How to encrypt and password protect folders on Mac

Secure sensitive files and folders on your Mac by learning how to encrypt and password-protect them using both built-in and third-party tools.

Entering password to open a locked folder on Mac

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. You can also follow these steps to create a password-protected image on an external SSD or hard disk.

Lock a folder on Mac with a password

1) 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 a password on that, and there is no need to create a new one.

2) Open Disk Utility. Click File > New Image > Image from Folder from the top menu bar.

Create Image from Folder in Disk Utility on Mac

3) Browse for, select the folder you want to protect, and click Choose.

Choose Mac folder you want to lock

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.

Add password you want to set for folder on Mac

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.

8) Click Save.

Set Image Format and encryption for locked photo on Mac

You will see the progress of the operation in the Disk Utility window. Depending on how many items you have in the folder, it could take a few minutes. Click Done when it finishes.

Creating folder disk image successful on Mac

9) Navigate to the location where you saved the folder image and double-click on it. It will have the DMG file format.

Open newly created DMG file on Mac

10) Enter the password you created for the folder image when prompted and click OK. You can optionally check the box to remember your password in your keychain. However, checking this box sort of defeats the purpose of requiring a password to open it.

Enter password to open locked folder on Mac

11) You will now see the mounted disk image of your folder. Double-click to open it, and from there, you add, access, or remove items, just like normal.

Open locked folder on Mac

When you finish using the folder, you’ll want to password-protect it again by unmounting it. Right-click on it and select Eject folder name.”

Eject locked folder to hide it again on Mac

The next time you want to access the protected folder, just double-click that DMG file, enter your password, and that’s it.

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 folders

You’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

Want to password-protect files on your external SSD or hard disk?

The fundamentals for this are almost similar to what we’ve explained earlier. But here’s a quick summary:

1) Connect your external drive to your Mac.

2) Open Disk Utility and select your external drive from the left sidebar.

3) Now, from the top menu bar, click File > New Image > Blank Image (or you can create from a folder).

4) Next to “Where:” make sure it shows your external drive’s name. If not, click the drop-down menu and choose your external drive.

5) Fill in the standard details. Set the Name, Size, Encryption, etc., as mentioned under the previous heading and click Save.

Creating secured image on external drive on Mac

Disk Utility will create a DMG file inside your external drive. You can double-click to open it and enter your password to add files to it.

Must see: Why and how to safely eject media drives from your Mac

Note: You can’t open DMG files natively on a Windows PC.

Encrypto: Secure Your Files

Besides the method described above, you can also use third-party apps like Encrypto to add AES-256 encryption to your files and folders.

  1. Get Encrypto for free from the Mac App Store.
  2. Open the app and drag the files you want to encrypt and lock over Encrypto’s little app window.
  3. Enter the password you want to lock the file with and add a hint.
  4. After that, click Encrypt.
  5. Once that’s done, click Save As, choose a location, and hit Save.
Encrypt files and folders using Encrypto app on Mac

You have successfully encrypted and locked your file. Close the Encrypto app now.

To open this locked file:

  1. Simply double-click the file with the .crypto extension and enter its password (that you set in step 3 above).
  2. Click Decrypt.
  3. Once the file is decrypted, hit the eye icon to open it or click Save As to save an unencrypted copy.
Decrypt file using Encrypto app on Mac

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