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

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!

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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

Open the PDF that you want to protect.
Select the File menu.

File menu in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 1. File menu

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

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

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

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.