Keychain is a feature in Mac OS that can be used passwords you've used on your Mac previously. If you encrypt your Paperless library, for example, or password-protect a journal in MacJournal, you may recall seeing a prompt to save a password to Keychain:
When you instruct a program to save a password on your Keychain, the password should be accessible at one of two points:
- The next time you are prompted for the same password by the same program
- Through Keychain Access.
If you have forgotten your password, and if you have saved the password to Keychain before, it should be possible to recover the password using Keychain Access, by following the steps provided below.
Note: In order to complete this process you will need Administrator privileges.
To recover a password with Keychain Access, follow these steps:
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Launch Keychain Access. You can do this either from the Utilities folder (within your Mac's Applications folder) or by searching for
Keychain Accessin Spotlight. -
Under the Keychains section of the pane on the left-hand side of the main window, make sure the option Login is selected.
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In the main area of the Keychain Access window (in the list of logins), select the login you would like to view the password for.
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Double-click the login you would like to view a password for. A new window should display.
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In the new window, check the checkbox labelled Show password:
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Keychain Access will prompt your for an administrator password for your Mac. At the prompt, enter a password (and username, if it is a user other than yourself) with Administrator privileges.
Keychain Access should now display the password for the login you've selected. It should display the password until you close the window it's displayed in.