PDF Permissions

This tool writes reader permissions into a PDF: whether it may be printed, whether its text may be selected and copied, and how far a reader may go in changing it. You get back a copy of the document carrying those settings, with every page, font and image untouched.

It is the tool to reach for when a document should circulate freely but you want to state plainly how it is meant to be used, for example a report that people may read and print but not lift text out of, or a draft that reviewers may comment on but not edit.

A PDF can only carry permissions if it is encrypted. There is nowhere else in the file for them to live, so setting permissions always produces an encrypted document. That sounds heavier than it is.

The user password stays empty, which means the file opens with no prompt, exactly as before. What the encryption adds is a recorded statement of what a reader may do, plus an owner password that gates changing that statement. Without an owner password there would be no encryption, and therefore no permissions, which is why the field is required.

Printing allows or blocks sending the document to a printer. Copying allows or blocks selecting text and pulling it out of the document.

Changes is a ladder with three rungs. None makes the document read only. Annotations only lets a reviewer comment and highlight without touching the content, which is what most review workflows actually want. Anything permits full editing.

There is no fourth state in which editing is allowed but commenting is not, because the permission bits cannot express it. A tool that offers you that checkbox is not telling you the truth about the format.

It is worth being blunt about this, because plenty of tools are not. Permission bits ask a reader to behave. They do not enforce anything, and they cannot: the content is right there in the file, and any program willing to look can read it. That is also why the companion remove-restrictions tool works without a password.

Use permissions to tell people what you intend. Use a real password, via the PDF protect tool, when the content must be withheld from anyone who does not have it.

The document and the owner password stay on your device. The rewrite happens in the browser with QPDF compiled to WebAssembly, so the only copy of the result is the one you download.