How to password protect a PDF
Contracts, statements, medical records — some documents shouldn't be readable by whoever happens to open the file. Encrypting a PDF with a password takes under a minute and travels with the file wherever it goes.
Protecting a PDF in three steps
1. Open the free Protect PDF tool below and upload your document.
2. Set the password required to open it. Optionally disallow printing, copying text, or editing.
3. Download the encrypted file — it now demands the password in every PDF viewer.
How strong is this really?
The file is encrypted with AES-256, the same standard used in banking. Without the password, the contents are unreadable — there's no recovery backdoor. That also means you must remember the password: store it in a password manager and keep an unencrypted original somewhere safe.
Sharing the password safely
Don't email the password in the same message as the file. Send the PDF by email and the password through a different channel — a text message or a call. If both travel together, the lock is decoration.
Removing protection later
When a protected file is yours and the password typing gets old, the Unlock PDF tool removes the password permanently — you enter it one last time and download an open copy.