Have confidential data in your Mac that needs to be locked with a passwords to prevent unwanted access? If you’re using a Windows computer, you need to use some third-party software such as Protect My Folders to achieve this. But things get much more easier with a Mac computer. Apple has provided a way to password protect certain files and folders no matter what your situation might be. Here’s how it’s done.

How to Password Protect A Folder in Mac OS X?

1. Click “Applications”, then “Utilities”, and then open up “Disk Utilities”.
2. Once disk utility has launched, click on ‘new image’ on the top. Depending on your Macintosh’s security settings, you may be prompted to enter your administrator password to do this.
3. Name you image file, and choose your preferred location.
4. Select a disk size depending on the size of the files or folder you want to place inside.
5. Make sure you select ‘128-bit encryption’ under the ‘Encryption’ drop down.
6. Under ‘image format’, select ‘sparse disk image’ and click on create.
7. A window should appear where you need to set your password. Uncheck the “add password to keychain” box.
8. Once you’ve done that, the image will mount automatically.
9. Copy-paste all the files you need to protect to this image, and unmount the image once it’s done.
10. The next time you mount the image again, it will ask you to enter your password!