Password Protect PDF with Adobe Reader Alternative

Adobe^® Reader for Windows or Mac comes in different version and the most popular versions include Adobe Reader 11 and Adobe Reader DC. The Adobe Reader 11 is the conventional reader which is available for the Windows and Mac OS X while the Adobe Reader DC is the direct cloud version which is available for the Windows, Mac OS X, iOS and even the Android. Protecting a PDF with password is not an easy feat and you will have to go to the features embedded in the Adobe Reader. Here's the step by step guide on how to password protect PDF with Adobe Reader.

How to Password Protect PDF in Adobe Reader Alternative

PDFelement is the best alternative to Adobe^® Reader both in terms of the functionality and ease of use. Moreover, it is also cheap as compared to the Adobe Reader and you do not have to pay any annual fee. The software can do a lot more as compared to the Adobe Reader in terms of creating, editing, converting or protecting the PDF files.

By following two steps, you can protect the PDF file within a few seconds. You can either enable the settings to prevent access to your PDF or can prevent the file from copying, editing or printing. The distinguished features from Adobe Reader will include editing texts, images and pages in PDF files, converting the PDF file to the Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents etc. You can also perform OCR function on the PDF file which will let you extract the text from the scanned images. Here's the step by step guide to password protect using Adobe Reader alternative.

Step 1. Open Your PDF

Launch PDFelement on your computer and click on the "Open" button at the bottom to load the file you want to protect. Alternatively, you can click on the "File" and select "Open". Select the PDF file and click on the "Open" button again.

Step 2. Password Protect PDF

Now, click on the "Protect" tab and click on the "Password" again. On the next dialogue, enter the password and confirm the password again. Finally click on the "OK" at the bottom of the screen. Lastly, close the PDF file and click on "Yes" button again to save the PDF file.

Video on How to Password Protect a PDF with PDFelement

How to Password PDF with Adobe^® Reader

Download the latest version of Adobe Reader for Windows or Mac and install it on your computer. You will have to go through the wizard to install it on your computer.

Step 1. Open PDF File

Once you installed Adobe Reader on your computer, open the PDF file that you want to protect with a password. You can either drag or drop the PDF file to Adobe Reader or can directly open from the main menu.

Step 2. Password Protect PDF

After opening the PDF file, go to the "Tools > Protect > Encrypt > Encrypt with Password". The tools are located on the top left side of the Adobe Reader 11. Once the menu pop-up, click on "Yes" on the screen.

After turning on the security, the next step is to add the password on your PDF file. Write down the password for the PDF file. Now, choose the compatibility for this selected version of the PDF file.