128-bit AES encryption is a little faster for the encryption/decryption process, but 256-bit AES encryption is more secure.
6) You will then be prompted to create and verify the password you want to set for the folder image. Make sure this is a password that you will remember or jot down somewhere. If you forget it, you won’t be able to access the folder image.
7) Next, select the Image Format. If you only want to view the folder, you can pick Read-Only. But if you want to make changes to the folder, such as adding more items to it, then choose Read/Write. I recommend Read/Write so that you can add new files to this protected folder in the future.
This is how you can password protect files and folders on your MacBook for privacy using a locked and encrypted disk image. These steps work for new as well as old macOS versions.
You can drag more PDF files, documents, videos, audio, pictures, etc., to this protected folder or remove existing ones from it. In short, you can use it just like a standard non-locked folder.
A note about these password-protected foldersYou’ll notice that your original folder is untouched. The process you go through with the above steps creates a disk image of your folder. So, nothing happens to your original. You can move it or delete it if you like and just use the password-protected DMG file moving forward.
As noted earlier, just be sure to remember the password or have it saved somewhere! You can put the password in the Notes app and lock that note.
Also, if you do not unmount the disk image by ejecting it as described above and simply closing it, you won’t be asked for the password if you reopen it. Unmounting the disk image is what keeps it safe and requires the password each time using the DMG file.
You can also move the DMG file to a deep folder so that anyone can’t see or delete it. You can navigate to this disk image manually or find it in Spotlight Search by typing .dmg.
Related: How to exclude specific files, folders, disks, and categories from showing up in Spotlight search results on Mac
Encrypto: Secure Your FilesBesides the method described above, you can also use third-party apps like Encrypto to add AES-256 encryption to your files and folders.
Get Encrypto for free from the Mac App Store.
Open the app and drag the files you want to encrypt and lock over Encrypto’s little app window.
Enter the password you want to lock the file with and add a hint.
You have successfully encrypted and locked your file. Close the Encrypto app now.
To open this locked file:
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