Protect PDF

Lock your PDF with a password and choose what others can do with it.

Free
Private
No limits
No upload

... or drop file here

Files never leave your device

Add a PDF file to protect.

Frequently asked questions

What does protecting a PDF actually do?

It encrypts the file with a password and lets you restrict actions like printing, editing or copying for anyone who doesn't have the password.

Is my password sent anywhere?

No, the password and the encryption both happen entirely in your browser — neither the file nor the password is ever uploaded.

Can I choose what other people are allowed to do with the file?

Yes, under 'Additional options' you can individually allow or block printing, editing, copying, form filling and more.

What if I forget the password I set?

There's no way to recover it — the encryption is real, so make sure to store the password somewhere safe.

Can I protect multiple PDFs with the same password at once?

Currently protection is applied one file at a time so you can review each document's settings before saving.

What's the difference between an open password and permissions?

An open password encrypts the file, so without it the contents cannot be read by any software at all — that is real security. Permissions leave the document readable by anyone and simply record a request that readers not print or copy it; mainstream readers honour that request, and other tools ignore it. Use encryption when it actually matters.

Can you recover my password if I forget it?

No, and nobody can. The password is used to derive the encryption key inside your browser and is never sent anywhere, so there is no copy of it in existence outside your own records. A forgotten password means the document is permanently unreadable. Write it down before you download the file.

Is the password sent to your server?

No. There is no server involved in this operation at all — the document is read, encrypted and written entirely within your browser tab. That is the reason to protect a file client-side rather than uploading it and its password to a service.

Can I restrict printing without setting an open password?

Yes. Leave the password fields blank and just uncheck the permissions you want to deny. The document will open for anyone without a prompt, but will carry the restriction flags. Be aware this is a convention that cooperative software follows, not a technical barrier.

Should I turn off accessibility extraction?

Almost certainly not. That flag controls whether screen readers may read the document aloud, so denying it locks out people with visual impairments while doing essentially nothing to stop anyone determined to copy the text. Leave it enabled.

PDF protection is two different mechanisms wearing one name, and confusing them is how people end up with a document they believed was secure and wasn't. A user password encrypts the file: without it, the bytes are unreadable and no software can show you the contents. Permission flags are a set of instructions to the reader application — don't allow printing, don't allow copying — enforced by convention rather than by cryptography.

This tool sets either or both. Encryption is real security. Permissions are a statement of intent that well-behaved software honours and determined software ignores, and it is worth being clear-eyed about which one your situation needs.

Both are applied in your browser. The password you type is used to derive the encryption key locally and is never transmitted — which is the whole point of doing this client-side, since sending a document and its password to a server to be protected rather defeats the exercise.

How to password-protect a PDF

Add the PDF
Drop the file in or choose it from your device. It is read locally; the page shows a preview once it has loaded.
Set an open password
Type the password twice — the second field has to match before the button becomes available. This is the password anyone will need in order to open the document at all. Leave it blank if you only want to set permissions.
Choose what readers may do
Uncheck any of printing, high-resolution printing, copying text, modifying, annotating, filling forms, assembling pages, or accessibility extraction. Anything left checked stays permitted.
Protect and download
Press the button to write the encrypted file, then save it. Store the password somewhere safe first — there is no recovery path, by design.

Encryption versus permissions

The distinction determines what you are actually getting, so it is worth stating plainly:

User password (open password): Genuine cryptographic protection. The document's contents are encrypted, and without the password there is nothing to read — not by this site, not by Adobe Acrobat, not by anything. The strength of the protection is the strength of the password you chose.
Owner password and permission flags: A restriction recorded inside the file. The document still opens without a prompt, and every byte of its content is readable; the flags merely ask the reader not to print or copy. Mainstream readers comply. Plenty of other tools do not, and removing the flags is trivial for anyone who wants to.

What each permission controls

Printing: Whether the document can be sent to a printer at all. Turning this off while leaving high-resolution printing available is contradictory, so the two are handled together — deny printing and high-resolution printing is denied with it.
High-resolution printing: Allows printing, but only at degraded resolution — enough for a reading copy, not enough to produce a clean reproduction.
Copying text and graphics: Whether content can be selected and copied to the clipboard. Note that this also affects legitimate text extraction, and denying it is what makes a document awkward for people who need to quote from it.
Modifying the document: Whether the content can be edited. Separate from annotating and from assembling pages, so you can permit comments while forbidding changes to the text.
Annotating: Whether comments, highlights and sticky notes may be added. The usual choice for a document being circulated for review.
Filling in forms: Whether interactive form fields can be completed. Leave this on for anything anyone is meant to fill in, even when modifying is off.
Assembling pages: Whether pages may be inserted, deleted, rotated or reordered, and whether bookmarks may be changed.
Content extraction for accessibility: Whether assistive technology may read the text. Turning this off blocks screen readers, so leave it enabled unless you have a specific reason not to — it costs you nothing and denying it excludes people.

Choosing a password

The encryption is only as good as what it is protecting. A four-digit PIN on a document worth attacking will not survive an afternoon; a long passphrase will not fall to brute force at all.

Use several unrelated words, or a generated string from a password manager. Avoid anything that appears in the document itself, in its filename, or in the email it will be attached to — sending a contract and its password in the same message is the single most common way this protection is undone.

There is no recovery. Nobody holds a copy of the password, because it never left your browser, so a forgotten password means the document is gone. Save it before you save the file.

What protection cannot do

Encryption stops someone opening the file. It does not stop someone who can open it from doing whatever they like with the contents — reading it, photographing the screen, retyping it, or passing on the password. Permission flags do not survive contact with software that chooses to ignore them.

If a document must not be readable by a particular person, encryption is the right tool and the password must be shared over a different channel from the file. If a document merely should not be casually printed or copied by colleagues who have no reason to, permissions are a reasonable, honest signal. If information genuinely must never be seen, remove it from the document rather than protecting the document — permissions do not hide content that is still on the page.

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