How to Password Protect and Redact PDFs

PDF security involves two different concepts: encryption and redaction.

Encryption (password protection) prevents unauthorized access. Set a user password to restrict opening, and an owner password for permissions control. PDF Tools Pro uses 256-bit AES encryption.

Redaction permanently removes sensitive information. Unlike drawing a black box (which can be removed), proper redaction deletes the underlying text from the PDF's content stream. Our tool uses pikepdf for true redaction.