With so many privacy threats around, having an extra layer of protection on your Mac is crucial. Luckily, you can keep your private data far from prying eyes by putting it in a password-locked folder.

Let’s see how to password protect a folder on Mac so that no person or app could crack it.

This video will show you how to lock apps and folders on mac. Cheak out my other videos: https://www.youtube. The name of your macOS user account and the name of your home folder must both be the same. Changing these names does not change or reset the password of your user account. Because doing this incorrectly could damage your account and prevent you from logging in, you should back up your important data before proceeding. Mac folder lock free download - Folder Icon X, CuteFTP Mac Professional, Folder Icon X, and many more programs.

On your Mac, click the Finder icon in the Dock to open a Finder window, then navigate to where you want to create the folder. Alternatively, click the desktop if you want to create the folder on the desktop. Choose File New Folder, or press Shift-Command-N. If the New Folder command is dimmed, you can’t create a folder in the current location.

Why you might want to protect a folder with a password

You wouldn’t show your credit card statements in public. So why not protect financial or health information on your computer? If you share your Mac with someone else, password protection will cover up files that you don’t want anyone to see. That also keeps your private data private if you lose your device.

Even if you’re the only user of your Mac, locking and encrypting your sensitive files is a must these days. Did you know that some data-mining apps could spy on your documents and folders? As cybercriminals adopt new tactics and code innovations, there’s no telling if your computer is hacked, until your bank account turns out to be empty.

How you can keep your files safe

To be on the safe side, savvy Mac users regularly check their computers with anti-malware software. My personal favorite is CleanMyMac X, as Apple notarized it on macOS Catalina. It comes with a Malware Removal tool that deals with Mac-specific viruses. Here is how it works:

Launch the app (get a free version here).
Choose the Malware Removal tab in the sidebar.
Click Scan.
If CleanMyMac X detects a threat, press Remove to get rid of it. If it doesn’t, congratulations! You have no malware on your Mac.

How to password lock a folder on Mac

With Disk Utility, which is available on every Mac, you can encrypt and password protect a folder by turning it into a disk image (DMG). Follow the steps below:

Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
Go to the File menu > New Image > Image from Folder.
Select a folder you want to password protect in the dialog box that appears, then click Choose.
Enter a filename for the disk image and select where to save it.
Pick a preferred encryption option from the dropdown menu: 128-bit AES encryption (recommended) or 256-bit AES encryption (more secure, but slower).
Enter and verify your password in a new dialog box. Tap the key icon to open Password Assistant and check how secure your password is. Once you’re done with a password, click Choose.

There is no way to recover the password to password-protected DMG file, so choose the one you won’t forget or write it down in a safe place.

Click the Image Format menu and pick ‘read/write’.
Click Save, then click Done. Now your folder is password-protected.

Note that the original folder is still on your Mac. Make sure you have no issues accessing the DMG file, then trash the original folder so that no one gets access to it.

How to lock a folder on Mac without Disk Utility? You can do that with Terminal or third-party apps with similar functionality. Still, I opt for Disk Utility, as this method is relatively fast.

CleanMyMac X’s Privacy tool gathers all your Mac’s private data in one place. With its help, you can clean up your online and offline history, including chat transcripts, browsing traces, Recent Items lists, and even old Wi-Fi networks.

How to use a password-protected folder

Go to the location where you saved the disk image and double-click to open and mount it to your Mac. Enter the password when prompted and press OK. You can optionally check the box to save the password in your keychain.

Once you enter the password, the DMG file mounts in two places: on your desktop and in the Finder sidebar. Click either one of these to open the folder.

To password protect it again, click the eject icon in the Finder sidebar. That’s it!

Hope this step-by-step guide will help you keep your sensitive files safe and private.

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

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 i

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