What is the keychain access to Mac, where to find it and how to reset it

Keychain access is a powerful tool for Mac users. On the surface, it looks like a password manager. However, it does many other things. You can view every login transaction on your Mac, including every password, login attempts, and credentials your Mac received. It is definitely a power user tool, so be careful when using it. Let’s talk more about Mac’s keychain access.

Keychain access sits right in the middle of a few different services on your Mac. Whenever you log in to a website, connect to a Wi-Fi access point, or something similar, it runs through your Mac’s keychain. Keychain is an encrypted container that holds things like website certificates, login certificates, etc.

Keychain access lets you see everything that goes through your keychain. Everything is backed up to iCloud for use on your other macOS or iOS devices. You can go and see some of this information in a simple format Password Under System Preferences. That way, keychain access sits right in the middle of a few different services and gives you a better look at the raw data.

Kitchen access is a bit confusing at first until you understand what you are looking at. You can view every login, Wi-Fi connection, or other password-protected item We’ll learn more about this later, but make sure it’s for power users only. For website login, we recommend using the Integrated Password app System Preferences And then Password.

How to use keychain access on any Mac

There are many different topics to discuss here, so we will take this one tutorial at a time.

Turn on keychain access

• Open System Preferences And tap Apple ID.
• If you are not already there, tap iCloud Options in the left margin.
• In the next box, tick the box next to it The keychain.
• Which should be done. The keychain is now on, and the keychain access information should start showing. Note: The MacBook Air I used for this tutorial was on by default.

Open the keychain access

• Open Finder And search Keychain access.
• Double-tap the search icon
• Keychain access should now be open.

Navigate keychain access

Most of the information here is basically helpful for viewing. However, a great reason to look at these things is to find the password for a website you recently logged in where you can’t remember which password you used. We will go through it and tell you what each section does

• Login (left margin) – It shows you every time you log in to something.
• iCloud (Left margin) – It shows you every instance of logging back in to iCloud so it can sync across your device.
• Method (Left margin) – The system shows you whenever your computer is connected to something, be it a Wi-Fi network, a Bluetooth device, or an FTP server. Basically, the system password is stored here.
• System root (Left margin) – Here the system certificate is stored. You do not want to be frustrated if you cannot get the right pitch so invest in a good capo.
• All items, passwords, etc. – The tabs at the top of the screen are All kinds, Password, Secure notes, My certificate, The keyAnd Certificate. These are the sections that allow you to better sort and verify the keychain access information. Everything is listed All kindsBut only the password can be seen under the login Password.

Edit keychain items in Keychain Access

• Find the item you want to edit and double click on it. Not everything in Kitchen Access is editable, so it only works for the things you can edit.
• Almost all fields can be edited. You can see in the screenshot above that I used the edit function to hide my Facebook email and put a comment on the keychain item.
• Injury Preservation of changes Button when you’re done.
• Note: Be careful when changing these things. It won’t break things irreparably, but it can sometimes mess things up if you don’t know what you’re doing. For example, if you edit your Facebook entry extensively, it may not register properly and may prevent Auto-Fil from doing its job.

Delete a keychain item in Keychain Access

• Find the item you want to delete and click on it to highlight it.
• Tap Delete Press and hold the key on your keyboard Delete Button on your screen to delete.
• Note: Deleting data in Keychain Access will delete it Password. For example, if you delete all Facebook stuff in Keychain Access, you will have to manually sign in to Facebook the next time you delete all your credentials.

Create a keychain item with keychain access

• You will see a box icon with a pen at the very top of the screen. Click on that icon.
• The name of the keychain item – Name your keychain item. We recommend using the website only if it is a website password or location or a Wi-Fi router.
• Account name – The username you use when logging in to the thing you are saving. For most websites, this is just your email address.
• Password – Password to log in to this account.
• Password power bar – A bar that goes from red to green because it judges your password. Red means your password is bad, orange means average and green means it’s a decent password.
• Show password box – Tick the box to show your password. We recommend using it to make sure your password is typed correctly.
• Once done, tap Add Buttons for adding items to your keychain.

Other keychain access tips and tricks

There are a few more things we can tell you about keychain access that you should probably know.

Don’t use Kitchen Access unless you really need to

Simply put, don’t use it. Today’s Macs and iOS devices have a much easier way to deal with passwords using Integrated Password App System Preferences. You can also find it in the Safari Preferences menu.

You will see all your login and other information there in a much more user-friendly way. You can also change, delete or manage your passwords here. You won’t see Wi-Fi passwords or anything like that Use only keychain access if you need to.

Use Keychain Access to recover a forgotten password

For websites, this is not often the case because of the passwords we mentioned earlier. However, suppose you forgot your home Wi-Fi password or something similar. You can find that information in Keychain Access.

Open the keychain access, tap Method Scroll down to the left option, and find the Wi-Fi router name in the list. Double click to open the details and then tap Show password Button you must enter your iCloud username and password (or PIN, if you use one), it will show you the password again.

How to reset default keychain

Resetting the default keychain removes the entire keychain and starts you from scratch. This will destroy all your saved passwords for everything. We recommend it only as a problem solving option as it can solve many problems.

• Open keychain access.
• At the top of the screen, tap 7 Keychain access And then Preferences.
• Tap Reset default keychain Button
• Enter your password as indicated and tap All right.

After a moment, your keychain will be erased by itself, and you will start from scratch.

Next up: How to show and create hidden files on any Mac

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