If you wish to maintain your recordsdata secure from prying eyes, encryption is your greatest wager—particularly if you happen to plan to retailer these recordsdata within the cloud, the place knowledge breaches and different safety points can expose them to the skin world. Sadly, with regards to securing your Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, this turns into a way more sophisticated matter.When you can handle who has entry to your paperwork in Google Drive, common customers do not have a password safety choice. Regardless of this easy truth, there are nonetheless some choices to contemplate earlier than you hand over. Here is how one can lock down paperwork which are saved in Google Drive.Can You Safe Recordsdata in Google Drive?Google would not presently supply particular person customers the power to lock paperwork with a password, however sure Workspace plans do. If in case you have an account with a company that pays for one among Google’s Enterprise or Schooling plans, you’ll have entry to client-side encryption in case your administrator has enabled the characteristic.For everybody else, Google Drive knowledge continues to be encrypted on the server facet to guard in opposition to unauthorized entry. This implies your uploaded recordsdata are shielded from snooping Google staff and hackers that will crack Google’s servers, but it surely would not shield you if somebody beneficial properties entry to your private Google account. There are, nevertheless, just a few issues you are able to do to maintain your account safe and nonetheless lock down particular person recordsdata.Preserve Your Google Account Safe
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Since you may’t add a password to your Google Docs, your greatest wager is to ensure your Google account is safe. Your first step must be to evaluate your account’s privateness settings and carry out a safety checkup to establish and plug any holes it finds, similar to changing compromised passwords and securing any linked gadgets.There are just a few different issues you are able to do to be safer on-line, similar to utilizing a powerful password and enabling two-factor authentication. You can too take issues a step additional by changing your password utterly in favor of passkeys or a bodily safety key. With these in place, it is extremely unlikely anybody will have the ability to get into your account. Nevertheless, the person recordsdata chances are you’ll wish to maintain secure will nonetheless be readable if the flawed individual beneficial properties entry.Encrypt Your Recordsdata Earlier than You UploadThe most safe cloud storage is the one you management—or, on the very least, the one wherein you management the encryption. Nevertheless, till Google provides a password-protection characteristic for everybody, the most effective you are able to do is password shield your paperwork by means of Microsoft Workplace or Adobe Acrobat, after which add that protected file to Google Drive.Google will not have the ability to learn the file, so say goodbye to on-line modifying, but it surely’s most likely definitely worth the trade-off if you happen to solely have just a few really delicate paperwork. If you’ll want to view or edit the file, you may obtain and decrypt the doc, make the your edits within the related program, then encrypt and add once more.Defend Microsoft Workplace Recordsdata
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If in case you have Microsoft Workplace put in, its built-in encryption characteristic is probably going the simplest choice. Open the Phrase, Excel, or PowerPoint file and head to File > Data. Choose Defend Doc (or Defend Spreadsheet, or Defend Presentation) and select Encrypt with Password, then enter your password. Be sure you keep in mind the password right here, as a result of if you happen to neglect it, that file shall be misplaced without end. (Sadly, this would possibly not work in different workplace suites like LibreOffice.)Defend iWork Recordsdata
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In the event you use Apple’s iWork suite of apps, you may set a password for particular person paperwork. Open Pages, Keynote, or Sheets and go to File > Set Password, then add a password. You’ll be able to even add a touch and sync logins with the Passwords app. Click on Set Password to lock the doc.Defend Adobe Acrobat PDFs
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If in case you have a paid Acrobat plan, you may password shield a PDF underneath File > Defend Utilizing Password, then allow a password. In the event you do not wish to pay, there are a number of free on-line providers that may do the trick.
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There are third-party scripts that promise to “hack” password safety into Google Drive, but it surely’s a quite concerned course of that is not assured (and flawed with regards to safety). Many browser extensions declare to serve an analogous goal, however we do not advocate trusting your delicate recordsdata to unknown extension builders. As an alternative, there are trusted third-party encryption providers that may encrypt your knowledge, then can help you add these recordsdata wherever you want them. Boxcryptor, a earlier chief on this house, was acquired by Dropbox close to the top of 2022. In consequence, Dropbox now affords password choices when sharing folders and recordsdata. However if you would like one thing free, we have reviewed choices like EncryptionSafe, Encrypto.
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For one thing that can be utilized with any cloud storage service and system, Veracrypt is accessible for Home windows, macOS, and Linux. It might create an encrypted container to stash any recordsdata you need, which might then be put wherever for secure retaining. It isn’t essentially the most user-friendly program for newbies, but it surely ought to do the trick. Simply set up this system, create a brand new encrypted file container inside your Google Drive folder, and mount that file from Veracrypt’s predominant window—it’ll seem as if it have been an exterior arduous drive. You’ll be able to then drag your delicate recordsdata there, unmount the amount, and maintain the encrypted container safely saved in your Google account. You will want Veracrypt put in on any system that should entry the paperwork inside that container.
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About Whitson Gordon
Contributing Author
Whitson Gordon is a author, gamer, and tech nerd who has been constructing PCs for 10 years. He eats potato chips with chopsticks so he would not get grease on his mechanical keyboard.
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About Jason Cohen
Senior Editor, Assist & How To
As PCMag’s editor of the right way to content material, I’ve to cowl all kinds of matters and likewise make our tales accessible to on a regular basis customers. Contemplating my historical past as a technical author, copywriter, and all-around freelancer protecting baseball, comics, and extra at numerous retailers, I’m used to creating myself into an knowledgeable.
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