Computer security is an increasing concern as Wi-Fi and high-speed Internet access have become widely available. If we mostly use our machine at home and don't share it with anybody, we tend not to think about making our documents secure. Or, we don't worry much about someone breaking into our accounts, simply because we don't have much money!
But Internet security is not just about preventing hackers from dipping into our bank accounts. Identity theft is an increasingly worrying issue.
In the current version of iWork, all documents can be protected by secure passwords—whether Numbers, Pages, or Keynote documents. Of these, Numbers spreadsheets are more likely to contain private financial and other information. In this recipe, we will see how to set password protection for such documents.
There is always a fine balance between security and practicality. If you have a very strong password, you may find that it is also difficult to memorize. If you store it written down somewhere, you may lose your notes and access to your own documents. Or someone may get access to your notes. If your password isn't strong enough, someone may break it. Don't get paranoid—before setting up password access to your documents, decide what you really do need to protect.
Open the Budget template to have a Numbers document at hand. We will not need its content, only menus and Inspectors.
Here are ways to manage password-protection in a Numbers spreadsheet:
- To add a password to the spreadsheet, open Document Inspector and check the Require password to open checkbox in the Document pane:
- Type the password you want to use in the Password and Verify fields, and then click on Set Password. A lock icon will appear next to the document title to indicate that your document is password-protected:
That's it! Your document is now private and secure. In the title bar of the file, a lock icon will be shown, as shown in the following screenshot:
Next time you try to open this document, you will be asked to type in your password.
If you, or someone else, tries to disable password protection by unchecking the Require password to open option in Document Inspector, you will see the window asking you to type in the password. The same will happen if you want to change the password.
If you use the keychain for your passwords, click to select Remember this password in my keychain, in the password prompt.
Note that there wasn't a password option for iWork versions before '09.
Passwords can be a combination of numbers and letters, in lowercase or capital. Special keyboard characters can also be used. Passwords where letters, numbers, and other characters are mixed are generally stronger.
You can set a very strong password, if you have very sensitive documents or simply for fun.
In the Password dialog window, click on the key icon to open the Password Assistant window. Choose Memorable from the first drop-down menu. This option automatically generates password suggestions, and the green Quality bar shows password strength. Drag the Length slider to increase or decrease the number of characters in your password—the longer the stronger.
Copy and paste the combination you like into the password dialog windows—Password and Verify. Then, click on Set Password to save. But make sure that you remember your password, otherwise you may not be able to open your own spreadsheet!
If you export your Numbers documents to PDF, you can set password security for the PDF files too.
In the screen-top menu, choose Share | Export and click on PDF. The PDF Export dialog has Security Options. Click on the arrow to open the options and check the Open Document checkbox to make the document password-protected from an unauthorized person opening it. Check the Print document checkbox to ask for a password when printing. Check the Copy content from the document checkbox to stop anyone from copying the PDF without a password. Click on Next... to finish exporting the PDF.
- The Hiding columns instead of deleting them recipe
- The Opening the Excel documents in Numbers, editing them, and exporting them back into Excel recipe in Chapter 3, Working Across Platforms and Applications