ALL PDF TOOLS37
PDF Permissions
Set PDF Permissions — Print, Copy, Edit
Write printing, editing and copying restrictions into a PDF — a stated intention a reader may honour, not a lock.
About PDF Permissions
Start with the part every other page about this leaves out. A PDF permission flag is not a lock. It is a value written into the document saying what the author intends to allow — printing, editing, copying text — and a well-behaved reader honours it by greying the menu items out. Nothing enforces it. A reader that does not care ignores it, and any tool that can open the file can clear the flags outright, which for a document that opens without a prompt means with no password at all. This site ships that tool one page over, at Unlock PDF. We would rather say so here than sell you the opposite. So what is this good for? The ordinary case, which is most cases: telling colleagues, and their software, that this copy is the read-only one — that the printable version is elsewhere, that the figures are not to be lifted into a slide deck, that this is not the file to edit. That is a real thing to communicate and it is what the flags were designed for. They stop accidents, not adversaries. Three controls are offered because three are all that do anything. Printing can be allowed in full, restricted to low resolution, or denied outright. Editing runs from everything allowed down through annotations, form filling and page assembly to nothing. Copying text and graphics can be denied. The accessibility flag the format also defines is deliberately not offered: at the encryption revision this tool writes, setting it changes the permission bits not at all, so a checkbox for it would be a control that does nothing — which is worse than an absent one. The document stays openable by anyone. The restrictions are written into the encryption dictionary alongside an owner password, with the user password left empty, and that is the shape that lets any reader open the file while still recording what it may do with it. If you want a document that will not open without a password, that is Protect PDF instead — it runs the same qpdf pass with the user password filled in. qpdf, compiled to WebAssembly, writes the file in your tab, and nothing is uploaded.
Questions
Can someone just ignore these restrictions?
Yes, and you should assume they will if they want to. Permission flags are advisory. A reader honours them by choice; one that does not care simply ignores them, and any tool that can open the document can clear them outright. For a document that opens without a prompt, that takes no password at all — this site's own Unlock PDF does it in one pass. Set these flags to say what you intend, not to enforce it.
Will the document still open without a password?
Yes — that is the shape this page writes. The restrictions go into the document's encryption dictionary alongside an owner password, and the user password is left empty, which is what lets any reader open the file while still recording what it may do with it. If you want a document that will not open without a password, use Protect PDF instead.
Why is there no control for screen readers or accessibility?
Because it would be a checkbox that does nothing. The format defines an accessibility-extraction flag, but at the encryption revision this tool writes, setting it leaves the permission bits exactly as they were — measured, byte for byte. A control that appears to restrict something and does not is worse than no control at all, so it is not offered.
What do the three printing options actually mean?
Full allows printing normally. Low allows printing but marks the document as degraded-resolution only, which a conforming reader honours by printing a coarse copy — the usual reason to reach for it is to allow a reference print while discouraging a clean reproduction. None denies printing altogether. All three are recorded as permission bits in the file, and all three depend on the reader choosing to respect them.
How is this different from Protect PDF?
Protect PDF sets a password the reader must type to open the document, and that part is real encryption. This page leaves the document openable by anyone and writes only the intention flags. Both run the same qpdf encryption pass over your file; the difference is whether the user password is filled in or left empty. If what you actually need is for people not to read the document, the flags are not the tool — the password is.
Is my file uploaded to a server?
No. Transmute processes everything locally in your browser using JavaScript and WebAssembly. Your files never leave your device — there is no server, no upload, no cloud processing.