I keep private information in a password-protected Word document. Is there a better way to store this stuff? Also, from what I’ve read, we should be using passwords that a password manager invents. Should we use Apple’s built-in Keychain, or perhaps Dropbox’s password manager?
I’ll first emphasize that you can certainly use protected documents in Word or Apple Notes (instructions for the former below). It’s easy, however, to identify the clunkiness of this method. For infrequently-accessed information, occasionally having to enter a properly long password is no big deal, but having to do that every time you want to log into a web site rather strips away the benefits of using a computer. In addition, searching for and copying out the relevant data is beyond inconvenient.
Once you embrace a password manager and start filling it with your data — all your logins, credit cards, bank account info, passport and other citizen info, frequent-flyer numbers, and on and on including pictures of passports and cards and birth certificates — I think you’ll find it fluid and easy to access all of that data on all your devices, even when offline.
I’ve covered the rules for online security: Each of your passwords should be long, strong, and unique, completely different from any other you use. Rather than trying to use some pattern that you hope will be memorizable, let the password manager generate your passwords for you, relieving your time and concentration. Many folks express concerns about this idea to me, and I remind them that they can always reset their password for any given account using a link sent to their email. Also, with the prevalence of multi-factor authentication, you’ll need one of your gadgets to sign in anyway, so you might as well go the automated route for all of this.
My opinions of the various options, as stated in a previous post, persist: Apple users should go with 1Password. (I’ll sound a heavy “no” to Dropbox’s offering.) And while I remain glad that there are third-party services out there, I’m especially gratified that Apple has considerably improved their built-in password management synced with iCloud. The password generation is easy, as is setting up two-factor authentication, and they support a newer technology called passkeys. Most crucially, with the next system release this fall, they will let us share our passwords via Family Sharing.
And I definitely recommend the 1Password family plan, so you can have any of this stuff in a shared vault for your loved ones. I don’t need to go into the emergency scenarios in which this can be far more than handy.
I can get you into it in short order, making sure it’s all installed everywhere so you can be smoothly off and running with it.
From Microsoft’s Protect a document with a password:
Passwords are case-sensitive and can be a maximum of 15 characters long… If you lose or forget your password, Word won’t be able to recover it for you. Be sure to keep the a copy of the password in a safe place or create a strong password that you’ll remember.
- Go to File > Info > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password.
- Type a password, then type it again to confirm it.
- Save the file to make sure the password takes effect.
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