Change your password for locked notes
You can change or reset the password you use to lock notes. You can also change your password method — for example, if you use a custom password to lock notes, you can use your login password instead or vice versa.
Tip: If you’re using the same password for your On My Mac account and your iCloud account, you can keep both passwords the same when you change the password for your iCloud account. If you choose to do so, Notes automatically changes the On My Mac password to the same password as your iCloud account.
Change the password for locked notes
After you set a password for locking notes, you can change it. When you change your password, all locked notes are updated to use the new password.
Go to the Notes app
on your Mac.Choose Notes > Settings, then click Change Password.
If you have multiple accounts, choose the one you want first.
Note: If you’re using your login password to manage locked notes, the System Settings window opens, where you can continue changing your password. Keep in mind that changing the login password affects all settings and features that use the login password. See Change the login password on Mac.
Do one of the following:
Use Touch ID (if you turned on that option in Notes settings).
Click Use Password, then enter your current password in the password field.
Enter your new password in the Password field, then enter it again in the Verify field.
Enter a hint to help you remember the password.
The hint appears if you enter the wrong password two consecutive times.
Click Change Password.
Reset your custom password
If you’re using a custom password to lock and unlock notes, and you’ve forgotten the password, you can reset it. If you reset the password, you’ll be able to lock any future notes using the new password, but notes that are already locked still have the old password that was in effect when you locked them.
Important: It’s highly recommended that you change the password (see “Change the password for locked notes” above) rather than reset it. When you reset the password, you have to manage multiple passwords, and you can’t easily tell which note is locked with which password.
Go to the Notes app
on your Mac.Choose Notes > Settings, click Reset Password, then click OK to confirm.
If you have multiple accounts, choose the one you want first.
If this is an iCloud account, enter your iCloud password, then press Return.
Click Reset Password to verify that you want to reset the password.
Enter a password in the Password field, then enter it again in the Verify field.
Enter a hint to help you remember the password.
The hint appears if you enter the wrong password two consecutive times.
Click Set Password.
If you reset the password, when you view locked notes, entering the latest Notes password only unlocks notes that use the same password. If some of your notes use an earlier password, you must enter that password to view them.
Change your password method for locked notes
You can switch between using a custom password and using your login password.
Go to the Notes app
on your Mac.Choose Notes > Settings, then click the “Locked notes” pop-up menu.
If you have multiple accounts, choose the one you want first.
Choose the option you’re not currently using. (For example, if you’re currently using a custom password, choose Use Login Password.)
Notes updates all locked notes so that they use the new password method.