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How to Password Protect PDFs in Adobe Acrobat (PC & Mac)

By Erin Wright

This tutorial shows the basic way to password protect PDFs in Adobe Acrobat. We will also look at how to turn off password protection.

We will cover the advanced method with additional options in an upcoming tutorial.

You can create passwords to protect PDFs from being opened and permissions passwords to protect PDFs from being edited.

Table of Contents

  • How to Password Protect PDFs
  • How to Turn Off Password Protection in PDFs

For a full tutorial about preventing editing in Adobe Acrobat, please see my previous tutorial “How to Restrict Editing in Adobe Acrobat.”

Watch all the steps shown here in real time!

Explore more than 200 writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.

The images below are from Adobe Acrobat Pro. These steps also apply to Adobe Acrobat 2020 and Adobe Acrobat 2017. In addition, the steps are the same for PC and Mac.

These steps don’t apply to Adobe’s free PDF display software, Acrobat Reader. However, passwords created with Acrobat should be enforced in Reader.

Important Note: This tutorial is for general knowledge only. Because the PDF file format is open source, it may be manipulated by third-party software. Therefore, I do not recommend using the Adobe Acrobat features shown here to protect highly sensitive or classified documents. In addition, you can’t password protect PDFs that have been signed or certified.

How to Password Protect PDFs

  1. Open the PDF that you want to protect.
  2. Select the File menu.
File menu in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 1. File menu
  1. Select Protect Using Password from the drop-down menu.
Protect Using Password option in the File menu in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 2. Protect Using Password option
  1. Select Viewing or Editing in the Protect Using Password dialog box.
    • Viewing prevents the PDF from being opened without a password.
    • Editing gives the password holder permission to make changes to the PDF. Without the permissions password, users can only use the comment tools, fill out forms, and sign signature boxes.
Viewing and Editing options in the Protect Using Password dialog box in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 3. Viewing and Editing options
  1. Type a password that is at least six characters into the first text box and then retype it into the second text box.

Important Note: Acrobat does not provide a way to retrieve a forgotten password, so be sure to store a copy of the password in a secure location—otherwise you may get locked out of your own PDF!

Text boxes in the Protect Using Password dialog box in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 4. Password text boxes
  1. Select the Apply button.
Apply button in the Protect Using Password dialog box in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 5. Apply button

A message should appear at the bottom of the screen stating that the file was successfully password protected from viewing or editing.

File successfully password protected message in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 6. File successfully password protected message

In addition, “(SECURED)” should appear in the file name at the top of the screen.

The word SECURED in a password protected file in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 7. (SECURED) in the file name
Important Note: You can create a Viewing (open) password and an Editing (permissions) password by going through this process twice. However, the passwords cannot be the same. In addition, if you have both types of passwords, the Editing (permissions) password will also open the PDF.
  1. Save your PDF.

How to Turn Off Password Protection in PDFs

  1. Open the PDF using the password if necessary.
  2. Select the Tools tab.
Tools tab in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 8. Tools tab
  1. Select Protect in the Tools Center.
Protect button in the Tools center in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 9. Protect button
  1. Select Advanced Options in the Protect toolbar.
Advanced Options button in the Protect toolbar in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 10. Advanced Options button
  1. Select Remove Security from the drop-down menu.
Remove Security option in the Protect toolbar in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 11. Remove Security option
  1. (For editing permissions passwords only) Type the password into the text box in the dialog box.
Password text box in the Permissions Password dialog box in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 12. Permissions password text box
  1. Select the OK button.
OK button in the Permissions Password dialog box
Figure 13. OK button
  1. Select the OK button in the dialog box asking if you want to remove security (which is the password) from the PDF.
Remove Security dialog box in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 14. OK button
  1. Select the Close button in the Protect toolbar.
Close button in the Protect toolbar in Adobe Acrobat
Figure 15. Close button
  1. Save your PDF.

Related Resources

How to Redact PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Pro

How to Extract Pages from PDFs in Adobe Acrobat (PC & Mac)

How to Password Protect Files in Microsoft Word

Updated February 12, 2023

Filed Under: Adobe Acrobat Tagged With: Adobe Acrobat DC

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Technical Writer and Editor Erin Wright

Hello! My name is Erin. I am a technical writer and editor who shares writing-related software tutorials on this website and on YouTube.

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