Secure PDF files

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One of the things that make PDF one of the most popular formats is its security aspect. You can encrypt your PDFs and secure them with a password, and you can even digitally sign PDF files. Read on to find out more about the security options that the PDF format has to offer. 

Secure PDF files with a password

When handling documents with sensitive data like, for example, invoices, contracts and official documents, it is recommendable to share them as PDF. One reason being that you can secure them with a password and select from a variety of options what the recipient is allowed to do with the file, for example open, print or edit it. 

 

 

A simple and quick way to add a password to PDF files or to even remove a password from PDFs is via our online tools. With PDFCreator Online, you can secure your PDF files directly in your browser.

 

 

 

Another easy way to add a password to your PDF files is with a PDF converter like e.g. PDFCreator. Here a distinction is being made between an 'owner password', which you need for editing a file and a 'user password', which is needed for opening a PDF file. The passwords are encrypted before they are stored by PDFCreator. Encryption prevents unauthorized copying of information contained in the PDF. To ensure that your password is secure, PDFCreator will indicate during password creation whether you have chosen a weak or a strong password.

Create digital signatures for PDF files

A PDF converter tool like e.g. PDFCreator allows you to sign PDF files digitally. This helps to verify the identity of the sender and to ensure that the document has not been modified after signing. Digital signatures can, for example, be created at CAcert.org , which is a community-driven Certificate Authority.

Once you have created your digital signature, PDFCreator offers various options for displaying the signature at the preferred place in your PDF file and makes it easy to define the size of the signature.

If you are interested in learning more about securing your PDF files we recommend to read our article Understanding PDF security.