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How to Encrypt a PDF File for Email [6 Ways]

We gathered great encrypting solutions to keep your PDFs safe

7 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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Key notes

Portable Document Format is among the most universal file formats, along with the ones from Microsoft Office.

Millions of users save their documents as PDF documents, so they can easily share and exchange them with colleagues irrespective of hardware and operating systems.

How can encrypting PDF files help you?

Some users need to secure PDF files with password encryption before sharing them via email for security reasons.

That’s because there have been many situations where the inboxes were hijacked and the data has been stolen.

It’s also a good precaution if someone else has access to the email of the recipient. This way, you ensure only the people you send the file have access to the contents of the document. Not only that, anybody can encrypt a PDF for Gmail or other email providers using suitable methods.

You can even protect a file for editing, thus making sure that the recipient cannot alter the information in the document.

VariousPDF software packagesenable users to apply password encryption to PDF files. There are also a few ways you can encrypt PDF documents without PDF software.

If you don’t know how to password-protect a PDF in Gmail or encrypt a PDF file for email for free, then keep on reading. The guide below will help you secure your files on different platforms, including Windows, Mac, or Outlook.

How can I encrypt PDF documents for emails?

1. Encrypt the PDF using Soda PDF

This tool is one of the best software to secure PDF files with so you don’t have to worry about compromising any information.

Otheruseful featuresof this software:

⇒Get Soda PDF

2.Encrypt the PDF so it cannot be shared using Locklizard

Locklizard provides the ultimate in PDF protection enabling youto securely share PDF documentsvia email with others.

You can control who can open your PDF files and how they can be used. Its one major advantage is that it does not use passwords to protect PDFs.

The main issue with password protecting PDF files is that users need to know the password to open the PDF you send them. You, therefore, have to:

Locklizard solves all of the above with a transparent key licensing system and DRM controls that are part of the PDF document.

There are no passwords to distribute, enter or remove, and PDF documents are locked to authorized users’ devices so they cannot be shared.

Locklizard uses a wide range of DRM controls to prevent users from copying, pasting, editing, printing, and screenshotting document content.

Any watermarks you add are permanent (unlike those added with a PDF editor they cannot be easily removed) and you can automatically expire PDFs and instantly revoke access.

You can also track when your PDF files are viewed and printed and apply a lot of other mechanisms to protect your PDF.

Let’s go through some of itsbest features:

Locklizard

3. Archive the PDF document with a compression tool

We showed you an example of how to protect the archive with a password using WinZip, but you can do that with many other compression tools.

Alternatively, you may secure a PDF by archiving it. Just use a dedicated file archiving tool that will help you quickly compress and archive your documents and keep your data private.

Thebest compression toolson the market include some sort of file encryption features and many let you create password-protected files.

These utilities are usually lightweight and intuitive. They generally support all major compression formats such as RAR, ZIP, ARJ, or TAR.

To encrypt your PDF file with this type of utility, you just have to select what type of compressed file you want to create.

Then set up a password, wait for the process to finish, and add your file to the email as you would with any other attachment.

4. Encrypt PDFs using an online tool

You can use this online tool to password protect a PDF with an extremely simple and quick procedure described in the steps above.

5. Send secure emails by using browser extensions

Yes, you can also use a simple browser extension to send encrypted mail messages. At least the extension recommended above does this job perfectly so try it.

6. Send the attachment’s message with an encrypted email service

There are also numerous encrypted webmail services with which users can send PDF attachment emails more securely without needing additional extensions.

You don’t have to look any further because we have an excellent list withthe best-encrypted webmailsto use right now.

If you also need PDF attachment messages encrypted, you can simplyregister with an encrypted webmail service.

That’s how you can encrypt PDF files for emails and send them more securely. If you happen to know any other solutions we didn’t cover or you’ve tested some of these solutions, leave us a comment below.

How to Encrypt a PDF File for Email [6 Ways]#

How can encrypting PDF files help you?#

How can I encrypt PDF documents for emails?#

1. Encrypt the PDF using Soda PDF#

2.Encrypt the PDF so it cannot be shared using Locklizard#

Locklizard#

3. Archive the PDF document with a compression tool#

4. Encrypt PDFs using an online tool#

5. Send secure emails by using browser extensions#

6. Send the attachment’s message with an encrypted email service#