4/19/21
9:00 am

How To Password-Protect Documents On a Mac

You can easily create password-protected encrypted documents using apps like Pages, Numbers, Keynote and Microsoft Word. Youc an also create a password-protected PDF file from just about any app. There are good reasons to sometimes need encrypted documents, but often it isn't necessary.

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Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Today  
let me show you how to password protect and encrypt documents. 
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So I'm often asked how you can password protect a document on your Mac.  
So I'm going to show you a few methods. But first let me tell you why it's probably not necessary.  
Everybody that uses a Mac should have their own user account and should have it password  
protected. You should be the only one that has the password to your account.  
Now as long as you have that setup and you don't leave it unlocked and lying around for other  
people to access then all of your files are really password protected. Nobody can get into your  
account so nobody could see any of your files. If you have File Vault turned on then everything  
is encrypted so even if somebody steals your computer they still can't get into those files no  
matter what they do. So in most cases when people ask me about password protecting or encrypting  
a document it's really not necessary. But there are few situations that do occasionally come up.
For instance, you may not own your Mac. It may be a company Mac. Other people may actually have  
access to it. You may want to protect a file from anybody else that wants to look. For instance you  
may store a file with some notes for a future job search and you want to make sure that your  
boss can't see that. Sometimes we also put files in public places. Like you may have a company  
or school web server where you can put a file and it's kind of out of your control. Maybe  
other people could easily see it or maybe it's a little more difficult but you want to make sure  
that if somebody does have access to it they can't open it without a password.  
Another reason you may want to password protect a document is when sending it to somebody else over  
email. Email technically really isn't that secure. So if you have to send something that's very  
sensitive you may want to password protect the document. Of course in that case you don't want  
to include the password in the email that also has the document as an attachment. So you want  
to talk to the person on the phone or maybe send them a message some other way with the password.
Another reason is you may want to give a document to somebody but not let them have  
access to it right away. In other words give somebody a document with emergency instructions  
but only give them the password if that emergency occurs. Or maybe give students  
a quiz and then another document with the answers but don't give them the password  
to the answers right away. Then, of course, there are those people that just want to have  
a double layer of security. The just will sleep a little bit better at night knowing that some  
sensitive information is not only stored behind the password wall in their account  
but also somebody needs a different password to actually open that document.
Alright, so how do you password protect a document? Well, let's start with Pages, Numbers,  
and Keynote.The primary document creation apps on your Mac. It's really easy to do this in these  
apps. So here I've got a Pages document and if I go to File, there's Set Password. I just use that  
and set a Password. You could put a password hint for yourself if you want.  
You could also say remember this Password in my Keychain. Meaning that the document could  
be easily opened up on your Mac but if you put it somewhere else or share it with somebody else  
they're not going to have access to your Keychain so they'll need a password. This  
is a great option because it means you're not really inconvenienced by the password but other  
people need it to get access to the document in other locations. Then when you set the password  
now if you close the document and then try to open it again it asks for the password.  
Now the document is opened and you can use it as a normal document until you close it again.
Once a password is set you can go back here and it's Change Password now.  
You have to enter the Old Password and then a New Password and Verify. Or you can use  
this button here to Remove the password. So you can temporarily password protect a document and  
then remove the password later. Now in Numbers and Keynote they work the same way. Go to File  
and you have Set Password. It's exactly the same options. Here it is in Keynote.  
Now other apps may or may not offer this option and may put it in a different place.
So, for instance, Microsoft Word certainly does offer this. You have to go to Tools  
and then down here you've got Protect Document. But that's not the only way to Password Protect  
a document. You could also create a PDF from just about any app and assign a password to it.  
So you could put some sensitive information say in a Pages document that you have,  
create a PDF and the PDF requires a password and that's the one you Share with somebody  
else over email or on a shared server or something like that. So here in Pages if  
I want to produce a PDF I could do it one of two ways. One is I could go to File, Export To,  
PDF. Then in here I can select require password to open. Here i could set password, verify it,  
and include a hint. Then I'll save the PDF. So I'll Save this here to the Desktop. Now you could  
even see the PDF has a little lock there. It, of course, won't show you a preview of what's in the  
PDF in the icon because it's Password Protected. If I try to open it up it tries to open it in  
Preview and it prompts me to enter the Password first before I get access to the information.
Now the other way to create a PDF in Pages and just about any app is to go to File,  
and then Print. As long as you could print you could usually get to a PDF Menu here and you  
could Save As PDF. One of the options you've got then is Security Options here. Click that and you  
could require a password to Open the document. You could also require the password to copy text,  
and to print. Now what's great about that is you could take apps that don't have any password  
protection option and still create password protected PDF's from them. So, for instance,  
TextEdit. I could go in here and say Print. I could go to PDF and Save As PDF and I've got  
those same security options here. You can do that from anything. So, for instance, you could be on a  
private web server that people normally don't have access to. If you want to Share some information  
there you could go and Print the webpage that you're looking at and then choose Save As PDF  
and then assign a password to that PDF. So now you can share it to somebody else who may not  
have access to that website but they still need a password just to see the information in the PDF.
Now one other note. There is a difference between Password Protecting a document and encrypting it.  
But not in this case. In this case everything I'm showing you actually encrypts a document.  
Password Protection without encryption really isn't worth anything as somebody can actually  
look at the bits in the file and see what's in there. Then the password protection isn't any kind  
of real security. So when you Password Protect a document in Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Word,  
or you Password Protect in PDF you're actually encrypting it and adding a password that's the key  
to decrypting it. The difference between password protecting a document like Pages,  
Numbers, Keynote, or Word and password protecting PDF is PDF by its nature is kind of the finished  
document. You're not going to be editing a PDF. Whereas you will be editing those other file  
types. So if it's something you need to update all the time or collaborate with somebody else on then  
you want a password protect the actual document so that you can continue to work on it and  
update it. But if it's a document with finished information then create a password protected PDF.

