Lock confidential PDFs with a password in seconds. Encryption runs directly in your browser so contracts, reports and identity documents stay on your device while you add a strong layer of protection.
Add a PDF, choose a password and decide who can print, copy or modify the file. Encryption runs locally in your browser.
Or drag and drop your PDF anywhere inside this box.
Use at least eight characters with a mix of letters, numbers and symbols. If you lose this password, it will be very hard to recover access.
Permissions help you keep control over how your content is reused. They work together with the main password that controls access.
Waiting for file and password.
A lot of modern work now happens in browser tabs and shared drives. It is tempting to think that built in access controls from cloud tools are enough. Yet the moment you export a report as a PDF and send it by email or messaging apps, those cloud permissions no longer apply. The file becomes a free floating copy that can land anywhere.
Password protection gives you a basic but powerful safety net. It does not replace every security practice, but it prevents casual access when a file is forwarded into the wrong chat, misfiled on a shared computer or opened by someone who should not see its content. When you combine a good password with limited permissions, you make it much harder for people to duplicate, print or alter sensitive information.
When you choose a file and enter a password, the Protect PDF tool uses QPDF in your browser to apply encryption and permission flags. Instead of sending the document to a remote server, the engine reads and rewrites the PDF directly on your device. The result is a new file that follows the PDF standard for password protected documents.
The original text, images and layout stay intact. Fonts remain embedded, links continue to work and bookmarks keep their structure. The change happens at the security layer. The reader application now needs a password to open the document or to perform actions such as printing and copying, depending on your chosen settings.
The strongest protection in the world does not help when the password is easy to guess. Short and predictable phrases are vulnerable, especially when they are reused in different places. Instead, aim for a longer passphrase that is only meaningful to you and your team. A string of unrelated words with numbers and symbols is much harder to crack than a single dictionary term.
The tool lets you confirm the password before you lock the file. This small step avoids common mistakes such as invisible typos or mismatched keyboard layouts. It is worth taking an extra second here, because once a file is locked with a password that nobody remembers, recovering the content can become extremely difficult without a clean backup.
PDF security has two layers. The first is the password that guards opening the file at all. The second is a set of permissions that tell the reader application what people are allowed to do after the document is open. With this tool you can allow or block three key actions.
Not every reader application respects these permissions in exactly the same way, but they are widely used in office environments and they send a clear signal about your expectations when sharing a protected file.
Different teams rely on password protected PDFs for different reasons. Human resources departments lock payslips, job offers and performance reviews. Finance teams use protection when they send detailed statements or invoices that reveal pricing structures. Legal teams secure drafts and signed copies of contracts that should not be altered.
Students and researchers might protect exam papers, grade breakdowns or early versions of theses that are not ready for wider distribution. Freelancers can add a safety layer to proposals that contain pricing, design concepts or internal processes. In each of these cases, protection discourages casual forwarding and adds friction before someone can access or rework the content.
Security is more effective when it fits naturally into your existing document flow instead of feeling like a separate, complicated step. That is why Protect PDF is designed to sit alongside other tools on QuickerConvert. A typical process might look like this:
If you later need to adjust text and layout, you can unlock a copy and send it through PDF to Word to turn it into an editable DOCX document for tools like Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
It is important to be realistic about what this kind of security achieves. Passwords and permission flags are very useful for everyday office privacy. They stop casual viewers from opening files and discourage people from copying or printing sensitive content without thinking twice.
At the same time, once a legitimate recipient has opened the document on their own device, they can always find ways to share the information again, for example through screenshots, photos or manual retyping. No PDF tool can fully prevent that. Password protection should be part of a wider culture of responsible sharing rather than the only guardrail.
When you share a protected PDF, try to avoid sending the password in the same channel as the file. For example, email the document, but send the password through a different app or share it verbally where appropriate. This keeps things simple while still adding distance between file and credentials.
It also helps to agree on a pattern inside your team. Some organizations use separate passwords per client or project. Others rotate shared passwords on a regular schedule. Whatever you choose, make sure there is a clear record in a secure place so that future colleagues can still open archived files when needed.
This page focuses on one PDF per run so that you can pay attention to the right password and permissions for each file. For batches of similar documents, you can repeat the process as many times as needed.
The tool checks that the password and confirmation match before applying protection. If they differ, you will see an error instead of a half locked file, so you can correct the mistake and try again without breaking the document.
No. The protection logic runs as JavaScript and WebAssembly code inside your browser. Your PDF does not get uploaded or stored on QuickerConvert servers, which means you stay in control of where your confidential data lives.
Yes. Modern PDF readers on iOS and Android support password protected documents. Recipients simply type the password when they open the file, just like they would on a laptop or desktop computer.