Protect PDF
Encrypt a PDF with a password (AES-256). Processed on the server; your file is not stored.
Processed on our server and deleted immediately — your file is never stored.
About Protect PDF
Protect PDF encrypts your document so it cannot be opened without the password you set. This is real AES encryption written into the file itself, not a setting a viewer can politely ignore — without the password, the contents are unreadable. Free, and your upload is deleted right after it is encrypted.
Email is the reason most people end up here. Payslips, medical letters, tax returns, contracts with commercial terms, board papers — all of them routinely travel as attachments through mail servers, backups and forwarded threads that nobody is really tracking. Encrypting the file means that if it ends up somewhere it should not, it is still just noise to whoever opens it.
It is also increasingly a compliance expectation rather than a nice-to-have. Sending someone else's personal data unprotected is hard to defend under GDPR if it goes astray, and many organisations now require encryption for anything containing financial or health information. The important discipline is separating the password from the document: send the PDF by email and the password by text or phone, because putting both in the same message protects nobody.
How to Protect PDF
- Upload the PDF you want to secure.
- Choose a strong password — length matters far more than special characters.
- Record the password somewhere safe before you go any further.
- Encrypt the document and download the protected copy.
- Open it once to confirm it prompts for the password, then share it and send the password separately.
Tips & common problems
There is no recovery if you forget it
Nobody, including us, can open an encrypted PDF without its password. This is the point of encryption, and it means a forgotten password is permanent. Store it in a password manager before you send the file.
Length beats complexity
A four-word phrase is far harder to break than eight characters of punctuation, and considerably easier to read out over the phone.
Never send the password in the same email
An encrypted attachment with the password in the message body is no more secure than sending it unencrypted. Use a different channel entirely.
Encrypt last
Merging, compressing or converting an encrypted PDF will fail, because the tool cannot read it. Do all your editing first and apply protection as the final step.
Frequently asked questions
How do I password protect a PDF for free?
Upload it, set a password and download the encrypted file. No signup and no watermark.
Is my file stored?
No. It is removed from the server the moment encryption finishes. Neither your document nor your password is logged or retained anywhere.
What encryption is used?
Standard AES encryption as defined by the PDF specification, which is the same mechanism Acrobat and other professional tools apply. Any compliant PDF reader will prompt for the password.
What happens if I forget the password?
The document cannot be opened, by you or by anyone else. There is no backdoor and no reset — always save the password somewhere reliable before sharing the file.
Can I remove the password later?
Yes, as long as you know it. Unlock PDF strips the protection from a file you can already open, which is useful when a document no longer needs to be restricted.
Will the password stop people printing or copying?
This applies an open password, so the whole document is locked until the password is entered. Once someone has opened it they can read, print and copy normally — the protection is about who gets in, not what they do afterwards.