Here's how to password protect a PDF: drop it in, pick a password, and download a copy that nobody opens without it.
Encrypted with AES-256 — the same standard banks use.
By ShinobiTools Team · Last updated: August 2026
Your file is deleted the moment it's done. The big PDF sites keep your bank statements and IDs on their servers. Here the original goes right after processing, the result after 45 minutes — or sooner, on your click.
The file is encrypted with AES-256, not just flagged as read-only. Without the password there is nothing to read: not by us, not by a PDF reader, not by someone who copies the file off a shared drive. Printing, copying text and adding notes stay allowed once it is open, so the document still behaves like a normal PDF for whoever has the password.
We do not keep your password. That is the honest and the annoying part in one: lose it and the file is gone for good, because there is no copy anywhere to look it up in. Write it down somewhere before you send the file on.
A password only gates the content — the file's metadata (author name, software, edit history) is still readable by anyone who opens it. Want that gone too? Remove PDF metadata strips it first.
Pdf protection here means AES-256 encryption, not a fake permissions flag. A protected pdf stays genuinely locked — nobody opens it without the password. Pdf copyright protection searches land on the same page, since a password is the only protection this tool sets. A protected pdf file here is genuinely encrypted (AES-256), not a fake permissions flag some free readers ignore — so pdf protection online through this page is the real kind, useful even for pdf protect copy concerns, though once the password is entered the reader can still print, copy and annotate as usual. That's a real limit worth knowing: how to add a password to a pdf document is exactly this page, but protecting a pdf from editing while leaving it freely readable — no open password at all, just a block on changes — is a different, permissions-only kind of protection this page does not set.
Free to password protect a PDF here, no card needed. Need to go the other way on a file you protected yourself and remember the password? Unlock PDF removes it again. Neither page cracks a password you don't know — that's not a feature we'll build.
A payslip or a bank statement you have to email. A contract that goes through three inboxes before it is signed. A scan of your passport for a landlord. In all three the file leaves your hands, and a password is the difference between one person reading it and anyone who ends up with a copy. The file may sit forwarded in several inboxes before anyone opens it, and so a password protects it at every one of those stops, not just the first. Need that signature added first? Sign PDF lets you draw, upload or type one before you lock the file.
Already have a locked PDF and you want it open again? That is the other side of this tool: remove a PDF password, if you know the password.
Locking a form you've already filled in? Flatten it first, so the answers are baked into the page instead of just sitting behind a password on editable fields. Haven't filled it in yet? Fill PDF Form handles the text boxes, checkboxes and dropdowns before you lock the file.
A password protects the whole file from people who never get a copy — but whoever you do send it to sees everything inside once they type it in. Need one part gone for good instead of the whole document locked? Redact PDF cuts that part out permanently, independent of any password.
Password protect pdf doc jobs need three steps: drop the file, type a password, download the locked copy. Password protect pdf file works the same regardless of extension. Password protect pdf online never leaves the browser tab. It works the same for a single password protect pdf doc as it does for a whole folder of them, one at a time.
There is no account, no watermark and no daily cap. Everything runs on our own servers; the ads on the page keep them online. Your original upload is deleted the moment processing finishes, the cleaned result stays available for up to 45 minutes so you can download it and is then deleted automatically, and nothing is ever sold, shared or used to train AI.
Already password-protected and still too large to email? Compress PDF shrinks it without touching the password.
Drop the PDF on this page, type a password of at least four characters and press Lock the PDF. You get a copy back that asks for that password before it opens.
AES-256, the strongest the PDF standard supports. The same file will ask for the password in Acrobat, Preview, Chrome and every other reader.
No. It is used to encrypt the file and then thrown away with the rest of the job. That also means we cannot help you if you forget it.
Yes, once it is open. We leave printing, copying and annotating allowed on purpose — a password is meant to keep strangers out, not to make the file awkward for you.
Ten pages per document on the free side. A €5 ShinobiTools pass raises that to 25 pages and works on our other eight tools too.
Free, no watermark, no account and no daily cap.
Your upload is deleted the moment the locked copy is written; that copy is deleted automatically 45 minutes later, or immediately if you ask.
Drop the PDF on this page, type a password of at least four characters and press Lock to get an AES-256 encrypted copy. How to protect a pdf document with password comes down to the same AES-256 lock. How to protect a pdf file with password gives the identical result, whatever the source file.
