Password-protecting folder in Teams

[DrewB37]

Hi all,

I've created a Teamsite for multiple people. I'd like to upload a folder where I could limit who is able to access the contents of the folder. In the past I've used VeraCrypt to encrypt my folder (thus, only the people who have the password can access the contents of the folder).

In Teams, is there a way to password-protect &/or encrypt a folder? I haven't found a straight-forward answer to this. It appears that I can password-protect individual files, but not folders. 

[#2]

Hi,

You could use permissions in Sharepoint (Teams uses SharePoint to save files), with permissions you can set who should be able to open folders and files. This can be more tricky to administrate.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/microsoft-teams-restricting-channel-permissions-levar-chan-williams/

You could also use private channels. This will create a channel that only a few members will have access to, these permissions is also inherited to files and folders. 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/private-channels

[#3]

Hi @DrewB37

Would recommend you create a private channel so only the selected people have access. Files are stored in a seperate site collection and inaccessible to other people except who you give access to the channel

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/private-channels

In terms of password protection there is a uservoice open here

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/20368546-password-protection-o...

Would recommend to vote on it in order to push it up the agenda. Some may also suggest removing permissions of people on the underlying sharepoint site, but while this would work, it could get complicated in terms of permissions management and who has access to what.

Hope that answers your question!

Best, Chris

[#4]

@Christopher Hoard Thanks Chris! This is something I'll check out. A couple followup questions:

1) Would I be able to upload an encrypted folder (like the one I have in VeraCrypt now) and tag VeraCrypt as an app in Teams that I can use to un-encrypt the folder? It looks like we can add different apps in Teams, but this appears to be limited to just a few different apps.

2) How would I go about voting on this?

Thanks again.

[#5]

@Christopher Hoard Whoops, disregard 2nd question, I just figure it out!

[#6]

@Linus Cansby Thank you Linus!

[#7]

1) I think you have to download the encrypted file to be able to open in, so you wont be able to open it within Teams.

2) Click on the Link that Chris sent and click on Vote under the number of votes.

[#8 · Accepted solution]

Hi @DrewB37

Great! Yes, simply go to

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/20368546-password-protection-o...

And vote. You will need to add your address to vote. You would do the same to vote on all other items you want to see.

Regarding the encyrpted folder, I don't know. I don't think so as Veracrypt is not on the list of supported apps. You could approach Veracrypt and ask to see if it integrates. To note that the folders in SharePoint are encrypted at rest; you can also encypt files with Azure Information Protection

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/protect-sharepoint-online-files-with-azure...

Or sensitivity labels

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/sensitivity-labels

I would personally use one of them considered they are designed to work natively with files within SharePoint, and hence Teams.

Hope that answers your question!

Best, Chris