How to Password Protect Files on a Mac

Edited by Scott Clark, Amgine, Chris Hadley, Arete and 4 others

This article details a are not designed to secure your user account. For that, Apple provides a service called FileVault which.

This technique follows similar steps to the "How to Make a DMG" article but places the emphasis on how to use a DMG as a secure folder-like container for your personal information.

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Steps

1. 
   1
   Create a New Folder and place the files you would like in your disk image into this new folder.
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2. 
   2
   Right click (or CTRL-Click) the folder and select "Get Info" and note the size of its contents.
3. 
   3
   Open Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility)
4. 
   4
   Click the "New Image" icon to create a new disk image. Enter a name for the Image, and select a size adequate for the size of your folder you created in Step 2.
5. 
   5
   Choose either the 128 or 256bit encryption, set the Partitions to "Single Partition - Apple Partition Map" and set the Format to "read/write disk image." Click the "Create" button.
6. 
   6
   Choose a secure password and enter it into the boxes provided. Uncheck the "Remember password in my keychain" checkbox as it defeats the purpose of securing the data. Click the "OK" button.
7. 
   7
   Place the contents of the folder from Step 2 into the newly mounted disk image.
8. 
   8
   Unmount the Disk Image by dragging its icon to the Trash. In the Finder window, you can also click the Eject symbol next to the mounted image.
9. 9
   Each subsequent attempt at accessing the disk image will cause a prompt for the password.
   
   
   
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Tips

• Store personal information such as bank statements, credit reports and other sensitive documents in this disk image.
• You can store your Quicken data file in this image, however, you will have to mount the disk image before you open Quicken.

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Warnings

• Do not add the password to your keychain
• Make sure you choose a password that you will remember as once you have encrypted these files with that password, you will not be able to access them without it.
• DMG files are only accessible on a Mac.
• Do not write the password down or put in on the computer