How to protect pdf document with password takes one drop and one typed password. How to protect pdf file with password works the same regardless of file type. How to protect the pdf file with password needs the same three taps: type, Lock, done.
Drop the PDF on this page, type a password of at least four characters, and press Lock — you get an AES-256 encrypted copy that asks for the password before it opens.
Upload it here, pick a password and press Lock. The file is encrypted with AES-256 so nothing can be read without the password — not even by us.
Drop it into ScanReviver, type a password and download the locked copy — no Adobe account or software needed.
It is a genuine free password protect pdf tool up to ten pages per file; a paid pass raises that limit, but the AES-256 encryption itself is never behind a paywall.
It is a real free pdf protector: AES-256 encryption, not a watermark or a cosmetic lock.
Yes — you can protect pdf for free with no trial, no card and no expiry; the ten-page limit is the only ceiling.
Yes — password protect pdf free means exactly that here: no account, no card and no watermark on the result.
Whoever sent it may have locked it before sharing, or it came from a system — a bank, an HR portal — that encrypts documents by default. Either way you need that password to open it; this page only adds a password, it cannot tell you one you have forgotten.
Yes — print protected pdf works normally once the password is entered; printing is one of the permissions we leave switched on.
Yes, AES-256 encryption — the same standard banks use.
Drop the file in, type a password and press Lock.
Yes, there's no daily cap on how many files you lock.
AES-256, the strongest level the PDF standard supports.
A few seconds — drop the file, type a password, download.
Nothing is installed on your device — upload the file and the encryption runs on our server.
Yes, free, no watermark, no account and no daily cap.
The same way as on a computer — drop the file and type a password.
No — that's the reverse job; Unlock PDF removes a password you know.
Yes, AES-256 encryption — the file can't be read without the password.
Printing, copying and annotating stay allowed after the password is entered.
We never store it — it's used once to encrypt, then discarded.
No trial, no card and no expiry — the page limit is the only ceiling.
That's the opposite job — Unlock PDF removes an existing password.
Lock them with a password here, so only the recipient can open the file.
Yes, up to ten pages free regardless of what created the PDF.
Yes, any AES-256-aware reader — Acrobat, Preview, Chrome — asks for the password.
A password locks the whole file so only someone with it can open it.
Yes — that's what Unlock PDF is for, on this same site.
You still need that password to open it — this page only adds new locks.
Upload the scanned PDF the same way as any other file, then set a password.
No, the password is discarded after encrypting — nobody here can open it either.
Yes, upload one file per job; there's no bulk mode here.
Yes, AES-256 encryption is never behind a paywall here.
At least four characters.
Yes, file size isn't the limit here — the page count is.
No Adobe account or software needed — just this page and a password.
It's the strongest encryption level the PDF format supports.
Lock it here first, then send the copy that asks for the password.
Yes, sign it first, then lock the signed copy with a password.
The same way as any device — it just needs a browser.
Free covers up to ten pages, with the same AES-256 encryption.
The whole file is encrypted, not just a single page.
The same steps as any browser — drop the file, type a password.
No — we don't keep the password, so a forgotten one can't be recovered.
Drop the file above, type a password, and download — how do you password protect pdf files and how do you password protect a pdf file work the same on Windows, Mac, or a Chromebook.
The same way as anywhere else — how do i password protect a pdf on a mac and how do you password protect a pdf on mac both just need Safari or Chrome, no separate Mac app.
No MacBook-specific steps — how to password protect a pdf on a mac and how to password protect pdf on macbook both run through the same browser page as any other computer.
Drop the file here, set the password, and download — how to password protect a pdf on mac this way means the locked copy is ready to attach straight to an email; the recipient enters the same password to open it, on Mac, Windows or mobile.
No — how to password protect a pdf mac uses the same AES-256 encryption as anywhere else; Mac gets no lighter version.
The whole file — how to password protect pdf mac encrypts every page, not a single cover sheet you could skip past.
No recovery either way — how to password protect pdf on mac still means we never store the password, so a forgotten one can't be recovered by us, on Mac or anywhere else.
It protects the whole file with an open password — nobody can open or edit it without that password. To protect pdf from editing (or protect a pdf from editing) while still letting people view it unlocked, you'd need a separate view-only permission mode, which isn't offered here; the file is either locked entirely or open.