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Let’s say you have screenshots of sensitive information sitting on your desktop that you’d like to password protect. You know that images of tax, banking, wire transfer forms, etc. in the clear can easily be viewed by anyone with physical or remote access to your machine, but you’re unsure how to secure them. Unfortunately, macOS Preview doesn’t support file-level password protection, but there are quick workarounds that don’t require third-party software or downloading anything not already on your Mac.
Method 1: Overkill using DiskUtility
This first method might be a bit overkill if you’re looking to secure less than a handful of graphics files. It involves creating an encrypted virtual disk using DiskUtility. You can do this by gathering the screenshots (documents too even) and placing them in a folder. After this, head over to Finder > Applications > DiskUtility. In DiskUtility, go to File > New Image > Image from Folder and select the location of the folder you wish to encrypt.
From here, you can title the virtual disk (via DMG file), choose its location, level of encryption (up to AES-256 encryption), and image format. For the latter, I recommend choosing Read/Write. This will allow you to add or remove files later. Compressed, which is selected by default, compresses the contents to save space but is read-only. You’ve successfully created an encrypted DMG file containing all your private contents. The downside of this method is that you’ll have to mount and unmount the virtual disk each time…yuck.
Not to worry. There’s another solution that requires fewer clicks and can be done in seconds…
Method 2: Quick use of Preview
Enter Preview. Yes, the beloved built-in macOS image viewer we all know and love! By converting your graphics file to a PDF, you can unlock a handy password feature tucked away in its settings, turning your image into an encrypted password-protected PDF. This takes just a few seconds.
Below is a screenshot of some important tax info I’m using to estimate my quarterly taxes. But I don’t want it sitting duck on my desktop with its information in the clear. Even the preview icon gives away sensitive details.
My super duper important tax info.
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