A password for a company file

Add an optional password that is asked each time a company opens, and what to do if you forget it.

Updated Nov 10, 2026

# A password for a company file

A company file can have its own password, asked every time the company opens. It protects the file on this computer, even from someone who can use your computer's sign-in.

This is separate from a PIN. The people you add to a company, with their PINs or passphrases, work as before and are asked after the file password.

Availability

The password is built into the company file engine of the desktop apps (Mac and Windows). If Password for this company file does not appear, you are using a copy that does not have it. Nothing is lost: the setting simply stays off.

Setting, changing and removing it

Open the menu with your name, choose Settings, and find Password for this company file. On the Mac it is on the Backups screen.

Set: type a password twice. At least 8 characters. A long phrase is best.
Change: type the current password, then a new one.
Remove: type the current password. The file opens without a password again.

Only the Owner or an Admin can set, change or remove it.

Opening a company that has a password

The company list shows a lock beside its name. When you open it, a box asks for the password. After three wrong tries you must wait before trying again: 30 seconds, then twice as long each time, up to an hour. The wait is shown on screen.

If you forget it

Nobody can reset it, not even us. If you forget it, only your 24 recovery words can bring the books back, from a backup:

Make sure you have a backup (on a drive, or in Pop Vault).
Open Restore my books and use your 24 words.

A restored file comes back with no password. You can set a new one.

Backups

Backups, off-site copies and Pop Vault copies of a company with a password still open with your 24 words. A scheduled backup of a locked company says "Locked: open the company to back it up" and the others carry on.