Why can't Chrome lock notes?
Chrome has no notes of its own, and the usual note tools are protected by your account rather than a separate password: Google Keep and Google Docs open for anyone signed in to your Google account on that computer. To put a password on the notes themselves, the notes have to be encrypted, which is what a notepad extension with encryption does.
How do I lock notes with NotePADD?
- Install NotePADD and pin it from the puzzle-piece icon.
- Click the icon, open the menu and switch on Encrypt data.
- Enter a password. NotePADD encrypts the content of every note with it.
- Open Auto-Lock Settings and choose when to lock again:
- after 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours or 24 hours (the default) of inactivity;
- every time you close the notepad;
- never, unless you lock it yourself.
- Next time the notepad is locked, enter the password to read your notes.
To change the password, use Change password; to turn encryption off, use Remove the password (you need the current password for both).
How strong is it?
Each note's content is encrypted with AES-256 in GCM mode. The key comes from your password through PBKDF2-SHA-256 with 100,000 rounds and a random salt for every note, which makes guessing slow. The password itself is never saved. After three wrong attempts the notepad locks for three minutes.
What a password does not protect
- Note names. They are not encrypted, on your computer or in the Drive backup.
- An unlocked notepad. While it is open or within the auto-lock time, anyone at your computer can read your notes. Pick a short auto-lock time on a shared computer.
- A forgotten password. There is no reset. Store it in a password manager.
- Your computer itself. Encryption does not protect against malware that records what you type.
Should I also back up encrypted notes?
Yes. Notes are stored on your computer and deleted if you remove the extension. With encryption on, the Google Drive backup and the CSV export hold encrypted text, so your backup stays private too; you need the same password to open it later.
More about how NotePADD handles your data: is NotePADD safe?