Free PDF Protector 4dots- How to Use

How to password protect a pdf

At first, you have to specify which PDF Documents to protect.

This can be done easily in many ways. Press the "Add File" button to add select one or more PDF Documents, or press the "Add Folder" button to select an entire Folder and add all the PDF Documents that are in this folder.

Alternatively, you can simply right click on the PDF Documents in Windows Explorer and select "Encrypt PDF" from the context menu. In order to do this, you should have checked the option "Integrate with Windows Explorer" during the installation.

Another easy way to add PDF Documents is to drag and drop them on the application window.

After having selected which PDF Documents to protect, you have to choose the user password that is required for opening the PDF documents and the owner password that is required for the various permissions regarding the PDF Documents such as content copying, high-resolution printing, modifying e.t.c.

You can also specify to password protect pdf using 128bits or 40bits encryption.

Also, it is possible to set the document information and metadata by pressing the "Document Info" button and specifying there the author, subject, title, and keywords of the PDF documents.

After having done that, press the "Protect" button to batch password protect pdf files instantly.

In the end, Windows Explorer will open automatically with the protected documents having being selected.

It is also possible to specify the output folder of the protected PDF Documents. If it is selected to be the same as the documents folder then the protected document will have the same filename as the original document but will end with "_protected.pdf". If another folder is specified then the protected pdf document will have the same filename as the original one.

You can also choose to overwrite the original documents or to create the protected PDF documents in a subfolder of their original folder.

For example, you can specify to create them in a subfolder "protected". Free PDF Protector 4dots remembers your last five output folder options.

How to import a list of PDF documents

You can also import a list of document to password protect pdf.

To do so, create a text file listing all PDF files to be protected, one PDF file or folder on each line.

If your PDF file or folder requires a user password (for opening) write in a line the PDF file or folder and a comma and the password.

For example :

"c:\invoices\invoice1.pdf",MY_PASSWORD
"c:\invoices\invoices January",JANUARY_PASSWORD
"c:\invoices\invoice2.pdf"


How to import CSV file

You can also import CSV files, to do that press the "Import" button of the toolbar and specify the CSV file.

The format that the CSV file should have is :

Filepath,Existing User Password,New User Password,New Owner Password

How to import from Excel

To import from Excel, save the Excel file as a CSV file and then import CSV from the application.

One the first column should be the filepath of the PDF document, on the second column the existing user password, one the third the new user password and on the fourth column of the Excel file should be the new owner password.

How to use Free PDF Protector 4dots from the Command Line (for inclusion in scripts e.t.c.)

Read here command line usage

How to change user interface language

When the application is first started it asks you for your desired user interface language.

You can also change the user interface language from the "Language" menu.

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