Encrypt MS Word

This is the primairy way to enable encryption on PDF for free, If you use Microsoft Word then all things are more straightforward and easy. Despite it is one of the most-popular and commonly used Word-program there are others salutation to do the same.

Open PDF in Microsoft Word, and then click on File tab.
From there, Select Save As and then Choose PDF (.pdf) from the drop-down menu.
Click on Option button, Check the checkbox for the “Encrypt the document with Password.“
Enter choice of password, and after it Click on OK.

Alternative, You can use the Microsoft Office for which simply open the Document and then Click on Info tab. From there Click on Protect Document and then Encrypt with password.

PDFConverter

This is another way which is free and easy-to-use PDF converter to use password protecte PDFs.

Downlaod, and Install PDF Converter, Launch it and then Click on Add FIles button to add files that you want to enable password protected for.
Next, Click on Encrypt button and then enter password of your choice. After typing Password, then Retype Password to verify.
Click on Ok Button, and then Click on Convert to PDF file to encrypted PDF files.

Alterantively, Open the PDFConverter and then head over to Advance Settings and then Setup password. After which you can click on Add to import your PDF Files and then Click on Convert. Now, your PDF File will allow you to set a password then open and edit your PDFs.

SmallPDF

This is an online tool, Which allow to encrypt and protect PDFs for free.

How to protect a PDF with a password for free without using Adobe Acrobat

Open SmallPDF Website, and then click on Protect PDF tool.
After that, Upload PDF File and then enter Password of your choice.
Now, Click on Encrypt Button.

PDF Editor

You can download PDF Editor of your choice, and then Launch the Program.

Open PDF Editor and then Click on protect or Security.
Enter a password, and then Check the Checkbox for the Other Security Option.

Use Command-line Tool

If you are used-to command-line tool, THen you can use OpenSSL Command-Line to encrypt PDFs.

Open Command Prompt and then enter the PDF file directory.
Type, openssl aes-256-cbc -in input.pdf -out output.pdf -salt -md sha1 -pass pass: password (Enter the password with the password.)
This will enable PDF file with an AES-256 Encryptio algorithm and Next SHA-1 hash algorithm.

>

class="wp-block-heading">Enable Password Protect a PDF on macOS

You can enable Password Protect a PDF on macOS using Preview, using build-in IMage and PDF viewer.

Open PDF File in preview, and then Click on File.
Choose Export and then Click on Permission button after which it ask for the Require password to Open Document.
Enter the password of your choice, and it will ask you to retype to verify.
Click on Apple, and then Save.

PDF Element

Open PDF file in PDF Element and then click on protect tab.
Aftetr that, Click on Password button and then enter password in the password box.
Click on Ok, and then Click on Save button to save encrypted PDF File.

Alternative, There are similar program which offer similar feature to Adobe Acrobat like PDFElement, Nitro Pro, Soda PDF and iLovePDF. You need to Rember that, Don’t forget the Passowrd because if you loose password then you won’t be able to Open the file again. After encrpt or enable password protection on PDF you can rest assured that your PDF is secure.

You can use Password manager to generate and store your password. Also, When you share your Encrypt PDF then the other person also require password to open the file. You can use File Archiver like WinRAR when you want to password protect PDFs however Creating and Sharing might be an issue.

Disadvantage of Password-Protected PDFs

First thing first, Once you enable the Password Protection on PDF if you forget the password then this is a problem because then you would not able to open the PDF. There are some crack password-protected PDFs avaiable which you can use to determined the acess the PDF. You should note to be aware of risk involced with this. so do ensure that you don’t use weak password because it can be easily cracked., so if you create strong password do rember the pasword.

Password-Protected PDFs arn’t rally safe because there are various ways to crack to get password-protected PDF. One of way is Brute-Force attack, Which is a type of attack where the attacker try combination of password as it is possible to crack a password with a brute-force attack if the password is not strong enough. Another way is to use Dictinory attack which uses a list of common password and last is to use a list of compromised password from your computer or mobile to crack password.

How to protect a PDF with a password for free without using Adobe Acrobat