Using Terminal to encrypt a zip file in sequoia on my MacBook Air M2

If you want just the PDF involved and not the directories, consider encrypting the PDF itself:

Password-protect a PDF in Preview on Mac - Apple Support

If you don’t want the directories, either set Finder to the folder, or use the command-line zip after using the cd command to change your default directory to the directory where the PDF resides.

Rather than

-j
--junk-paths

you can also use an available zip switch to exclude the directories:

-D
--no-dir-entries

The zip encryption is weak, if that matters to you.

Hello, it would help if you added the command you used to zip your file. Anyway, try to add the "-j" parameter when you zip, e.g., zip -e -j YourZip /Users/Me/Desktop/file.pdf, so it won't preserve the subdirectory structure.

Good luck!

Providing there is no privacy information shown, post a screen shot of what you see when you unzip, and also the Terminal output of:

/usr/bin/zipinfo -2 foo.zip

How many folders do you want to see in the zip file or none?

Quacks wrote:

Thank you! I don’t know much about using terminal so this will help.

Puzzles me as to why having to use Terminal for such an easy thing. Apple needs to make an app or fix the compress to allow a password. Odd that has been done.

Because as @MrHoffman mentioned, Zip encryption is not actually secure. Apple definitely does not want to give the user a false sense of security. Zip encryption is like locking a screen door, anybody can poke a hole in the screen to open the door.

The App Store is full of 3rd Party apps that will do that. Popular ones include Keka and The Unarchiver.

You can share files and documents directly from iCloud, as well:

• Share files and folders in iCloud Drive on iCloud.com - Apple Support

Again, zip encryption isn’t robust against shenanigans, irrespective of password length.

Quacks wrote:

Does it work if others don’t have Apple id’s, use windows and androids etc?

If you don’t try to restrict the file sharing, yes, anybody with the URL can access the file.

Per Apple, from elsewhere, “Anyone with the link: Allow anyone who receives the link to access the file or folder. If you choose this option, people you invite can share the link and give access to others not included in your original invitation.”

I’ve shared session notes with presentation audiences using this. No Apple Accounts, and who-knows-what the participants were using to access it.

Maybe try it?

After pressing and holding to get the pop-up menu, select Share in the Files app, select collaborate and anyone can view:

When tapping where anyone-can-view is shown above, here is how to get anyone-can-view selected:

then select this to get the URL used to share the file:

Once shared, you have no control how far the URL can spread, same as the PDF password or zip password.

To stop sharing, select Manage Sharing from the popup shown when pressing and holding on the file:

iPhone and iPad are very similar (above images), while the macOS UI is a little different but with similar capabilities.

Quacks wrote:

This worked Rom.ph! Thank you!

Curious... what does the j stand for. I know e=encrypt.

If you want to know more about a particular option with a command on the command line, then review the manual page for that command by using the following command:

man  <command-you-want-to-understand>

For the zip command this would be:

man  zip

Again, Preview app can password-protect PDF files, as was linked above.

No need for added tools.

Select File > Edit Permissions... in the menus.

Yes, if you're passing around other files, you can potentially need other tools if the files involved need encryption.

zip encryption is open for various shenanigans, as well.

Other Apple tools include built-in protection mechanisms, as well.

Apple iWork Pages, for instance:

Password-protect a Pages document on Mac - Apple Support

I'd be surprised to learn Microsoft Office couldn't also password-protect files.