You can never tell when one of your files may reach someone it was not meant to reach—maybe through an email forward, a USB stick left on a desk, or even an unauthorized user accessing your computer.
If that occurs, password protection is the only thing preventing your data from being accessed by those you don’t want it to. Your most sensitive data can easily benefit from this additional degree of security.
The programme you used to create the file in the first place will determine how you handle this. While some apps come with built-in password security capabilities, in other circumstances you’ll need to lock up your data using a different technique.
Excel, PowerPoint, and Word for Microsoft
Open the file you wish to password-protect in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint for Windows, then go to File and Info. At the top of the following list, you ought to find a Protect option: Enter your password after clicking this button and selecting Encrypt with Password.
Make sure to double-check what you’re typing in because passwords can be up to 15 characters long and are case-sensitive. You will have to re-create the document, spreadsheet, or presentation from scratch if you lose the password to access it.
Using Office on a Mac requires a somewhat different procedure. To enter a password, click the Protect option after opening the Review tab in the ribbon menu at the top. Depending on the software you’re using, the button will have a slightly different label.
Google Slides, Docs, and Sheets
Because your files are already password-protected, Google Drive doesn’t offer a password protection function per se: the username and password you use to access your Google account and see your documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
When you choose to share a file from Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides, you can either produce a link that everyone can use or invite certain individuals to see it (through their email addresses) by clicking the large Share button in the top-right corner of the application when you’re working on anything.
For the highest level of protection, we advise choosing the first option (inviting specific users). This means that before anyone can read the content you’ve shared with them, they will need to log in using their own Google account password, adding another level of password protection.
Apple Keynote, Pages, and Numbers
The method of adding a password is quite simple if you’re using Apple office programmes. Pick File, then Set Password to choose and apply your password while the file is open in Pages, Numbers, or Keynote.
The same caution that applies to Microsoft Office applies here: if you forget your password, you won’t be able to access your document, spreadsheet, or presentation again (otherwise hackers would be able to get in as well).
On the password dialogue, take note of the Open with Touch ID checkbox. This allows you the choice to open your own password-protected files using a Touch ID-compatible keyboard on macOS, saving you the effort of repeatedly entering a password.
Defending Additional Files
We are unable to cover every application that uses password protection, but if you look around in the apps you use, you may discover that they provide an extra layer of security when storing data.
In that case, you still have a few choices. One choice is to keep your data in cloud storage lockers (like Google Drive): Your data are kept secure in this way since sharing files on these platforms often requires a username and password to log in.
There are occasionally added features. In the case of Dropbox, for instance, you may click Settings and then change Who has access to People with a password on the folder-sharing pane on the web, making a special URL and a password necessary for access.
Create a password-protected archive containing the file or files you wish to keep secure if you require another alternative. For instance, the free Windows programme 7-Zip can create password-protected archives.
If your data are on an external hard drive, you may apply a password and encrypt the whole disc to prevent unauthorised access: Right-click the disc in File Explorer on Windows and select Turn on BitLocker; on a Mac, use the Disk Utility.
Drives can also be encrypted for you by third parties, such as VeraCrypt, which is free for Windows and macOS users and also adds password security. If you’re storing sensitive data on a portable storage device, it’s a wise decision.
