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Password Protect a PDF

Add an open password to a PDF with AES-256 encryption, and choose whether it can be printed, copied or edited. Your file and password never leave your device.

Private · on device. Runs in your browser: your file is not uploaded. No sign-up.

The PDF to put a password on
AES-256, done on your device. The PDF is encrypted with the strongest standard PDF encryption (the PDF 2.0 standard, read by Adobe Acrobat X and later). The file and the password stay in this browser tab; nothing is uploaded.

When to put a password on a PDF

Payslips, bank statements, medical reports, signed agreements and anything with your Aadhaar or PAN on it are worth protecting before you email or share them. Email travels through several servers and sits in inboxes for years; a password means a forwarded or leaked copy is useless without it.

Send the password a different way

A password in the same email as the file protects nothing. Send the PDF by email and the password by SMS or a phone call, or agree a pattern in advance, the way banks use your date of birth for statements.

Choosing a password

  • Longer beats complicated: four unrelated words are stronger than a short jumble of symbols.
  • Do not reuse your email or banking password.
  • Avoid your name, phone number or date of birth alone, which are easy to guess.

Before you protect it

Encrypted PDFs cannot be compressed or edited further without the password, so do those first: shrink it with the PDF compressor, remove hidden author details with the metadata remover, then add the password last.

Frequently asked questions

How strong is the protection?

The PDF is encrypted with AES-256, the strongest encryption the PDF standard offers (PDF 2.0, also used by Adobe Acrobat X and later). Without the password the contents cannot be read. The weak point is the password itself: a short or common one can be guessed by software, so use a long one, ideally a phrase of several words.

Is my PDF or password sent anywhere?

No. Encryption is done by QPDF, an open-source PDF library, running inside this page in your browser. The file and the password never leave your device, and nothing is stored after you close the tab.

What do the permission settings do?

They tell PDF readers whether to allow printing, copying text and editing. Adobe Reader, Chrome, Edge and most other readers respect them. They are not as strong as the open password, though: some programs ignore them, so do not rely on them alone for anything secret.

What is the permissions password?

A second password that lifts the permission settings. If you restrict printing or copying and leave it empty, a long random one is made up and immediately forgotten, so nobody can lift the restrictions, you included. Keep your original, unprotected file if you may need it later.

I forgot the password. Can you recover it?

No, and nobody else can either: that is the point of encryption. The Daily Toolbox never stores your password and does not offer password cracking. Keep the password in a password manager, or keep an unprotected copy somewhere safe.

Will the protected PDF open on any device?

Yes, on any reader made in the last decade: Adobe Reader, Preview on Mac and iPhone, Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Android PDF viewers all open AES-256 PDFs and ask for the password. Very old readers (from before 2008) may not.