Password Protect PDF – Encrypt PDF Online Free

Add a password to your PDF and control printing, copying and editing permissions. Free online PDF encryption.

or drop a PDF here

No file selected

Private and short-lived: every upload is erased automatically 72 hours after you last open it.

Step by step

Protect a PDF: step by step

Add a password to your PDF and control printing, copying and editing permissions. Free online PDF encryption.

  1. 1

    Upload your PDF

    Drop the file you want to lock. Nothing is applied until you press the button — and the file is deleted after 2 hours.

  2. 2

    Set the passwords & permissions

    The Password is what anyone needs to open the file. The Admin password is the key for later — needed to change the permissions or remove the lock. The seven permissions start fully locked: nothing is allowed until you tick it.

    The Password box holding open123 above the Admin password to change permissions box holding admin123 Allowed PDF reader permissions — seven unticked checkboxes from Modifying to Insert, rotate, or delete pages — above the warning line and the Encrypt PDF button
  3. 3

    Pick the strength & encrypt

    More options folds out the Encryption choice — Strong AES 256 is the default, with Medium RC4 and AES 128 for older readers. Press Encrypt PDF and the ready page hands back the locked file: in our test it opened only with the password, with every permission off.

    The Encryption row with Medium (RC4 128 bits), Medium (AES 128 bits) and Strong (AES 256 bits) selected, above the Encrypt PDF button The ready page showing wm-demo.pdf — 5.5 KB · 4 pages · deleted automatically after two hours — above the Download button
  • A password to open

    Anyone the file is shared with needs the password you set.

  • Admin key for changes

    A second password controls the permissions — keep it safe to change or remove the lock later.

  • Nothing allowed by default

    Printing, copying, editing, commenting — the seven permissions start switched off.

  • Modern encryption

    Strong AES 256 by default; Medium RC4 and AES 128 for older readers.

  • Honest about limits

    The screen says it plainly — some readers ignore permission flags; the password is the real lock.

  • Private by default

    No account, no watermark — and every file is automatically deleted after 2 hours.

More tool information

What the other tools do

Redact

Removes content for good rather than covering it: anything under a redaction mark is destroyed in the saved file, not hidden behind a black box. Smart detection finds cards, emails, phone numbers, IDs, IBANs and labelled names for review before you commit.

Unlock

Removes a password you already know, or strips the restriction flags from a document that opens but will not print or copy.

Delete Pages

Removes pages from a copy of the document. The pages you keep are copied whole, and bookmarks pointing at them come along unless you tick the discard box.

Flatten

Fixes a document's state so it prints and shares the same everywhere: either only the form fields become part of the page, or the whole document is rendered flat at a resolution you pick.

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