NotePrivate / In-note encryption
In-note encryption means sealing the text inside one note behind a passphrase, so it stays scrambled even when the rest of the note is open on screen. Evernote calls it Encrypt Selected Text, Apple Notes calls it Lock Note, and OneNote puts a password on a whole section. NotePrivate encrypts every note on your own disk and can ask for your vault password again before opening a protected note. This NotePrivate guide shows what each one covers on a Mac and a Windows PC, with the vendor source next to every claim.
Checked 28 October 2026 against each vendor's help pages · Named products are market context, not endorsements
On a Mac or a Windows PC, in-note encryption in Evernote works like this: open a note, highlight the text, right-click it, choose Encrypt Selected Text and set a passphrase. Evernote says it does not store that passphrase anywhere, so a forgotten one cannot be recovered. It only covers text, dividers, inline checkboxes and links; images, files, checklists and tables stay readable, and Evernote cannot encrypt a whole note or notebook. Apple Notes on a Mac can lock an entire note and its supported attachments, and OneNote on Mac and Windows can lock a whole section. NotePrivate takes the other route: every note in the vault is encrypted on your Mac or Windows disk before it is written, a protected note asks for your password again after the vault is open, and Send secure copy seals one note into a file with its own share password. NotePrivate is planned at $59 a year and is waitlist only.
Sources for this in-note encryption summary: Evernote's help article "Encrypt text in a note", Apple's "Lock your notes on Mac" guide, Microsoft's "Protect notes with a password in OneNote" pages, and the NotePrivate app's own code, all read on 28 October 2026.
Three lines from this NotePrivate guide to in-note encryption, each with the limit or price that decides it.
The five facts this NotePrivate in-note encryption guide rests on, each from the source named under the list.
Sources: Evernote's "Encrypt text in a note" help article (updated 7 July 2025), Apple's Platform Security page "Secure features in the Notes app", and the NotePrivate app's encryption code, all read 28 October 2026. The NotePrivate price is planned, not live, and NotePrivate is not on sale.
Evernote's in-note encryption is the feature most people mean by the phrase. The steps are the same in the Evernote Mac and Windows apps, per Evernote's own help article.
Evernote's help article is direct about the limits: you can encrypt the text inside a note, but you cannot encrypt an entire note or notebook. Text with its formatting, dividers, inline checkboxes and links can be encrypted. Files and images, lists and checklists, tables, web clips, calendar events and tasks cannot. Everything outside the encrypted block, including the note title, tags and attachments, stays in Evernote as normal note content. When you reveal an encrypted block to edit it, Evernote encrypts it again as soon as you leave the note or choose Hide content, and Decrypt permanently turns it back into plain text for good.
Moving that Evernote archive somewhere else? Decrypt those blocks permanently in Evernote before you export, because the NotePrivate ENEX importer has no way to open text sealed with an Evernote passphrase. The encrypted Evernote alternative page covers the rest of the ENEX move.
Four apps, four different answers to "what does the lock actually seal?" NotePrivate is included, with its gaps in the same row.
| App and feature | What gets encrypted | What stays readable | Mac and Windows | Forgotten passphrase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NotePrivate: vault, Protect, Send secure copy | Every note, title, tag, revision and attachment in the vault; a protected note is gated again after the vault opens | Vault metadata, including creation and update times, remains readable; the app list shows a protected note's title, labels, attachment count and update date, while search matches only its title | Native apps on both, one planned $59 a year license | No reset: the password never leaves your device |
| Evernote: Encrypt Selected Text | Highlighted text, dividers, inline checkboxes and links | The note title, tags, images, files, checklists, tables and the rest of the note | Mac app, Windows app and Evernote Web | Evernote does not store it anywhere |
| Apple Notes: Lock Note | The whole note and supported attachments: images, sketches, tables, maps and websites | Notes with other attachment types cannot be locked | Mac app; on Windows only the iCloud website | Apple cannot help you regain access to locked notes |
| OneNote: section password | Every page in one notebook section | Audio and video recordings, and any section without a password; a notebook cannot take one password | OneNote on Mac and Windows | Microsoft says no one can open those notes for you |
Sources for this in-note encryption table: Evernote's "Encrypt text in a note", Apple's "Lock your notes on Mac" and "Secure features in the Notes app", Microsoft's "Protect your notes with a password" for current OneNote on Windows and "Protect notes with a password in OneNote for Mac", and the NotePrivate app's own code, all read 28 October 2026. Features change, so check each vendor's page before you rely on it.
