How to Password Protect a PDF
Protecting sensitive documents with a password ensures only authorized people can access your content. Our free tool adds strong encryption to your PDF files.
Add password and permission restrictions
Files stay on this device. The PDF you load is processed in your browser
using pdf-lib and friends, then saved back to disk — no upload,
no server, no copy kept.
Preparing implements…
Protecting sensitive documents with a password ensures only authorized people can access your content. Our free tool adds strong encryption to your PDF files.
The user password is required to open the PDF. The owner password controls permissions like printing and copying.
Yes, uncheck 'Allow printing' to prevent recipients from printing the document.
We use standard PDF encryption provided by the pdf-lib library.
Yes, if you leave the owner password empty, the user password will be used for both.
Use our Unlock PDF tool with the correct password to remove protection.