can you lock an iWork '08 file?

[WhySoSerious]

trying to lock a financial file in numbers. created the spreadsheet and saved it to my home/documents folder....

....is there a way i can lock this numbers file so it prompts for a password or is there a way to create a new folder and just lock the entire folder (thus allowing me to save multiple financial spreadsheets there)?

 

[iToaster]

You can secondary click on it and change it to no access and then change it back with your p-word when you need it. Or you could create an encrypted disk image and drop it in there and create a password for it.

 

[WhySoSerious]

Or you could create an encrypted disk image and drop it in there and create a password for it.

hmmm....sounds like an option. how would i go about doing this? and, could i put multiple files/multiple formats in this?

 

[Sbrocket]

The only surefire way to securely store your files is through encryption -- simply changing the UNIX file permissions of individual files is very easily circumvented. You can open up Disk Utility and click New Image in the top bar to create an encrypted disk image of a set size. You'll want to pick a good location and name, choose a good size for the disk image, and then select "AES-128 (recommended)" in the "Encryption" drop down.

I also recommend selecting "Sparse Disk Image" instead of "Read/Write Disk Image" so that the disk space for the entire image will not be allocated all at once and taking up precious storage space on your hard drive.

Upon creation of the disk image, you'll be asked to set a password to access the disk. Pick something good and secure. Use the little password helper if you need help choosing a strong password to use.

After its created, you can mount it by double-clicking the .sparse (or .dmg) file wherever you saved it and entering your password. A new disk image icon will appear on your Desktop and in the Finder windows, and you can store your important files there. It doesn't matter what format they are. Make sure to unmount the disk image after you're done using the files to keep everything secure.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Just as a word of caution, you should definitely back up anything you stick in a the encrypted disk image (if you choose to go this route). If OS X forgets what the password is then you'll lose all of the data you put in. I'd imagine if it can forget airport keychain passwords then it could forget a password for an encrypted disk image. Of course, unless I've got something figured wrong here. Can anyone disprove this because I'd love to use an encrypted disk image myself?

 

[Sbrocket]

For best security, I wouldn't recommend storing the password in your keychain at all. There's a little checkbox that comes up when creating the disk image's password (forgot to mention it) asking whether to store the image's password in the keychain. I would be too paranoid that if someone had physical access to my machine, the most likely case when this level of security would be needed, then a proficient user could gain access to the disk image somehow since the password is ultimately stored on the same disk as the encrypted data. Maybe not.

In any case, if the keychain were to "forget" the disk image password, you would need to be able to remember what it was to access the image again. This is the second reason I don't recommend storing the password in your keychain. By storing it there, I would think that you'd be prone to forget the password for the image since it would be automatically opened without needed to know it through use of the stored password in the keychain...particularly if its a very unique and difficult to remember password. By requiring yourself to enter the password every time you need to access the encrypted files you greatly lessen the chance that you'll forget the password over time and lose access to your important files.