Make Mac BetterHow to password-protect a PDF on a Mac
Before sending a contract, a payslip or an ID by email, it’s worth adding a password. A Mac does it for free, without Acrobat and without any website.
Step by step
Open the PDF in Preview
Double-click the PDF. If it opens in another app, Control-click it and choose Open With › Preview.
Export it with a password
Choose File › Export, click Permissions and tick “Require Password To Open Document”. Type the password twice, plus an owner password, and apply.
Save it as a copy
Give it another name so you keep the original without a password. Open the new file to check that it asks for the password.
From any app that prints
In File › Print, open the PDF menu, choose Save as PDF and click Security Options to set a password. It works from Pages, Word, Safari or Mail.
How do I remove the password from a PDF?
Open it in Preview with its password and export it again without ticking the password option. In Make Mac Better, Tools › Remove password does it for several files, always with the password you already know.
How do I protect many PDFs at once?
In Make Mac Better, open Tools › Add password, drop the PDFs and type the password. Protected copies are created in a new folder; the originals are not modified.
Is it safe to protect a PDF on a website?
You would be uploading the very document you want to protect, and typing its password on someone else’s server. On a Mac none of that leaves your computer.
What makes a good password for a PDF?
A long one that you don’t use anywhere else, and send it through a different channel from the PDF: if the file goes by email, give the password by phone or message.