How to password protect a PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader and shield your sensitive data

• To password protect a PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader, you'll need the paid Pro version, which starts at $14.99 a month.
• You can password protect a PDF in Adobe Reader by clicking the shield icon in the Acrobat tools sidebar and selecting "Protect using password."
• When you password protect a PDF, you keep documents like tax filings and medical records safe on your computer and when sharing them with others.

If you're like most people, you probably store a lot of your essential files on your computer as a PDF.

Our computers may be secure, but they're not entirely invulnerable to prying eyes. You could accidentally download spyware or some other virus, or you could lose your laptop, and all of that information would be vulnerable to being stolen.

If you're worried about somebody gaining access to your information, you can add an extra layer of protection to those documents by password protecting those PDFs with Adobe Acrobat. Unfortunately, this feature is not free and is only available on the paid version of Acrobat Pro.

You can purchase for a month or keep renewing, depending on your needs. But once you have it, you'll have the ability to keep your PDFs secure from prying eyes.

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Apple Macbook Pro (From $1,299.00 at Apple)

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How to password protect your PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Pro

1. Open the PDF you want to protect in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

2. In the right sidebar, click the shield icon labeled "Protect."

3. At the top of the document, click the option that reads "Protect using password."

4. Choose between preventing people from viewing your document or just blocking edits.

5. Set your password.

6. Click "Apply" to finish.

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