(Credit: Miha Creative / Shutterstock)
At some point you’ll likely need to send someone a file that contains sensitive information, such as tax information, financial details, your Social Security number, or other confidential data. Naturally, you don’t want that information falling into the wrong hands. That’s why you should password-protect the file so that only someone with the password can view the information.
Encrypting a Word Document may be your best bet for collaborating with others, but a PDF is the right choice for sending important details that you don’t want anyone to change. However, there are some complications here: you'll need to find a way to share the password securely and figure out what program makes the most sense to meet your needs. Adobe Acrobat is an option, but it's also expensive. Here's what you could do, and what I do instead.
Use Adobe Acrobat Pro
If you do want to buy the full Acrobat program for reasons beyond the password protection, Adobe Acrobat Standard is no longer available as a lifetime purchase, so you'd have to pay for a monthly or annual subscription. Acrobat Standard costs $22.99 on a monthly basis, $12.99 per month for a one-year commitment, and $155.88 if billed upfront for an entire year. Both Standard and Pro support password protection, so you can save yourself a few dollars by going with the cheaper plan.
(Credit: PCMag / Adobe)If you need a password just one time or for the next several days, snag a free seven-day trial to Acrobat Pro. The only hitch here is that you’ll have to supply your credit card information to download the free trial. Just remember to cancel before the seven days are up or you’ll be charged $19.99 plus tax for the full month.
(Credit: PCMag / Adobe)To password protect a PDF, open the document in Acrobat, then click Menu > Protect Using Password. In the pop-up menu, select Viewing if you want the recipient to only view the document or Editing if you want them to have editing privileges. In most cases, you'll want to enable a password for viewing. Make your selection, then add a strong password in the appropriate fields. The program will measure the strength of your password. Click Apply to save your password.
(Credit: PCMag / Adobe)Some documents, such as editable forms, may not be able to use password protection. The trick here is to save a copy of the file and then password protect the copy. To do this, click Menu > Save as other, and then select one of the other PDF types.
(Credit: PCMag / Adobe)Name the copy something different from the original, then open it in Acrobat and try the password-protect option again. After you password protect the file, you should receive a message telling you that it was successfully protected.
(Credit: PCMag / Adobe)Now when someone wants to gain access to the document, they can open it in Adobe Reader, Adobe Acrobat, or another PDF reader. They'll receive a prompt asking for the password. Once it's entered, the contents of the document will be available.
(Credit: PCMag / Adobe)If you ever want to remove the password from the document, open the file in Acrobat and enter the password. Click Menu > Protection > Security Properties. Click the Security Method drop-down menu and change it from Password Security to No Security. Click OK and then OK again. Resave the file, and the password will be removed.
(Credit: PCMag / Adobe)Use PDFEncrypt
A free, open-source alternative to Acrobat is PDFEncrypt, which offers a simple yet effective way to password protect a PDF. The basic interface asks you to choose the file you wish to encrypt. Enter a password and click Encrypt. The protected version is renamed with the word "encrypted" at the end. A Settings screen offers more options, such as the ability to allow printing, copying, and other actions.
(Credit: PCMag / PDFEncrypt)Use PDF24
Another free PDF application is PDF24 Creator, which offers a host of tools and grants you the ability to edit, merge, split, convert, compress, protect, and unlock a PDF. To encrypt a file from the main toolbox screen, click Protect PDF. Select the file or drag it onto the screen, create a password, and then click Protect PDF files. You can then save the protected file, ideally with a different name than the original. The developer also offers the PDF24 Tools website.
(Credit: PCMag / Adobe)Use CleverPDF
CleverPDF, another website, offers a wide variety of tools to password-protect a document. At the website, click Encrypt PDF. Browse to or drag and drop the file you wish to encrypt. Check Require a password to open this document to enable password protection. You can also check Restrict editing, copying and printing with owner password to limit editing, copying, and printing permissions. Click Start conversion, then Download to save the encrypted version to your computer.
(Credit: PCMag / Adobe)How to Share an Encryption Password
Now that your document has been encrypted, you'll need a way to securely share the password with the recipient. You don’t want to send it in a regular email or text message, since these aren't exactly secure methods. So what are you supposed to do?
There are certain email platforms that will encrypt an email. If you decide to send the password over a text message, make sure the messaging app uses encryption to protect the data. If this is all too much, you can always share the password over a phone call, though even here you should ensure that the call is encrypted.