Comments on: Ask OS X Daily: “How can I password protect a file?”

By: Travis

Travis — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 16:22:05 +0000

I like this method the most. I don’t like having a third party app/widget just hiding and showing the file by adding a ‘.’ to the beginning of it or using it’s own method of securing it. Thanks for sharing!

By: Allen

Allen — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:28:36 +0000

Actually, the zip encryption algorithm has many known vulnerabilities, and is relatively easy to crack, particularly if the password you select isn’t particularly good. Winzip (there is a mac version!) uses AES encryption, which (at least for the moment) has no known vulnerabilities. I’d go with winzip.

By: go

go — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:54:15 +0000

Hi,

I have protected a microsoft word file, but lost the password.
Is it possible to remove the password in Terminal?

Thanks.

By: Cara

Cara — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:11:46 +0000

So far as I can tell (and forgive me if the answer is in one of the apps linked to above, as I haven’t yet tried them), it’s basically a choice between poor security while still being able to edit the file (MS Word, iWord, etc.) or much better security, but a pain to edit an re-encrypt. Anyone out there find a solution that allows editing (with password, of course) and re-saving encrypted file without having to go through the whole disk image or terminal process again?

Thanks!

By: Moshtaque Yusuf

Moshtaque Yusuf — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:49:42 +0000

Thank you James Gregory.. I have been searching this for years and you just gave me the tip: zip -e

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:11:25 +0000

By: graciexx

graciexx — Tue, 24 May 2011 22:05:02 +0000

sorry didnt read last comment

By: graciexx

graciexx — Tue, 24 May 2011 22:03:05 +0000

If you have word for Mac, then when you click save as, click options..but you wont get the side bar like other sites tell you. click the little buton that looks like the word sign and there will be an option for security. just type in a password and your done

By: David

David — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 10:36:28 +0000

WARNING – There was an earlier suggestion to use the “save with password” option when using MS Word. This is NOT secure and can be cracked in 5 minutes using any one of numerous shareware apps designed to specifically crack the Word password!

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 01:31:47 +0000

Thanks for all the tips. Very helpful. I LOVE my Mac, but the fact that I can’t just right click on a folder and choose set password is just plain stupid.

By: Raju

Raju — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 08:15:58 +0000

Please reply the answere in 5 min to my gmail. The main problem is I want to set the password for folder not to the zip how to set the password for folder to use terminal commands or deb file.

By: Steph

Steph — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:23:29 +0000

thanks for the Microsoft Word tip
simple and exactly what I was looking for

By: James Gregory

James Gregory — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:54:01 +0000

typo in the example for opening the zip file

“Type: unzip zipme.rtf” is incorrect, and it should read, “Type: unzip zipme.zip”

By: James Gregory

James Gregory — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:51:14 +0000

Encrypt the file using Terminal. No downloads necessary. It is built into the Mac. The encryption is done using a zip compression. In order to open the zip file, it requires a password, and there is no way around it. If you forget the password, the contents of that file will be lost. However, if you need to edit the contents of the file, you will have to save it and then create a new encrypted zip file.

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS1LSBZAii8&feature=channel

Open Terminal from /Applications/Utilities/

To learn how to zip in Terminal
-Type: man zip
-press return
-use arrow keys to move up and down to read the article
-press Q when done to quit the man page

Here are the basics of creating an encrypted zip file:

1. Navigate to your folder that contains the item you want to encrypt
-Type: cd
-press return

2. Zip the file in the folder that you want to encrypt and password protect
-Type: zip -e ./.zip ./
-press return
-remember to include the extension of the file(s) you are going to put in the zip
-remember that capitalization matters in Terminal
-if you use spaces, put the file name or folder name in quotations (/Users/”this is an example”/Documents/)

3. Terminal will ask for the password
-enter it carefully and press return (note that it will appear that nothing is happening)
-enter it again carefully and press return (note that it will appear that nothing is happening)

4. The encrypted zip will be created, and, if you double-click on it, it will tell you that it could not unarchive the zip file because the “Operation not [was] not permitted.”

5. To unarchive the file and open it successfully, you must also use Terminal

Here are the basics of unzipping an encrypted zip file:

1. Navigate to your folder that contains the item you want to unzip
-Type: cd
-press return

2. Unzip the zip file
-Type: unzip .zip
-press return

3. Enter the password (note that it will appear that nothing is happening) and press return

4. The zip is now unzipped and accessible

Example:

I have a sensitive RTF document on my Desktop that I want to password protect, and it is called zipme.rtf.

Open Terminal

Type: cd Desktop/
Press Return

Type: zip -e ./zipme.zip ./zipme.rtf
Press Return

Enter Password
Press Return

Confirm Password
Press Return

I then delete the original zipme.rtf (you may want to verify that the zip worked first by continuing with the next step before deleting the original, but you may want to relocate the original momentarily to your ~/Documents/) to prevent the original from being opened, since it is not secured with a password like the encrypted zip file is secured.

I now want to open my zip file.

Open Terminal

Type: cd Desktop/
Press Return

Type: unzip zipme.rtf
Press Return

Enter Password
Press Return

Done

By: jeremydouglas

jeremydouglas — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:04:10 +0000

what about a secure note in keychain?