How to encrypt a PDF file for email and send it secured

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 the 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 that only the people you send the file have access to the contents of the document.

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

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

How can I encrypt PDF documents for emails?

1. Encrypt the PDF with using Adobe software

1. Open your document in Adobe Acrobat DC, then click on File and select Password Protect.
2. Now, select if you want to protect the file for viewing or editing, enter the password, and click on the Apply button.

Acrobat created the original PDF software for the Portable Document Format. That is why their solution has remained the world’s foremost PDF software ever since the early 1990s, thanks to its comprehensive options and tools for converting, editing, signing, and sharing PDF files.

This tool is one of the best software to secure PDF files with. However, you can also select alternative advanced encryption and compatibility settings for the PDF files.

Other useful features of this software:

• It enables users to compress PDF files
• Users can split PDF files with Acrobat’s Split tool
• Acrobat’s Prepare Form utility enables users to set up fillable forms
• Includes a Compare Tool with which users can compare PDF document text

Adobe Acrobat DC

Easily encrypt and send your PDF files using email by taking advantage of the amazing capabilities of this software.

2. Archive the PDF document with a compression tool

1. Open WinZip and click Create/Share on the top options.
2. Activate the Encrypt option in the right Actions menu.
3. Place your file into the center window. The set your password window will appear.
4. After setting your password, you also will need to activate the encryption setting

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.

The best compression tools on 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.

3. Encrypt PDFs using an online tool

1. First, open the Password Protect PDF dedicated webpage to use the app.
2. Click the Choose File button to select a PDF to encrypt.
3. Then enter a password for the PDF document.
4. Press the Encrypt PDF button.
5. Then press the Download button to save the encrypted document to your PC.

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

4. Send secure emails by using browser extensions

1. To send secure emails for PDF attachments with Gmail, click the Add to Chrome button on the SendSafely extension page.
2. Next, click the extension button on Chrome’s toolbar.
3. Click the Register Now for Free button to establish an account.
4. With an account established, input your access credentials, and click the Go button.
5. Click the Google Mail Integration button to enable Gmail integration.
6. Open Gmail within a browser.
7. Click the Compose button in Gmail.
8. Then toggle the Message Encryption option on.
9. Alternatively, you can click the Upload button within Gmail’s message editor to encrypt PDF file attachments only.

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.

5. 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 with the best-encrypted webmails to use right now.

If you also need PDF attachment messages encrypted, you can also register 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.

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