Taking the minute or so required to password protect a zip file on Macs is, therefore, a very good idea. That means anyone who gets access to your zip files - whether by intercepting an email or file transfer, hacking into your computer, or gaining physical access to your Mac - can open the zip file and thereby access dozens or even hundreds of files within.

Zip files are easy to move from folder to folder or to transfer to other people via email or file-sharing platforms, and they’re time-tested and reliable.īut unless you take the steps needed to encrypt a zip file on a Mac, zipped files are not secure.

If your computer is slowing as it gets overloaded with data, the best thing to do is create zip files that can compress the size of many files, storing all the data in one place and occupying less space on your Mac. Our computers get cluttered with dozens of documents from work, hundreds of pictures from friends, spreadsheets packed with personal information, health forms, financial paperwork, and on it goes.

Add password to a zip file