Encryption is the best way to secure your data. Imagine, you want to share a confidential document with your coworker, but you don’t want anyone else to see it. How to do? The easiest way is to convert this document to a PDF file and then protect it with a password.
But why convert the document to PDF?
PDF is the most wonderful format because it contains both images and rich text. Indeed, no one can modify a PDF without leaving a digital imprint. And it is interesting to note that password protected PDFs are easily accessible, that is, if you encode a PDF using Windows, the receiver can still decode it on different platforms, whether Android or Mac, or any other (provided he knows the password). You don’t need the same software to access it.
You can opt for two types of protection by using a password on a PDF document;
- Owner Password – Required to change permission settings such as copying or printing a PDF
- User Password – Used to open the PDF file
However, our analysis suggests that the owner password is not worth using, as your document can easily be copied, printed using a good OCR reader, easily bypassing your password. Thus, we provide your contact details over the other method of document protection, which is the user password method. The methods we are discussing here are straightforward and are easily accessible on any operating system without any difficulty.
How to password protect PDF
the Windows
When using Windows, PDF can be easily encrypted using Adobe Acrobat, but it comes at a cost. But don’t worry, you can even go for other free PDF programs that can password protect your documents for free.
To continue protecting your documents, download and install the selected PDF application on your Windows device. Then open the document you want to encode, convert it to PDF format using a secure PDF converter. Then select file → security → open password → enter strong password → click create.
macOS
Similar to Windows software, encrypting a PDF on macOS is simple and easy. You can use the built-in preview option for the same. Simply open the PDF file using MAC preview format. Click on the ‘File’ tab present in the menu bar and click on ‘Export’.
You can easily spot the password space that appears just below the box before “Encrypt”. Enter a strong alphanumeric password and save your file using 128-bit RC4 encoding. And don’t worry, your old file will not be affected during this process, only the new file is not password protected.
Android
To password protect a document on Android, you need to download a PDF editor or PDF converter app on your Android, which has a password option. Once the app is downloaded, open it → select password protection → import the PDF you want to encrypt from your device storage.
Enter a strong password to protect your PDF files from corruption or export to third party. Finally, save the password. And you are done!
ios
iOS does not offer a free way to encode your PDF or documents. Almost all apps in Apple’s App Store are chargeable. So, you will have to spend some money to encrypt your files on an iOS device. However, if you don’t want to make such a purchase, you can protect your PDF using any online service. But before making such a decision, make sure that the app you are about to use is safe and secure. Additionally, avoid websites that tend to log your information.
an online service
There is no doubt that selecting the best PDF protection app is a tedious task and may require some purchasing. To save yourself from such a thing, you can use online tools, such as CocoDoc, for password protection of your PDF files.
Indeed, such online tools could even ensure your privacy, as many virtuous among them do not read or store your PDF on their server. Moreover, these services are free and easily accessible on any device and any operating system.
About CocoDoc
CocoDoc is an online PDF editor and PDF converter platform. With CocoDoc, you can get creative with your PDF, using different tools and features available to increase the security of your documents. Their additional security and encryption measures help its users to easily share their data-sensitive documents online. In addition, their flawless management, transparency and customer satisfaction is an excellent pain reliever for surrounding businesses.
Conclusion
By now, you may all have an intuitive idea on how to password protect your PDF, using PDF editing and PDF converter apps on various devices. You may want to protect your PDF file for official or commercial purposes. However, keep in mind that PDFs, even password protected, can be decrypted. So, go for a strong password, rather than randomly selecting any word from the dictionary.
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