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Add your PDF
Drop the document onto the box above, click to browse, or paste it from your clipboard. It opens locally — the content never leaves your device, even during encryption.
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Choose a strong password
This is the password that opens the document — pick a real one. Long passphrases beat short character salad; four random words are stronger than “P@ssw0rd!”.
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Set the permissions
Printing on or off. Text copying on or off. These are enforced by the encryption itself — not polite requests that reader apps may ignore.
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Click “Protect PDF”
AES-256 encryption is applied on your device, in a background worker. The mathematical key derivation happens locally; no server ever sees your password.
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Share the protected file
One click saves the encrypted PDF. Send it anywhere — email, cloud drives, chat — knowing the content is locked to whoever you give the password to.
Password-Protect a PDF
Encrypt your PDF with AES-256 and a password you choose — decide who prints, who copies — right in your browser.
Drop a PDF here
Add the PDF file to encrypt.
Select a PDFYou can also paste files with Ctrl+V
How to Password-Protect a PDF
Why choose our protect pdf tool?
AES-256 — the modern standard
The same cipher banks and governments use for documents that matter. It is the only algorithm recommended by the current PDF specification, and it is what this tool applies.
Your password never travels
Both the file and the password stay in your browser. There is no “forgot password” link here for a reason: nobody — including us — can recover a password that was never sent anywhere.
Permissions with teeth
Printing and copying restrictions are part of the encryption dictionary. Reader applications honor them by design; casual extraction is blocked, not just discouraged.
A secret owner password
When you don’t provide one, a random owner password is generated — so nobody can lift your permission settings using the open password alone.
Free, unlimited, no account
No sign-up, no per-file fee, no watermark. Protect one document or a hundred; the price stays zero.
Tips for protect pdf
- Send the password through a different channel than the file — email the PDF, text the password.
- Lost passwords are unrecoverable by design. Store it in a password manager before you encrypt.
- Protecting a draft? Watermark it first, then encrypt — the watermark survives inside the locked file.
- Permissions restrict readers, but a determined owner of the password can screenshot; treat them as guardrails, not vaults.
- Already-encrypted files can’t be re-protected in one pass — unlock first, then protect with the new password.
protect pdf — Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an open password and permissions?
The open password gates reading — without it the file won’t open at all. Permissions control what an open document allows, such as printing or copying text. This tool sets the strong kind: an open password with AES-256 encryption.
How do I password-protect a PDF?
Add the file, type the password that will open it, set printing and copying permissions if you like, and click Protect. An AES-256-encrypted copy downloads from your browser.
Which encryption is used?
AES-256, applied per the PDF 2.0 security handler. It is the strongest encryption mainstream PDF readers support and the only one the current specification recommends.
Can anyone recover the password if I forget it?
No — and that is the point. The password exists only in your head and your browser tab while you type it. There is no server copy, no recovery flow, no backdoor.
What do the permissions actually block?
Printing and text copying are enforced by the reader through the encryption dictionary. Readers honor them by design, though screenshots remain physically possible — permissions are strong guardrails, not absolute walls.
Does encrypting change my document’s content?
No. Pages, text and images are encrypted as stored and decrypt identically with the right password. The file size grows by a negligible amount of encryption metadata.
Are my documents uploaded anywhere?
Never. Encryption runs locally in your browser via a Web Worker — you can protect files with the network switched off, and the password still never leaves your device.