How to Password Protect a PDF (With and Without Adobe Acrobat) (2024)

There may come a time when you need to send someone a PDF that contains sensitive information, such as your tax information, financial details, Social Security Number, or other data. Naturally, you don’t want that information falling into the wrong hands. If you password-protect your document, only someone with the password can open the file.

Encrypting a Word Document may be your best bet for collaborating with others, but a PDF is the right choice for sending important records. However, there are some complications here. Not only will you need to figure out a way to share the password securely, but the free version of Adobe Reader does not support password protection.

Normally, you’d need to purchase or subscribe to the full Adobe Acrobat program, but that’s a pricey prospect if you require only the occasional password. Instead, a variety of third-party programs and online services will let you slap a password onto your file. Let’s check out your options.

Adobe Acrobat

If you do want to buy the full Acrobat program for reasons beyond the password protection, Acrobat Standard 2020 will run you $358 as a one-time purchase. If you prefer a subscription option, Acrobat Standard costs $22 on a monthly basis, $12.99 a month for a one-year commitment, or $155.88 if billed upfront for the year. Both Standard and Pro support password protection, so you can save yourself a few dollars by going with the cheaper plan.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Adobe)

If you need a password just one time or for the next several days, snag a free seven-day trial to Acrobat Pro. The only requirement here is that you’ll have to supply your credit card information to download the free trial. Just remember to cancel before the seven days are up or you’ll be charged $19.99 plus tax for the full month.

In order to password protect a PDF, open the document in Acrobat Standard or Pro, then click the Menu icon in the top-left corner and select Protect Using Password.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Adobe)

In the pop-up menu, select Viewing if you want the recipient to enter a password to view the document or choose Editing if you want them to enter a password only to edit the document.In most cases, you'll want to enable a password for viewing so that no one can read the file without the proper credentials.

Make your selection, then type and retype a strong password in the appropriate fields. The program will measure the strength of your password. Click Apply to save your password.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Adobe)

Some documents, such as editable forms, may not be able to use password protection. In these cases, you might bump into an error message telling you that the file could not be saved due to a bad parameter. The trick here is to save a copy of the file and then password protect the copy.To do this, click the Menu icon, move to Save as other, and select one of the other PDF types.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Adobe)

Name the copy something differently from the original, then open the copy in Acrobat and try the password-protect option again. After you password protect the file, you should receive a message telling you that it was successfully protected.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Adobe)

Now when someone want to gain access to the document, they can open it in Adobe Reader, Adobe Acrobat, or another PDF reader. They should then receive a prompt asking for the password. They can type the password and click OK, and the contents of the document will be available.

If you ever want to remove the password from the document, open the file in Acrobat and enter the password. Click the Menu icon and select Protection > Security Properties.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Adobe)

Click the Security Method drop-down menu and change it from Password Security to No Security. Click OK and then OK again. Resave the file, and the password will no longer be stored with it.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / Adobe)

PDFEncrypt

(Credit: Lance Whitney / PDFEncrypt)

A free, open-source alternative to Acrobat is PDFEncrypt, which offers a simple yet effective way to password protect a PDF. The basic interface asks you to choose the file you wish to encrypt. Enter your password (or generate a password through the program) and click Encrypt.

The protected version is renamed with the word "encrypted" at the end. A Settings screen offers more options, such as the ability to allow printing, copying, and other actions.

PDF24

(Credit: Lance Whitney / PDF24)

Another free PDF application is PDF24 Creator, which offers a host of tools under one roof, granting you the ability to edit, merge, split, convert, compress, protect, and unlock a PDF. To encrypt a file from the main toolbox screen, click the Protect PDF button. Select the file or drag it onto the screen, create a password, and then click the Protect PDF files button. You can then save the protected file, ideally with a different name than the original.

(Credit: Lance Whitney / PDF24)

The developers behind PDF24 Creator also offer an online version known as PDF24 Tools with a host of PDF features. At the website, select Protect PDF and then browse to or drag and drop the file you want to protect. Create a password and click Protect PDF files. Download and save the file, then you’ll need to enter the password to open the PDF.

CleverPDF

(Credit: Lance Whitney / CleverPDF)

Another website that will password protect a PDF is CleverPDF, which offers a wide variety of tools. At the website, click the Encrypt PDF icon. Browse to or drag and drop the file you wish to encrypt. Check Require a password to open this document to enable the password protect feature.

You can also check Restrict editing, copying and printing with owner password to limit the ability to edit, copy, ort print the document. Click the Start conversion button and then press Download to save the encrypted version to your computer.