But you can also use it to return to the log-in window, which locks your Mac.

Click on the menu and choose either Start Screen Saver or Put Display to Sleep.įast user switching allows you to log into another user account on your Mac quickly.In the drop-down window, choose a corner.Click the Hot Corners button at the bottom right of the window.Choose the Desktop & Screen Saver pane.Hot corners allow you to drag the mouse pointer to one of the four corners of the screen to initiate an action – you can use one as a sleep shortcut on your Mac. This works in a similar way to the previous one, but rather than just lock your Mac, it powers down the hard drive, puts the CPU into low power mode, and stops background tasks to save energy. You can also use a keyboard shortcut to put your Mac to sleep.

This will lock your Mac and return you to the Login screen.įor older versions of the operating system, press Control+Shift+Power button (or Control+Shift+Eject if your Mac has an optical drive). If you’re using a Mac that’s running the latest macOS version, go to the Apple menu and choose Lock Screen or press Command+Control+Q.

If you want your Mac to remain locked even when you’re close by and have an Apple Watch, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General and uncheck the 'Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac' option. Now, whenever your Mac goes to sleep or a screensaver starts, it will lock, and you’ll have to authenticate with your user password, Apple Watch or TouchID to gain access.

Choose an option from the dropdown menu.

Choose the General tab and check the option that starts 'Require password….'.

Launch System Preferences either by clicking on its icon in the Dock or choosing it from the Apple menu.

How to set up a password to lock the screen So in order to lock your screen, you need to set up the password in System Preferences. However, if you put it to sleep, you won’t necessarily lock it.

If you lock your Mac, you’ll put it to sleep and need to type in your login password on your Mac’s lock screen (or unlock it with TouchID on a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar or with an Apple Watch). Before we show them to you, however, it’s important to make the distinction between locking your screen and just putting it to sleep. There are several different ways to lock or sleep your screen in macOS. But to help you do it all by yourself, we’ve gathered our best ideas and solutions below.įeatures described in this article refer to the MacPaw site version of CleanMyMac X. So here's a tip for you: Download CleanMyMac to quickly solve some of the issues mentioned in this article.

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