macOS Keychain – Move Secure Notes from Keychain of One Mac to Another

importkeychainmacosmigrationSecurity

I have a keychain created, to hold a bunch of Secure Notes items. These are not in the default keychain files created by Apple.

In previous versions of macOS, I was able simply drag the keychain file from one Mac to a new Mac. Now in macOS Mojave, this is not working. When I drag the my_own_keychain.keychain-db from my home folder > Library > Keychains on the old Mac, and place it in the same location on the new Mac, the Keychains app fails to recognize it.

How can I get my own keychain file moved from old Mac to new Mac?

Best Answer

Keychain Access.app > File > Add Keychain…

screenshot of Keychain Access.app > File > Add Keychain

You got it half-way right.

  1. Quit Keychain Access.app, just to be safe.
  2. Locate your keychain file, named whatever.keychain-db as you mentioned.
  3. Get a copy of that file onto your new Mac, perhaps via a thumb drive.
  4. Put that file in your home folder, in Library folder, in Keychains folder.
    In other words:
    ~/Library/Keychains/your_keychain_name_goes_here.keychain-db
  5. Open Keychain Access.app on that new Mac.
  6. Choose File > Add Keychain….
  7. In the file-picker dialog, choose the file you just placed in the Keychains folder.

We are not really importing or doing any processing here. We are merely informing the Keychain Access app about the existence of this additional keychain file.

Related Question