Comments: 18 Responses to “How To Password-Protect Documents On a Mac”

Rick

4 years ago

I use password protected documents and I wanted to find out how secure was
the password encryption.

The following list shows what I could determine when exporting.
I hope this table is correct.

Saved in Page/Numbers/Keynotes - 256-bit AES
Exported to Office 97-2003 - 40-bit RC4?
Exported to Office 2007-2015 - 128-bit AES
Exported as PDF - 128-bit AES

Mark

4 years ago

Can I export word, excel to keynotes and numbers? Then drop office? I never used them do I loose functionality

pamela

4 years ago

Thank you for clarifying the issue about encryption vs password protection. Do I understand that pages and PDF's are both encrypted and PW protected? Can I PW protect a specific folder and keep my sensitive documents there? If I PW protect a document and I use file vault is there an issue. If I PW protect a document and use file vault and then back up with backblaze and encrypt that with a PW is there a problem with data recovery? Some people said you get back gibberish

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

pamela: Yes, the things I am showing here are encryption techniques. Password-protecting a folder is not as easy. You can create an encrypted Disk Image, but that makes it difficult to access and make changes. Keep in mind that if you have a password on your account then pretty much everything is password-protected. Use FileVault and it is encrypted too. No problem using FileVault and BackBlaze -- you are the one doing the backup, so you have permission to do it.

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

Mark: You can open Word documents in Pages (not Keynote) and Excel documents in Numbers. Try it. Pages and Numbers are different apps than Word and Excel though, with different features. So the conversion isn't perfect. But for most basic documents it should work fine. Try it and see how it works for your documents.

pamela

4 years ago

Thank you Gary, When you say password on my account, do you mean the password I use to open the computer? That is just a PW right? It doesn't encrypt the computer. I am not currently using file vault because my mac is really old and I was told that it would slow it down too much. It is a late 2013, 2.7 ghz intel core i5 processor running high sierra. Do you think I could use file vault? I will get a new mac this year.

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

pamela: Yes, your Mac account password. It doesn't encrypt your account's files, unless you are using FileVault, in which case it very much does. Even without FileVault, access would be only possible with physical access to your Mac. Is this kind of security breach really an issue for you? If not, then don't worry too much.

pamela

4 years ago

Yes, it could be with housesitters, people working, other things. I had completely identity theft from a housecleaner years ago and I have never forgotten it. Do you think file vault would slow down my old computer? Would backblaze?

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

pamela: FileVault may slow down such an old Mac, yes. Maybe not enough to notice. Hard for me to say. BackBlaze is an online backup solution, so I'm not sure what you are asking there. Keep in mind that it still wouldn't be easy to get into your Mac if you have a good password on it, even without FileVault. Usually your drive would need to be removed or another computer brought in to access the drive.

pamela

4 years ago

Thank you Gary! This next question might sound a little crazy - Is there a way for someone to remotely access my computer and see sensitive documents? For example my taxes are stored on my computer. If I have entered the account number and the computer is on for several hours, can someone "get in" and see things on the computer...assuming I have not clicked on links I should not have?

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

Pamela: Not really no. Do you have File Sharing turned on? If you don't need it turn it off. Same with other sharing options. Most people don't need those. But even with them on, a password is still needed and you would have had to set things up on your Internet router, so you are pretty well protected. Just don't install anything from a site you don't trust, or stick to the Mac App Store so you don't get any malware.

pamela

4 years ago

Thank you very much Gary. Sorry for asking again, but when you said a password is needed which password did you mean? - the router password? my computer password? I tend to turn on the computer and open it in the morning and then it is on and open most of the day, so I think that means someone would not need my account pw to access the computer? Am I relying then on the router pw? or that I have protected all those documents individually with passwords?

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

pamela: That would be the password to your Mac account. But you should definitely have a good strong password on your router too! That won't allow someone to access your Mac, but you don't want anyone accessing your router or anything you own. And BTW, you don't need to shut down your computer at night. Let it sleep. See https://macmost.com/a-beginners-guide-to-whether-to-shut-down-or-sleep-your-mac.html

pamela

4 years ago

Thank you Gary, I have seen your "let it sleep" video...I've seen a lot of your videos 😊 and I am learning a lot. To the discussion we are having - then my computer is vulnerable during the day when I have opened it with my pw? Or does that come down to the router then? Someone would have to get through the router to access my computer remotely and a good pw would stop that?

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

pamela: No, your computer isn't more vulnerable when you "have it open." That's just for you to use your computer. IF someone wanted to get access from outside, and IF you had sharing enabled, and IF you had your Internet router set up for outside sharing, then someone would need to know the location of your Mac (IP address) AND your password to get in.

pamela

4 years ago

Thank you.

Rich

4 years ago

Gary I have a PW to open my Air. If I activate File Vault should I also use a VPN?

I forgot the PW to my older Mac went into Terminal and changed the PW. If I PW a document, can the PW be changed the same way?

Thanks

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

Rich: To very different things. VPN is for protecting yourself against untrusted Wi-Fi networks, mostly. If you use your Mac only from trusted networks (home, work, etc) you don't need it. As for changing the password of a document, that can't be done. The document is encrypted with the password as the key. You can't break that encryption. If you could, it would be worthless.

Comments Closed.

How To Password-Protect Documents On a Mac

Comments: 18 Responses to “How To Password-Protect Documents On a Mac”

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