What does encrypting text actually do?
Encryption takes readable text and a key and produces ciphertext, which is useless without the key. For text protected by a password, a good tool does three things:
- Derives a key from your password slowly, with many rounds (PBKDF2, Argon2, scrypt), so that guessing passwords is expensive.
- Encrypts with a modern cipher, usually AES-256-GCM, which also detects tampering.
- Does it on your own device, so the plain text never leaves it.
Old tricks such as ROT13, Base64 or "encoding" are not encryption: anyone can reverse them.
1. An online text-encryption tool
Search results for "encrypt text" are mostly single-page tools: paste text, type a password, get ciphertext to copy or a link to send.
- Good for: a one-off message you send to someone who has the password.
- Watch out: many such tools encrypt on their server, so your plain text travels to it. Prefer a page that says it encrypts in the browser, and send the password through a different channel than the message.
- Not good for: text you want to keep and edit. You end up with a blob of ciphertext to store somewhere, and decrypting it means going back to that website.
2. Encrypt a text file with 7-Zip
For a document you keep on disk or send as a file:
- Install 7-Zip (Windows) or another archiver that supports 7z with AES-256.
- Right-click the file → 7-Zip → Add to archive.
- Choose the 7z format, AES-256 encryption, a strong password, and tick Encrypt file names.
- Delete the original plain file (and empty the recycle bin).
Limits: to read or change the text you extract it again, which leaves a plain copy on disk until you delete it. A ZIP archive with the default ZipCrypto is weak; use 7z or AES in ZIP.
3. A secure note in a password manager
Password managers such as Bitwarden or Proton Pass have secure notes: text stored in the same encrypted vault as your passwords, synced across your devices.
- Good for: a few secrets you need on your phone and computer.
- Limits: an account and the provider's cloud; a vault built for logins rather than for writing. Password manager or encrypted notepad?
4. An encrypted notepad in Chrome
Protect text is a notepad where every note is encrypted as you write:
- Install it from the Chrome Web Store and pin it.
- Click the icon: it opens in Chrome's side panel.
- Choose a password and save the recovery key shown once.
- Write. Each note is encrypted with AES-256-GCM before it is saved; the key comes from your password through PBKDF2-SHA-256 with 600,000 rounds.
It runs entirely on the browser's built-in Web Crypto, keeps notes only on your computer and has no network access, so the text is never uploaded. The safe locks itself after a few minutes and when your computer locks.
Limits: no sync between devices; notes live on one computer (move them with an encrypted backup file). How Protect text's encryption works.
Which one should I use?
| You want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| Send one secret message | An online tool that encrypts in the browser, password sent separately |
| Protect a document on disk | 7-Zip, 7z format, AES-256, encrypted file names |
| Have a few secrets on every device | A password manager's secure notes |
| Keep and edit private notes in Chrome, offline, no account | Protect text |
How to choose a password for encrypted text
- Long beats clever. Four to six random words are easier to remember and harder to guess than
P@ssw0rd1. - Unique. Do not reuse a password from a website.
- Recoverable. Keep it in a password manager or write down the recovery key and store it away from the computer. Encrypted text without its key cannot be rescued.
More: secure notes apps compared.