All users have sometimes wondered about the possibility of putting a password on a specific folder. On both Windows and Mac this It is a recurring doubt on the part of users. On Mac it is possible to do this, in a way. We can achieve it in an unorthodox way and unknown to the vast majority of users.
In today's article we show you how to protect a specific folder on your Mac with a password. We will teach you to do it both natively, within the possibilities, and through third-party applications.
Put a password on a folder natively
First of all, we must clarify that The Mac operating system natively lacks this feature as such. What we will see below is the way to get it through other system options. A little Mac power user trick, but it will achieve exactly the same result.
Create a disk image with Disk Utility
Our objective to be able to put a password on a folder will be broadly create a disk image of said folder. Later we can protect this disk image, which will be read and written, like a normal folder, using the password we want.
First of all we will have to locate the Disk Utility application. By default, this will be found in the Utilities folder of our Launcher. Although we can also reach it very easily using the Spotlight search engine.
Once we are in the application, we will have to ignore the screen that will open with the application and focus on the top menu. In it we will see an option of Archive. In it we will find the New Image option and then Folder Image.
At this point we will have to locate or create the folder that we want to protect with a password. When we have it located, we will have to select it in the Disk Utility window we were in.
What will be decisive at that point is that we select the encryption such as AES 128 bits. Which will give us the possibility of entering a password. The image format that we will select will be Reading writing, so we can use it like any folder. We could also create as read-only if we are going to share it with another user, for example.
At this point we will only have to save the folder image and that's it. This image will be our password folder. Besides It will be encrypted in a fairly secure way thanks to 128-bit AES encryption.
How Password Folder Image Works
This disk image It will appear as a disk connected to our Mac. Although it is not really a disk as such, we can even eject it, making it more difficult to access from the desktop, for example. However, always we will be able to remount/connect this unit disk which is our password folder by double clicking on it.
Remember Whenever you open the folder image you will be required to enter its password.. However, can you remember the password on your Mac thanks to iCloud Keychain. If you remember the password on your computer, you will not have to type it again. Be careful not to forget it so as not to lose access to the data if that happens.
Its use is very simple. At first, if you are not a user very familiar with the term disk images, it may be a little difficult for you to understand what the system is really doing. Roughly It's as if we were connecting an external drive encrypted with a password, only this would be virtual in a "copy" format. Maybe he ISO format of a disk image if you are more familiarWell, it would be exactly the same, but done natively from the Mac.
Put a password on a folder with third-party applications
Another equally effective method, but with the tradeoff of having to resort to installing other applications on the Mac, are third-party applications.
Although you can find a considerable number of applications that perform this function in the Mac App Store, we will recommend one that meets what we are looking for and is as simple as possible, so that all users can do it without difficulties.
Use the F-Vault app
One of the best options to achieve this goal would be F-Vault. Not only to be able to put a password on a folder with AES 256-bit encryption, if not for having more interesting related functions.
First of all, it is important to mention that 256-bit AES encryption is considerably more secure than what we saw in the native 128-bit method. Secondly, the way to relate is more direct and intuitive than using the macOS trick of the saved folder as a disk image.
On the other hand, this application gives us the also option to hide folders and protect this virtual trunk of more personal folders with a master password. Which is actually more interesting than setting a password on a specific folder.
This application is also completely free, and you can find it simply from the Mac App Store. It is an application that will not take up much space and is a very useful tool to have installed on your Mac in case you need to use its functions at some point.
See F-Vault on the Mac App Store
Price: Free
Now that you know how to protect your most sensitive files using various methods, all we have to do is recommend which use of the two presented we opt for.
The truth is that even though macOS can achieve a similar result thanks to an image of a folder. Its use can be somewhat tedious and unintuitive, in addition to forcing us to have a disk image, although virtual, mounted almost permanently on the Mac.
The third-party application that we show you, however, is designed specifically for this purpose. Its use is simpler and more direct. It will be much faster and more effective with the extra folder hiding functions. For this reason we opted for F-Vault for this solution, despite the fact that the native option always has an advantage in our articles.