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This wikiHow teaches you how to lock a PDF with a password, making it impossible to open without entering the password in question. There are a couple of free online services that you can use to do this, or you can use the paid version of Adobe Acrobat Pro if you have it.
Method 1 of 3:
Select a PDF. Go to the location of the PDF that you want to password-protect, then click the PDF in question.
Click Open . It's in the bottom-right corner of the window. Your PDF will be uploaded to the SmallPDF website.
Click ENCRYPT PDF → . It's a red button below the password text fields. Doing so will apply your password to your PDF.
Click Download File Now . This button appears on the left side of the page once your PDF's password has been applied. Doing so will download the password-protected PDF onto your computer. From now on, whenever you want to open this PDF, you'll need to enter the password that you set.
Advertisement Method 2 of 3:
Open the PDF2Go website. Go to https://www.pdf2go.com/protect-pdf in your web browser. Like SmallPDF, PDF2Go allows you to protect the PDF from being opened without a password; however, it also allows you to lock the PDF for editing, meaning no one will be able to change the PDF without knowing both passwords.
Click Open . It's in the bottom-right corner of the window. This will prompt the PDF to upload to the website.
Scroll down to the "Settings" section. This section is in the middle of the page. You'll set the password here.
Enter a password. Type your PDF's password into the "Enter user's password" text box, then repeat the password in the "Repeat user's password" text box below it. This is the password that you'll use to open the PDF.
Disable PDF permissions. Click the No bubbles below the "Allow Printing?", "Allow Copying?", and "Allow Modification?" headings.
Scroll down and enter an editing password. Type the password that you want to use for the PDF's editing lock into the "Enter owner's password" and "Repeat owner's password" text boxes near the bottom of the page.
Click SAVE CHANGES . It's a green button at the bottom of the page. Doing so will prompt PDF2Go to begin assigning the passwords to your PDF.
Make sure that you have the paid version of Adobe Acrobat. You cannot edit PDFs (which includes adding passwords to them) if you're using the free Adobe Reader.
Open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat. Click File in the upper-left corner, click Open. in the resulting drop-down menu, select your PDF, and click Open in the bottom-right corner of the window.
Click View . This menu item is at the top of the Adobe Acrobat window (Windows) or the screen (Mac). A drop-down menu will appear.
Check the "Require a password to open this document" box. It's below the "Document Open" heading. This prompts the password text field to become available.
Enter a password. Type the password that you want to use into the "Document Open Password" text field.
Select a compatibility level. Click the "Compatibility" drop-down box, then click the minimum version of Adobe Acrobat with which you want the file to be compatible.
Check the "Encrypt all document contents" box. It's in the "Options" section. This will prevent someone from being able to extract select information from the PDF.
Re-enter the password when prompted. Type back in the document's password, then click OK. This will confirm your changes and apply the password to the PDF. You'll now need to enter this password whenever you want to view the PDF.
AdvertisementWhen coming up with a password for your PDF, use the same rules that you'd generally apply to an email or computer password. This will help secure your PDF against lucky or informed guesses.
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It is possible to open a locked PDF by using special software. Even if your PDF is password-protected, you should keep it stored in a secure, private location.
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