How to Lock Notes on a Mac – A Guide
Creating notes on a Mac is very easy with Apple Notes. Apple Notes is a note-taking application that comes with both Macs and iOS devices. As you create notes over time, however, you may come across situations where your notes contain sensitive information that you want to make sure is secure. Fortunately, Apple Notes supports the ability to lock a note with a password. Locking a note in Apple Notes hides the body of the note and requires a password in order to open the note.
But how do you lock a note on a Mac? Enclosed below is a list of the steps required to lock a note on a Mac:
- Open Apple Notes
- Select the note and click on the “lock” button
- Select “lock note” from the drop-down menu
- If this is your first time locking a note in Apple Note, you will be prompted to create a password
- Enter and verify your password and create a hint and click “Enter”
- Select your note and click on the “lock” button again and select “Close all locked notes” from the drop-down menu
- Your note is now locked
Once you note is locked, you will need to use your password to access it.
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A Guide to Using Smart Folders on MacOS – The Productive Engineer
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Let’s get started with the tutorial.
How to Lock a Note on Mac
Open Apple Notes and select the note you want to lock.
Click on the “Lock” button.
Select “Lock Note” from the drop-down menu.
If this is your first time locking a note in Apple Notes, the “create a password” dialog box will appear.
Enter your password in both the “Password” and “Verify” sections and ensure that they are the same password. Create a hint for your password in the “Password Hint” section and click “Set Password“.
Your note will now be set up as having a lock. However, the note will be unlocked by default (the note will automatically lock if you quit Apple Notes).
If you want to manually lock your notes while in Apple Notes, click on the “Lock” button and select “Close All Locked Notes” to lock your Apple Notes. Note that this will lock all of your notes that are set up as locked notes in Apple Notes.
Your note will now be locked.
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How to Unlock a Note on a Mac
To unlock a note in Apple Notes, select the note in Apple Notes.
Enter your note password in the “password” text box and press “Enter“.
Your note will now be unlocked.
Caveats for Locking Notes on a Mac
There are a couple of caveats for how locked notes work on a Mac in Apple Notes:
| Caveat | Description |
|---|---|
| One password for all locked notes in Apple Notes | Apple Notes, by default, uses the same password for all locked notes |
| You can change the password for a locked note | Changing the password for your notes can be done by going into Notes -> Preferences -> Change Password |
| You can change the password for all notes going forward while retaining the existing password for current locked notes | While Apple Notes uses a single password for all locked notes by default, you can use a different password for all new notes going forward by using the “Reset Password” function in Notes -> Preferences |
Summary
Locking notes in Apple Notes can help you protect your sensitive data inside your notes. It is essential to ensure that your sensitive data is protected in case there is a breach and someone gets unauthorized access to your Apple Notes. Apple makes it really easy to lock and unlock your notes. I hope this tutorial was helpful to you. Good luck!
Do you have an M1 Mac Mini or Mac Studio and want to get the best accessories for it? Check out my Mac accessories guide here.
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