If you would rather use a familiar notes app, these are in-note encryption options on Mac and Windows PCs. Here is how each works, and where NotePrivate differs.
In the Notes app on a Mac, open the note, click the More button next to the search field and choose Lock Note. Apple's Mac guide lets you lock notes with your Mac login password or a custom password just for locked notes, and Touch ID can stand in for it. Apple's security page says a locked note is end-to-end encrypted: a 16-byte key is derived from your passphrase with PBKDF2 and SHA-256, and the note and its attachments are encrypted with AES-GCM. Apple also warns that if you forget a custom password and cannot use Touch ID, you will not be able to view those locked notes. The catch for a Windows user is that Apple ships no Notes app for Windows, only the iCloud website. NotePrivate runs natively on both, and the Apple Notes alternatives compared on who holds the keys page covers that jump.
In current OneNote on Windows, right-click a section, choose Password Protect This Section, then choose Set Password in the Password Protection pane. On a Mac, Control-click a section tab, choose Password Protection, then Protect This Section. Microsoft's help says OneNote uses encryption to secure password-protected sections, that passwords can only go on sections and not on whole notebooks, and that protected sections lock again after a few minutes of inactivity on Mac. Two trade-offs come with it: protected sections drop out of notebook searches until you open them, and audio and video recordings cannot take a password. That is section-level encryption rather than in-note encryption. NotePrivate works at the vault level and the single-note level, and its vault password and per-note lock are explained on their own page.
NotePrivate does not ask you to pick which lines deserve encryption. Every note is encrypted by default, and three extra controls cover the cases people use in-note encryption for.
NotePrivate encrypts note content before it is written to your Mac or Windows disk. A random 256-bit master key encrypts notes, titles, tags, revisions and attachments with XChaCha20-Poly1305 and a fresh nonce on every write, and that key is wrapped by a key Argon2id derives from your password. The password has to be at least 8 characters and never leaves the device. One small metadata file next to the vault stays readable: it holds the vault format version, creation and update times, the key derivation settings and the wrapped master key, but no note content.
Right-click a note and choose Protect. Once the vault is open, opening a protected note asks for your vault password again before displaying its body. Entering it once opens all protected notes for that session. The list shows "Protected note" instead of a body preview, but still shows the title, labels, attachment count and update date. Search matches only the title until you enter the password. Protect adds an access gate using the same vault password; it does not add another encryption layer.
This is the closest NotePrivate match to Evernote's passphrase on a block of text. Send secure copy encrypts one note and its attachments into a .npshare file under a share password you choose, with Argon2id and XChaCha20-Poly1305. The recipient opens it in NotePrivate, and nothing passes through a server.
Copy share link encrypts the note on your device and publishes a browser link whose decryption key stays inside the link, so the server stores only ciphertext. Links expire after 1, 7 or 30 days and can be revoked in Settings. If you select Burn after reading, the link opens once and the copy is deleted. Otherwise, anyone holding the link can read the note until it expires or you revoke it.
In-note encryption only helps if the app closes the note when you walk away. NotePrivate locks the vault after idle time and when the machine sleeps, and on a Mac Touch ID can open it so the long password stays in your password manager.
NotePrivate cannot encrypt a highlighted sentence inside a note with a separate passphrase the way Evernote does, because the whole note is already encrypted. It has no iPhone, Android or Linux app, no published security audit, and it is not on sale yet.
