Home Mac OS X

How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac

This wikiHow teaches you how to password-protect a zip archive using WinRAR for Windows, and macOS's built-in zip tool. Install WinRAR on your PC. If you don't already have this free archive tool, see Use WinRAR to learn how to get it.

Method 1 of 2:

Using WinRAR for Windows

  1. Picture 1 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Install WinRAR on your PC. If you don't already have this free archive tool, see Use WinRAR to learn how to get it.
  2. Picture 2 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Press ⊞ Win+E. This opens the File Explorer.
  3. Picture 3 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Browse to the folder with the files you want to zip.
  4. Picture 4 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Select the file(s) and/or folder(s) you want to zip. To select more than one file and/or folder at a time, hold Ctrl as you click each file or folder name.
  5. Picture 5 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Right-click the highlighted file(s). A context menu will expand.
  6. Picture 6 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Click Add to archive…. This opens a WinRAR window called 'Archive name and parameters.'
  7. Picture 7 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Name the file. You can type a different file name by erasing the default under "Archive name."
    1. Leave ".zip' at the end of the file name to show that it's a zip file. For example, archive.zip.
  8. Picture 8 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Select ZIP under 'Archive format.'
  9. Picture 9 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Click Set password…. It's at the bottom-right corner of the window. A password entry window will appear.
  10. Picture 10 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Enter and confirm a password. You must type the password exactly the same into both blanks.
  11. Picture 11 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Click OK. It's at the bottom-left corner of the password window.
  12. Picture 12 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Click OK. It's at the bottom-center part of the archive window. This creates the zip file and protects it with the password you entered.
Method 2 of 2:

Using Zip for macOS

  1. Picture 13 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Open a Terminal window on your Mac. You'll find Terminal in the Applications folder in a sub-folder called Utilities.
  2. Picture 14 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Type zip -er at the command line and press ⏎ Return. This tells your Mac to create an encrypted zip file.
  3. Picture 15 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Type the name and location of the zip file you want to create, followed by a space. Make sure to end the new file name with '.zip' to show it's a zip file.
    1. For example, if you want to create a zip file called Archive.zip on your desktop, type ~Desktop/Archive.zip and then type a space.
  4. Picture 16 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Type the name of the folder you want to zip and press ⏎ Return. Type this right after the space after the path to the new zip file. You'll then be prompted to enter a password.
    1. For example, if you want to zip a folder on your desktop called Samples, type ~Desktop/Samples after the space and press ⏎ Return.
    2. The entire command would look like this ~Desktop/Archive.zip ~Desktop/Samples.
  5. Picture 17 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Type a password and press ⏎ Return. This is the password you'll need to enter when unzipping the archive. A confirmation message will appear.
  6. Picture 18 of How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac
    Re-enter the password and press ⏎ Return. This compresses the folder and files into a password-protected zip file.

You've just finished reading the article "How to Protect a Zip File with a Password on PC or Mac" edited by the TipsMake team. You can save how-to-protect-a-zip-file-with-a-password-on-pc-or-mac.pdf to your computer here to read later or print it out. We hope this article has provided you with many useful tech tips and tricks. You can search for similar articles on tips and guides. Thank you for reading and for following us regularly.

« PREV How to Establish a Secure Connection
NEXT » How to Type an Apple Icon on Mac Computer
Read more