Accessing Vaults

You can only access decrypted files of a vault if you can unlock it. Unlocking a vault is just a two-step process as long as you know the password.

Cryptomator window showing a locked vault

Unlocking a Vault

  1. Select the vault you wish to unlock.

  2. Click on the large Unlock button located at the center of the Cryptomator window.

  3. Enter your vault’s password.

A confirmation will be displayed if your password is correct. You can either close the confirmation window by clicking Done or click on Reveal Vault to show your unlocked vault in your file manager.

Vault unlock dialog

Note

You can store the password in your operating system’s keychain by checking the “Save Password” checkbox. There are also plug-ins available for Cryptomator, that allow you to store Cryptomator’s vault passwords in third party password managers:

  • this plug-in stores Cryptomator’s vault passwords in a KeePassXC database

  • that plug-in stores the vault passwords in Bitwarden’s Secrets Manager

With a saved password, you can unlock your vaults without typing a password on every unlock. It’s faster.

Warning

Only store your password in the system’s keychain on trusted devices. Anyone with access to the computer with stored passwords will be able to unlock your vault, and in some cases, even find your password.

Vault unlock success dialog

Manage Files and Folders in your Vault

By default, a vault’s content will be accessible via an attached virtual drive on your PC. So, you can manage files and folders in your unlocked vault just like you do on any other hard drive or USB drive.

Alternatively, a vault’s content can be accessed via a directory or a WebDAV server by changing its volume type. Click on Reveal Drive in the Cryptomator window to open the mount location using the default file manager (Windows Explorer, Finder, …).

Note

Even though your files are shown unencrypted in the virtual drive, they are not stored unencrypted on the hard drive but only in volatile memory

Cryptomator window showing an unlocked vault

Note

On Windows, you can choose the drive letter of the virtual drive for each vault using advanced vault options.

Locking a vault

To lock a vault, simply click Lock and the virtual drive will disappear or render empty. Your files remain encrypted at the vault’s location.

Cryptomator window showing an locked vault