Protect PDF
Encrypt a PDF with AES-256 so it cannot be opened without your password. Control printing and copying. Files are deleted from our server automatically.
Keep a copy of your password. It cannot be recovered from the file, and we do not store it.
Related tools
All PDF tools →This tool needs our server to process your file. It is sent over an encrypted connection, stored only while it is being processed, and deleted automatically within 60 minutes. We never read the contents or keep a copy.
About the Protect PDF
Add a password to a PDF so it cannot be opened without one. This is real AES-256 encryption written into the file itself, not a viewer setting — the contents are genuinely unreadable to anyone who does not have the password, in every PDF reader on every device.
That distinction matters, because a lot of what gets called "PDF protection" is not encryption at all. Some tools only set a flag asking readers politely not to allow printing, which any reader is free to ignore and many do. Here the document is encrypted: without the password there is nothing to read, ignore or work around.
You can also control what someone may do once they are in. Printing and copying can each be blocked independently, which is useful for a document you need reviewed but not redistributed. Accessibility extraction is always left enabled, deliberately — blocking it stops screen readers working, and "nobody may copy this" should never quietly mean "blind people may not read this".
Because encryption needs a program no browser ships, this tool runs on our server. Your file travels over an encrypted connection and is deleted automatically within the hour along with the result. Your password is never written to disk, never logged and never stored — it is passed to the encryption program through a locked-down temporary file so it does not even appear in the server's process list, and it is gone the moment the job finishes. That also means we cannot recover it for you. Keep a copy somewhere safe before you start.
How to use the Protect PDF
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Add your PDFs
Drop the files onto the box or click to choose them. Every file in the set is encrypted with the same password.
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Choose a password
Type it twice so a typo cannot lock you out of your own document. Length matters far more than punctuation — a short phrase beats a scrambled word.
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Set what is allowed
Printing and copying are permitted by default. Turn either off for a document you want read but not redistributed.
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Protect and download
Press Protect PDF, then download the result within the hour. Store the password somewhere safe first — it cannot be recovered from the file.
Frequently asked questions
Is this real encryption or just a restriction flag?
Real encryption. The document is encrypted with AES-256 and its contents are unreadable without the password in any PDF reader. Some tools only set a permissions flag that asks readers not to allow printing, which readers are free to ignore — that is not what happens here.
Do you store or log my password?
No. It is held in memory for the length of the job and passed to the encryption program through a temporary file readable only by the server process, specifically so it does not appear in the process list where other accounts on the machine could see it. It is never written to the database, never logged and never kept. That also means we cannot recover it, so keep your own copy.
What happens if I forget the password?
The file cannot be opened, by you or by us. There is no master key and no back door — that is what makes the encryption worth having. Our Unlock PDF tool removes a password you already know; it does not break one you have lost.
What happens to my file after I upload it?
It is sent over an encrypted connection, written to a temporary directory outside the web root under a random name, encrypted, and deleted automatically within the hour along with the result — whether or not you download it. We do not store your IP address or the original filename.
Why can I not block screen readers from extracting text?
Because that option almost always gets used by accident, and its only real effect is to make a document unusable for blind readers. Copying can still be blocked for everyone else — accessibility extraction is a separate permission, and we leave it on deliberately rather than offering a switch that mostly causes harm.
Can I protect a PDF that already has a password?
Not in one step, because the file has to be readable before it can be re-encrypted. Remove the existing password first with our Unlock PDF tool, then protect the result with the new one.