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To password-protect a PDF in Word, use the desktop app’s PDF export options and select Encrypt the document with a password. Enter and confirm a password, save the PDF, then reopen it to check that it asks for the password. Microsoft documents this option for desktop Word, including Microsoft 365, Word 2021, Word 2019 and Word 2016.
Protect a PDF with a password in desktop Word
- Open your document in the desktop version of Word.
- Go to File > Save As or File > Save a Copy, choose where to save it, and set the file type to PDF.
- Open More Options > Options. The exact controls may vary by Word version.
- Select Encrypt the document with a password, then confirm the PDF options.
- In the Encrypt PDF Document box, enter a password and enter it again to confirm.
- Save the PDF. Close it and open it again to verify that it prompts for the password.
Microsoft’s PDF export instructions describe the password option as a way to restrict opening to people who know the password.
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What the password does—and does not—protect
This export setting requires a password to open the PDF. It does not mean that someone who can open the file is necessarily prevented from copying or editing its contents. A PDF is not automatically uneditable: Microsoft notes that programs including Word can open and edit PDFs. See Microsoft’s guidance on editing PDF content in Word.
If your goal is to restrict changes or copying after a recipient opens the file, do not treat an opening password as a guarantee of those restrictions.
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Can Word for the web add a password to a PDF?
Word for the web can save or download a document as a PDF, but Microsoft’s described web export flow does not include the desktop option to encrypt the PDF with a password. Use the desktop app for the documented export-password setting. Microsoft also says Word Online cannot password-encrypt a Word document; its web guidance is at protect a document with a password.
Keep the password available to the people who need the file
Store the password somewhere safe and share it with intended recipients through an appropriate channel. If you forget a Word document password, Microsoft says Word cannot recover it unless an IT administrator had already implemented DocRecrypt. That guidance concerns Word documents; it does not establish a recovery method for a PDF password.
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When an organization’s existing protection carries over
In Microsoft’s described Microsoft 365 workflow on Windows, an existing sensitivity label and encryption applied to the Office source file carry over to the PDF. That organizational protection is distinct from setting a new password for opening the PDF during export. See Microsoft’s sensitivity-label guidance.
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Microsoft warns that, when using the online conversion route described in its accessibility guidance, Word files protected with an opening password are saved with that protection removed. If you need an opening password on the resulting PDF, use the desktop PDF export options instead. See Microsoft’s accessibility guidance.
Quick Recap
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