To find the Personal Vault in Windows, just right-click the OneDrive icon. Still, the level of protection that Personal Vault provides in practice depends largely on how you set it up. (OneDrive also encrypts all files stored online, whether they’re in the Vault or not.) In theory, that means someone who breaches your OneDrive account or accesses your computer without permission would have a tougher time getting to those important documents.

Viewing or modifying files in the OneDrive Personal Vault requires an additional code-sent via email or text message by default-and on Windows 10 or higher, Microsoft stores those files in a BitLocker-encrypted portion of your hard drive. That’s when I remembered Personal Vault, a feature of Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage service that adds an extra layer of protection for important documents. This created a small dilemma: I didn’t want to delete the files or leave them out in the open on my hard drive, but I wasn’t keen on printing them out on reams of paper either. Between preparing for tax season and home refinancing, I’m sitting on a pile of PDFs, all full of detailed personal information. In recent weeks, I’ve amassed a substantial number of sensitive digital documents for entirely mundane reasons.

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