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Password-protect a PDF in Preview on Mac
You can give a PDF a password that everyone must enter to open the file. The password is used to encrypt the file.
![A password-protected PDF that shows a lock icon and a text field for entering the password to open the file.](https://help.apple.com/assets/5FDCF672DE9F1523485DF641/5FDCF673DE9F1523485DF648/en_US/1431d213307d5f7f7ab924636a1ca3ce.png)
In the Preview app
on your Mac, open the PDF that you want to password-protect.
Choose File > Export, then select Encrypt.
You can also enter a new name for the PDF if you want to create a passworded copy and keep the original PDF unencrypted.
Type a password, then retype it to verify the password.
Click Save.
To remove a password from a PDF that you encrypted, open the PDF and export it again, this time turning off the encryption option.