Sharing files and documents electronically has become the norm today. The portable document format (PDF) has become a ubiquitous file type due to its versatility and universal accessibility. However, the sensitive information contained in PDFs also makes them vulnerable if shared without proper protections in place.
Implementing password protection and setting permissions on your PDF files lets you safely share documents with authorized viewers only. Keep reading to learn some best practices and easy methods for securing your PDF files against unauthorized access by password protecting them.
Why Password Protect Your PDF Files?
There are a few key reasons why you may want to password protect sensitive, confidential or personal PDF documents:
1. Prevent Unauthorized Access
Password protection restricts access to only people who have the password. This keeps strangers, malware and other threats from being able to open and view your private PDF data.
2. Limit Editing Abilities
In addition to barring unauthorized viewing, PDF passwords can also inhibit editing privileges in case the file falls into the wrong hands. This safeguards the integrity of your original document.
3. Ensure Privacy & Security Compliance
For individuals and businesses required to protect customer and client information for privacy law compliance, PDF passwords provide an added layer of security.
Now let’s explore some of the best ways to go about setting passwords on your PDF files using common software tools…
Using Adobe Acrobat to Password Protect PDFs
Adobe Acrobat is the industry standard program for managing PDFs. Their paid Acrobat software provides enterprise-grade security capabilities for protecting PDF files, while their free Acrobat Reader app allows for basic PDF password protection even for individual users or small businesses on a budget.
Password Protect a PDF with Acrobat Reader
Follow these steps to add a password via Adobe’s free Acrobat Reader DC software:
1. Open your PDF in Acrobat Reader
2. Select “File” then “Properties”
3. Click the “Security” tab
4. Check “Require a password to open the document”
5. Type your desired password twice into the pop-up boxes
6. Click “OK”
7. Confirm and save the password protected PDF file
This bases the security on a simple password that must be entered to open the PDF. However, the full paid Acrobat Pro software provides much more advanced options.
Fortify Security Settings in Adobe Acrobat Pro
Beyond a basic password, Acrobat Pro users can leverage sophisticated tools like military-grade AES encryption, permission settings, and redaction capabilities for maximum PDF protections:
- Apply 256-bit AES Encryption: Adobe’s strongest encryption renders files unreadable without authorisation.
- Restrict Editing, Printing & Copying: Customise a granular set of “permissions” denying specific user actions.
- Add Password Authorization to Unlock Features: Require separate credentials to enable printing, commenting, form filling, etc.
- Redact Confidential Text and Images: Permanently delete sensitive data from any point in the PDF.
These security measures make Acrobat Pro ideal for protecting confidential documents according to industry compliance regulations.
Securing PDFs with Microsoft Word
For those without access to paid Adobe software, Microsoft Word provides some decent built-in tools for password protecting PDF files:
Save Native Word Docs as Secure PDFs
Unlike printing to PDF which carries settings over, saving native Word documents directly as PDFs gives you a security prompt to set a password right from Word’s interface. You can use a tool to convert PDF to Word if edits are needed.
Add Open and Edit Password Credentials
Word allows creating separate passwords for opening the document and then for editing file contents for an extra barrier against changes.
Overall, Word’s PDF security options are simplified but handle password basics well. The main limitation is lack of more advanced settings compared to Acrobat. Next up is how to password protect existing PDFs in Word if you don’t have the original source documents.
Making PDFs Unsearchable
In addition to adding password protection, when sharing highly sensitive PDF documents, it can also be beneficial to purposefully degrade the contents by:
- Running OCR to Disable Text Copying: Applying optical character recognition corrupts underlying words to keep others from copying.
- Lower Image Quality: Reducing resolution inhibits reproducing or manipulating charts, diagrams, signatures, etc.
- Disable Printing: Removing print capabilities provides an extra layer of control regarding unauthorized usage.
Combining these techniques makes your file contents harder to extract and exploit while keeping all information legible to authorized viewers with the password.
Share Files Securely by Changing the File Type
Finally, another clever trick for securely sending password protected PDFs is to change the file type through here before transmitting or storing online.
Adding a .txt extension instead of .pdf masks the contents. Recipients then convert back upon entering the provided password:
1. Create your password protected PDF
2. Change “.pdf” file extension to “.txt”
3. Share the now disguised document
4. Authorised recipient adds “.pdf” extension to transform with password
This obscures documents for upload/download while keeping PDF contents encrypted.
Additional Tips for Securing PDF Documents
While strong passwords, encryption and permissions provide fundamental protections, there are a few other helpful tips for bolstering PDF security:
- Back up original copies in secure storage – Maintain encrypted source versions of sensitive documents offline only accessible to designated personnel. Restrict PDF transmission and sharing to ephemeral edited duplicates.
- Employ multi-factor authentication – For maximum document protections, require a 6-digit code from a token device or text message in combination with password credentials before granting PDF access.
- Limit internal and external sharing – Carefully evaluate each case of presenting confidential data in PDF files to other parties. Develop formal security policies around encrypted PDF transmission, storage and destruction.
- Use digital signatures – Certifying a document’s authenticity via cryptographic signatures makes surreptitious changes evident if a file is somehow compromised. This preserves integrity and non-repudiation.
- Seek advanced protections beyond passwords – While this guide has focused on entry-level techniques, enterprises handling highly classified data should invest in more robust DRM protections and Rights Management capabilities.
With capabilities ranging from basic password protection to robust AES 256 encryption and permission settings, there are now plenty of options available for securing your sensitive PDF files. The techniques discussed here should give both personal users and enterprise teams a starting guide for locking away confidential data from prying eyes!