Password protecting a PDF and setting permissions
Set a password to open a PDF, a permissions password, and what others may do, with AES 256-bit encryption by default, in PDF by Zaweba.
Sending a payslip, a contract or a set of medical notes as a plain PDF means anyone who gets hold of the file can read it. A password changes that. In PDF by Zaweba you choose Protect, then Protect with a password, and decide who can open the document and what they may do once it is open.
Everything happens on your PC. The document is never uploaded anywhere to be encrypted, which is exactly what you want when the reason for a password is that the contents are private.
Two kinds of password
There are two passwords you can set, together or on their own.
The password to open is the one most people mean. Without it, the PDF can't be read at all. Use it whenever the contents themselves are private.
The permissions password is different. The document opens for anyone, but what everyone else may do with it is limited, and only someone with the permissions password can change those limits. Use it when the contents can be seen but you don't want the file altered or copied freely, such as a published price list or a finished report.
Choosing permissions
With a permissions password set, you choose what everyone else may do. The choices cover printing (high, low or none), changing content, comments, filling forms, page changes and copying.
Think about the person receiving the file. A form you want filled and returned needs filling forms allowed, but perhaps not changing content. A report for reading might allow printing at high quality but not copying. A draft for review might allow comments and nothing else. Printing at low quality is a middle path for documents people may print for reference but which you'd rather were not reproduced cleanly.
Choosing the encryption
The encryption choices are AES 256-bit, which is the default, AES 128-bit, RC4 128-bit and RC4 40-bit. Leave it on AES 256-bit unless you have a clear reason to change it. The older RC4 options exist for compatibility with very old software, and they are much weaker. A strength meter shows how strong your password is as you type it, which is worth paying attention to. Strong encryption with a weak password is still a weak lock.
Checking and removing security
Two tools sit alongside. Security details shows the method used, which password opened the document, and each permission, so you can confirm a file is protected the way you meant before you send it. It is also handy for files you receive, to see what you are and aren't allowed to do.
Remove security takes the protection off again, which you might do on your own working copy once a document no longer needs it.
Sending protected files sensibly
Keep an unprotected master copy somewhere safe and protect a copy for sending. If you lose the password to the only copy, the encryption is doing its job and you may not get back in.
Send the password a different way from the file. If the PDF goes by email, give the password by phone or a text message, so one intercepted message isn't enough.
Remember what permissions are. They tell well-behaved software what the document allows. For contents that really must stay private, use the password to open, not just a permissions password.
How it fits with the other protection tools
A password keeps people out. It doesn't remove anything. Before protecting a document that has been through several hands, run Remove hidden information to clear out old comments, earlier versions and other leftovers, and use redaction for anything that must never be seen. Password protection is also one of the steps an Action can run, so if you protect the same kind of file often, a saved action can do it for a whole folder at once.
Used together, these tools in PDF by Zaweba let you send private documents with some confidence, without them ever leaving your computer to be processed.
