Tools / Protect PDF
Protect PDF
Put a password on a PDF, with AES 256, in your browser.
- This tool has no upload step
- This browser-only engine does not send your file
- Every tool driven in a browser each release
Choose a PDF
or drop it here
How it works
- Add the PDF.
- Choose a password, and type it twice. Write it down: nothing here can recover it.
- Protect, then download. Check the downloaded file opens before you delete anything.
What a PDF password does and does not do
A password on a PDF stops somebody opening it. It does not stop somebody who can open it doing whatever they like with it.
Write the password down before you close the tab
Nothing here can recover it. The encryption is real, which is exactly why a forgotten password means the file is gone.
Send the password by a different route
A password in the same email as the file protects nobody. Send the file by email and the password by message or by phone.
Open the downloaded file before you delete the original
Confirm it asks for the password and that the password you wrote down opens it. Do that once, before you need it.
A long passphrase beats a complicated short one
Four unrelated words are easier to pass on over the phone and harder to guess than one word with digits in it.
Where this is the wrong tool. This encrypts the file so it cannot be opened without the password. It cannot stop a person who has opened it from copying the text, printing it or forwarding it. Permissions flags in a PDF are advisory and many readers ignore them.
When the browser is not enough
Scanly for Android
Take document-scanning workflows to your Android phone with Scanly. See the Google Play listing for current features, requirements and data-processing information.
Questions
Does my password get sent anywhere?
No. The encryption happens in this page, in your browser, and the password never leaves it. There is no upload step, and there is no server here that could receive one.
Can you recover my password if I forget it?
No, and neither can anybody else. Nothing here stores it, and AES 256 with a password nobody knows is a document nobody opens. Write it down before you press the button.
How strong is the encryption?
AES 256 bit by default, which is the strongest a PDF supports. The 128 bit option exists only for very old readers that cannot open a 256 bit file.
Will it still open on a phone?
Yes. Every current PDF reader on every platform handles this, and asks for the password when the file is opened.
Can I stop people printing or copying it?
Not from here as a separate setting. The password given is set as both the user and the owner password, so anyone who can open the file can use it normally. Permission flags that let a file open but refuse printing are widely ignored by readers anyway, and a tool that promised otherwise would be misleading you.
Can I protect a PDF that already has a password?
Not in one step. Remove the first with Unlock PDF, then protect it again with the password you want.
Does it work without a connection?
Opening the page needs one, and so does the first file you protect, because that is when this site hands over the encryption engine. The work itself uses no network, and your file and password are never sent anywhere either way.