How to Create a Password Protected Folder on a Mac

Here at Transcription City, we take client confidentiality very seriously and will always take a number of measures to keep your files and information safe. If you hold sensitive information on your computer, it can be a good idea to encrypt it with the use of a password. In previous articles, we’ve outlined how to password protect documents, but what if you have a large number of files that need to be protected? Well, one solution is to add them to a folder that is password protected. Let’s look at how to create a password protected folder on a Mac.

How to Encrypt a Folder on a Mac Computer

The great thing about encrypting a folder is that you can protect not only text documents, but also photos, videos, audio files and any other sensitive information stored on your computer, that can only be accessed by using the correct password.
Please note, it’s important that you remember your password, as without it, you will not be able to access your files. As a further measure of security, you can also password protect all files within the folder if required.

So let’s get started!

• First off, click on the Finder icon on your Mac and select Applications’
• From here you can either type Disk Utility’ in the search bar at the top or you you can scroll down and open the Utilities’ Folder, then scroll down to find Disk Utility’ and double click to open.
• Once open, scroll across the menu bar at the top of the screen and select File’ and then New Image’, then Image from Folder’. This will allow you to create an encrypted folder on your Mac.
• From here you will be prompted to add the specifications for your new folder such as name (Save As’), Where to save it, format (we recommend read/write) and the level of encryption (we recommend 128-bit AES encryption). Once you have filled in this information, click on Save’.
• Now you should be presented with a pop up which asks you to enter the password for your new encrypted folder, which you need to enter once and then again to verify. Once this is done select OK’. Remember to keep your password save and not to select Remember password in my keychain’ (as this would defeat the purpose of using a password).
• Now that your new encrypted folder has been created, you should be able to find and access it from where it has been saved.
• The encrypted folder you have created will not look like a folder (it will have the image of a disk drive on it) and will have a .dmg extention. When you double click on this, you will be prompted for your password.
• Once you have filled in the correct password, you will then be able to view the contents of your newly created folder and add to it as required. Remember to close and eject this folder (as if it was an external drive) to ensure that you haven’t left it open to be accessed by anyone who doesn’t have the password.

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So there you have it! You can now create a fully password protected, encrypted folder on your Mac Computer.

For further reading about transcription services that may require a password, including what is a DRM file? Feel free to read more of our blog posts!