Protect PDF

Sensitive documents — contracts, financial reports, medical records, personal statements — should not be sent as open PDFs that anyone who intercepts the email can read. The Protect PDF tool adds AES-based password encryption to your PDF, ensuring that only recipients who know the password can open the document.

PDF password protection operates at two levels. The open password prevents the file from being opened without the correct passphrase — this is what most people mean when they say a PDF is "password protected." The permissions settings restrict what an authorised reader can do with the content, such as preventing printing, copying text, or extracting pages. You can set both levels independently.

Permission options:

• No permissions (view only): Recipients can read the document but cannot print, copy text, or make modifications.
• Allow printing: Recipients can print the document but cannot copy text or edit it.
• Allow copying: Recipients can select and copy text in addition to reading.
• Allow all: No restrictions beyond the open-password requirement.

Best practices for PDF passwords: Use a strong password of at least 12 characters combining upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Share the password through a separate channel (phone call or messaging app) rather than in the same email as the PDF. For maximum security, also add a watermark with our Add Watermark tool so even if the password is compromised, the document is visually marked.

To remove protection from a PDF you own, use Unlock PDF.

Privacy: Your password is transmitted over HTTPS and used only to encrypt the document. It is never logged or stored. Files are deleted within one hour.