Every NotePrivate detail above comes from the app's own code and security notes, read 28 October 2026. NotePrivate cannot protect a note from malware running on an open, signed-in computer, and no encryption makes a weak password safe.
A common reason to search for in-note encryption: one note of bank recovery codes that has to reach your own Windows PC, or a partner, without traveling as plain text. Here is the NotePrivate route with the real values the app uses.
The result: one note crossed between a Mac and a Windows PC sealed under its own 80-bit passphrase, while every other note stayed inside the encrypted vault on each machine. With Evernote's Encrypt Selected Text the same recovery codes would be one encrypted block inside a note whose title, tags and attachments Evernote can still read.
Source: the values in this NotePrivate worked example come from the app's own encryption and export code, read 28 October 2026.
These questions show up on the search results page for in-note encryption on Mac and Windows. Straight answers from NotePrivate, including where NotePrivate is not the answer.
Yes. Apple says a Mac with Apple silicon or an Apple T2 Security Chip encrypts its data automatically, and FileVault adds a requirement for your login password before that data can be read. FileVault protects the whole disk, so once you are signed in your notes are readable to anyone using the session. For a single note, Apple Notes can lock it with a password, and NotePrivate keeps every note encrypted inside its own vault even while you are signed in.
Yes, on both Mac and Windows. Apple Notes on a Mac can lock a single note with your login password or a custom one, OneNote on Mac and Windows can put a password on a section, and Evernote can encrypt selected text inside a note with a passphrase. NotePrivate puts a password on the whole vault on your Mac or Windows PC and lets you protect individual notes so they ask for that password again after the vault is open.
Several, at different levels. Standard Notes, Notesnook and NotePrivate encrypt every note by default. Apple Notes encrypts locked notes end to end. Evernote encrypts only the text you select inside a note, and OneNote encrypts password-protected sections. Joplin offers end-to-end encryption once you turn it on. NotePrivate is the Mac and Windows option that encrypts every note on your own disk, planned at $59 a year and not on sale yet.
Apple's steps are: choose Apple menu, System Settings, click Privacy and Security in the sidebar, click FileVault, turn FileVault off, then click Turn Off Encryption. Apple notes that a Mac with Apple silicon or a T2 chip still encrypts data automatically, so turning FileVault off only removes the login password requirement. Turning off FileVault does not decrypt an Apple Notes locked note or a NotePrivate vault, which keep their own encryption.
No. Evernote's help article says you can encrypt the text content within a note, but you cannot encrypt an entire note or notebook. Images, files, checklists, tables, web clips, calendar events and tasks cannot be encrypted at all. If you want the whole note sealed, Apple Notes Lock Note does it on a Mac, and NotePrivate encrypts every note in its vault on a Mac or a Windows PC.
In every app on this page, the text stays sealed. Evernote says it does not store the passphrase anywhere, Apple says it cannot help you regain access to locked notes, and Microsoft says no one can open a protected OneNote section for you. NotePrivate is the same: the password never leaves your device, so there is no reset. Keep the passphrase in a password manager before you seal anything.
Not always. Evernote's in-note encryption seals only the selected text with your passphrase, while the rest of the note sits on Evernote's servers as normal content. Apple describes locked notes as end-to-end encrypted. NotePrivate encrypts note content on your device before it is written or synced. A synced backup also includes readable vault metadata, including creation and update times.
No. NotePrivate is waitlist only, planned at $59 a year for Mac and Windows with every feature included. Join the waitlist and NotePrivate will send one email on the day it opens.
NotePrivate is the wrong in-note encryption answer for three kinds of reader, and each one has a better pick.
On a Windows PC and weighing more than in-note encryption? The NotePrivate notes app for Windows page covers Notepad, BitLocker and the Encrypting File System, and the password protected notes apps ranked by what the lock covers sorts eight more options.
NotePrivate encrypts every note on your Mac or Windows PC, not just the lines you highlight. It is not on sale yet, planned at $59 a year, and the waitlist gets one email on the day it opens.
NotePrivate is not on sale yet. Leave your email and we will write to you the day it opens.
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