PDF permission restrictions let you control what recipients can do with your document — without requiring them to enter a password just to open it. They can read the document freely, but cannot edit, print, or copy text without your authorisation.

Two Types of PDF Protection

Open password protection

Requires a password to open the file at all. Without the correct password, the PDF cannot be viewed.

Use when: The document contains sensitive information that only specific people should be able to read.

Permission restrictions (no open password required)

The PDF opens normally, but specific operations are blocked. The recipient can read the document but cannot edit it, copy text, print it, or perform other restricted actions.

Use when: The document can be read by the recipient, but you want to control what they can do with it.

These two types can be combined — a PDF can require an open password AND have permission restrictions.

What Permissions Can You Restrict?

| Permission | Effect when restricted | |---|---| | Printing | Print option is greyed out in the PDF viewer | | Copying text | Text cannot be selected or copied | | Editing | Document cannot be modified | | Form filling | Form fields are locked | | Commenting/annotations | Adding notes and markup is disabled | | Extracting pages | Pages cannot be extracted using standard tools |

How to Add Permission Restrictions

  1. Go to Protect PDF
  2. Upload your PDF
  3. Select the permissions you want to restrict
  4. Set an owner password (used by the creator to later remove restrictions)
  5. Optionally: add an open password if you want to require a password to open the file
  6. Download the protected PDF

Keep the owner password. You will need it to modify or remove restrictions later. There is no recovery mechanism if it is lost.

Removing Permission Restrictions

If you own the document and need to remove restrictions to edit or convert it:

  1. Go to Unlock PDF
  2. Upload the restricted PDF
  3. Enter the owner password
  4. Download the unrestricted version

Without the owner password, permissions-restricted PDFs can sometimes be unlocked using specialised tools — but this is not guaranteed on PDFs with strong AES-256 encryption.

The Limits of PDF Restrictions

PDF permission restrictions rely on compliant PDF viewers (Adobe Reader, browser PDF viewers, Foxit) to enforce them. These viewers respect the restrictions as a matter of design.

However:

  • A determined person can take screenshots of each page
  • Third-party tools exist that can strip permission restrictions
  • The restrictions do not prevent someone from retyping visible content

Permission restrictions are appropriate for reducing casual misuse of documents — preventing accidental editing, making clear what is allowed, and creating an audit trail of intent. They are not suitable as the sole protection for truly sensitive or proprietary content.

For strong protection, combine restrictions with an open password and consider additional access controls for sensitive documents.

Related guides: How to Password Protect a PDF · PDF Encryption Explained