Set PDF Permissions for Printing and Editing
How can you stop a PDF from being printed, copied or edited?
Set PDF permissions for printing, copying, editing, annotations, form filling and page assembly. Supply the relevant passwords and choose the permissions appropriate for the recipient. Different PDF readers may enforce these settings differently, so they are not a substitute for controlling access to sensitive documents. Verify the exported file in the reader your recipients use.
Cost: Free to use. File size and usage limits apply.
How to set PDF permissions
Add one PDF
Click Choose PDF or drop a PDF of up to 200 MB on the preview. You can also open Uploads and pick a PDF you already used in another tool.
Check what the file allows today
Current source permissions loads on its own and shows whether the file is Protected or Unprotected and which actions are allowed. If it shows Password needed, type the current passwords and click Check with current password.
Enter the passwords
Owner password is always required. For an unprotected file you choose a new one; for a protected file you enter the current one. The next section explains which fields to fill for each case.
Tick the permissions
Printing is allowed by default and everything else is off. New effective permissions updates as you click and shows the result as permission bits, for example
100000000100 · x804for the default print-only setting.Apply, compare, download
Click Apply permissions. The result card shows Before export and After export side by side, so you can confirm the change before you click Download PDF. The result also stays in Uploads for other tools.
Which passwords to enter
What the two password fields do depends on whether the PDF is already protected. Current source permissions tells you which case applies.
Unprotected PDF
Owner password becomes the new password for changing permissions later. User password (optional) becomes a password needed to open the file; leave it empty if anyone may open it. The tool encrypts the file with AES-256 before it applies the permissions.
Protected, opens without a password
Enter the current Owner password and leave User password (optional) empty. A value there makes the job fail, because the file has no open password to match. Encryption and password stay as they are; only the permissions change.
Asks for a password when opened
Enter both current passwords. The owner password alone is not enough to change permissions on these files. Both passwords remain unchanged in the result.
You want new passwords
This tool does not replace existing passwords. Remove them with Unlock PDF, then run the unlocked file through this tool with the new passwords.
Permission settings explained
Each checkbox switches one or two permission flags defined by the PDF standard. Only the two printing options are on by default.
- Owner password
- Required, empty by default. For an unprotected file it sets the password needed to change permissions later; for a protected file it must match the current one. Spaces at the start or end are removed.
- User password (optional)
- Empty by default. For an unprotected file it adds a password needed to open the PDF. For a protected file, fill it in only if the file already asks for a password when opened.
- Allow printing
- On by default. Without Allow high-quality printing, readers may only print a lower-quality rendering of the pages. Turning printing off also turns high-quality printing off.
- Allow high-quality printing
- On by default. Allows printing at full quality. Ticking it ticks Allow printing too, because full-quality printing requires basic printing.
- Allow editing document content
- Allows changes to text, images and other content. It does not include comments, form filling or page assembly; tick those separately.
- Allow copying text and images
- Allows selecting and copying content. Turning it off also clears the flag for text extraction by accessibility tools. Readers that follow the older PDF 1.x rules may then stop screen readers from reading the text; PDF 2.0 tells readers to ignore that flag.
- Allow comments and annotations
- Allows adding and editing comments, highlights and other annotations. Under the PDF standard this also lets readers fill in form fields, even if Allow filling existing forms is off.
- Allow filling existing forms
- Allows typing into the form fields the PDF already has, including signing existing signature fields. Readers cannot add new fields. To fill fields yourself before you restrict the file, use PDF Forms.
- Allow page assembly
- Allows inserting, rotating, reordering and deleting pages and creating bookmarks, even when editing is off.
What permissions can and cannot prevent
Permissions are flags stored in the PDF's encryption settings. The program opening the file decides whether to honour them: a reader that applies the flags disables forbidden actions, while a program that ignores them can still allow copying or printing. These flags do not prevent screenshots or photographs of a page.
Without a user password, anyone can open the file and read everything in it; the restrictions only limit what the reader software lets them do. If the content itself must stay private, set User password (optional) and share that password only with the intended readers.
Keep the two passwords different. If they are identical, a reader may treat anyone who types the password as the owner, and the restrictions no longer apply.
An initially unprotected PDF receives AES-256 encryption. Its recipient needs a reader that supports AES-256; check it in the intended program before distributing the document. A source PDF that is already protected keeps its existing encryption method.
Formats and limits
- Input format
- PDF, unprotected or password-protected. For protected files you need the current passwords.
- Output format
- PDF with the same pages and content. Nothing is re-rendered, so text and images keep their quality.
- Encryption
- Unprotected files are encrypted with AES-256. Protected files keep their existing encryption and passwords.
- Maximum file size
- 200 MB
- Files per job
- 1 PDF
- Processing
- On our servers with the pdfcpu PDF library. No external or AI service is involved. A job can run for up to 15 minutes.
- Watermark
- None
- Storage
- Uploads and results are deleted automatically after 48 hours for guests and after 30 days for free accounts. Paid plans can keep files longer.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the job fail with "Check the current passwords"?
The permissions could not be changed with the passwords you entered. There are three usual causes: the owner password is wrong, the PDF asks for a password when opened and you entered only the owner password, or you typed a user password for a file that opens without one. Compare your entries with the cards in "Which passwords to enter" and run the job again.
Can recipients still copy or print the PDF?
In readers that respect PDF permissions, the blocked actions are unavailable. Software that ignores the flags can still copy or print, and screenshots always work. Treat permissions as a clear statement of what is allowed, not as copy protection.
I forgot the owner password. Can I change the permissions again?
Not with this tool. Changing permissions on a protected file needs the current owner password. Write the password down before you click Apply permissions, and keep the unrestricted original. It remains in Uploads until the storage period ends.
Does the PDF look different or get bigger?
The page appearance stays the same: pages, fonts and images are not redrawn or recompressed. The file is rewritten, and an unprotected source gains encryption information. Its size can change depending on the source and how the PDF is stored; compare the actual files.
What is the difference from Protect PDF?
Protect PDF encrypts a PDF and lets you choose the encryption mode and key length, with three permission presets. This tool gives you each permission as a separate checkbox, shows the current and new permissions, and can change the permissions of a file that is already protected.