You can protect sensitive and private information in a PDF by password-protecting the file. When you password-protect a PDF, it encrypts the contents of the file so it can’t be read by any program without entering the password first. Here’s how to do it. Show
PDF (portable document format) files are meant to be shared quickly and easily via email and the web. But the downside of this convenience is that they can easily proliferate beyond their intended audience. To mitigate this risk, you can add password protection to your PDFs. When you encrypt PDFs, passwords are required to view their contents. This is similar to our previous tutorial on protecting Microsoft Office files, but it applies to PDFs. The document format can be viewed natively in both Windows and macOS, but you’ll need to take some extra steps to password-protect PDFs depending on the software you have. Password Protect PDF Files in Windows and macOSMethod 1: Use Microsoft Office to Create Password Protected PDFsWhen you encrypt and password protect a document you created using a Microsoft Office program (e.g., Excel, Word, PowerPoint), you can save it as a PDF that is also password protected.
That’s it! When you open the document in your PDF viewer, you will be prompted to enter a password. If you don’t have Microsoft Office installed, you can use this method with Microsoft 365 (Formerly Office 365). Method 2: Password Protect a PDF Using Adobe AcrobatIf the document you want to password protect is already a PDF, you can use Adobe Acrobat to add a password. If you haven’t purchased a license for Adobe Acrobat, you can download a 30-day trial of Adobe Acrobat.
Method 3: Password Protect a PDF on a Mac Using PreviewIf you own a Mac, you can password protect documents natively in macOS.
And there you have it: three ways to password-protect a PDF file. First, password-protected PDF files are encrypted, which means there’s no way to “bypass” the PDF to see the contents. Second, the PDF must be decrypted to be viewed. This is a standard built-in to the PDF format, and it works the same regardless of what program created the PDF and what program is being used to view the PDF. One last reminder: make sure you choose a strong password that can’t be guessed or cracked. Check out our article on creating a strong password for details on how to do just that. 2 Comments 2 Comments
|