Audience
Businesses searching for an open source native Windows app to encrypt PDF files
About PDFEncrypt
PDFEncrypt is a free, open source utility to encrypt PDF files using standard PDF encryption algorithms. When a document is encrypted, its contents become unreadable. An authorized user can decrypt the document to obtain access to the contents. If a PDF document is encrypted with a password, the user must specify the password before the document can be viewed in Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat. PDFEncrypt provides a means to encrypt any standard PDF document for free, without the need to purchase the Adobe Acrobat software or upload your confidential PDF files to a third-party server for encryption. The app runs directly on your Windows PC and allows you to specify a password (required to open the document) as well as many options and permissions to apply to the PDF file.
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pdfRest is a REST API for high-volume PDF processing, built on the Adobe PDF Library. Call it from any language to convert, generate, extract, secure, and prepare PDFs in production pipelines, chaining calls by passing a resource ID between steps.
Convert Office, HTML, images, email, and Markdown to PDF, and PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images, Markdown, PDF/A, PDF/X, and PostScript. Generate PDFs from scratch with text, images, shapes, and attachments, with accessibility tagging. Extract via OCR, text/image extraction, form data, metadata, AI summarization, translation. Secure with signing, encryption, restrictions, watermarking, two-step redaction, and TDM Reserve to opt out of AI training. Handle prepress: color conversion, transparency flattening, page boxes, rasterization. Manage forms: import/export, flatten, XFA-to-AcroForm.
Deploy on pdfRest Cloud (US or EU) or self-host via Docker, Kubernetes, or AWS Marketplace (BYOL) — same API, same code, just change the base URL.
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PDFill
Please try PDFill if you're looking for an inexpensive alternative to Adobe Acrobat. You can use the Free PDF Writer to create free PDF or Image from any printable application. You can use the Free PDF Tools to merge, split, reorder, delete, encrypt, decrypt, rotate, crop and reformat PDF pages, add information/header/footer/watermark, convert image to PDF or PDF to image, scan a Paper to PDF, and more. You can use the FREE PDF Editor to fill the form, type text, comment, create form, and more. Besides, with a fraction of the cost of Adobe Acrobat, PDFill PDF Editor can do more than the free Adobe Reader. Group texts, shapes or pictures into a complicated object. Lock the object from editing. Save the PDFill Object and use it later easily. Scan your paper form or photo directly into a new or existing PDF document, then you can fill it in using a computer!
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Adobe PDF Library SDK
Adobe PDF Library is the only commercial PDF SDK built on Adobe Acrobat's own core engine, delivering the same rendering accuracy, PDF spec coverage, and behavior as Acrobat itself.
Available in Modern C++, Adobe C/C++, .NET, .NET Framework, and Java, and supported on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Create, edit, merge, split, annotate, and watermark PDFs programmatically; convert to and from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF/A, PDF/X, and more; add OCR, digital signatures, redaction, and encryption; and process AcroForms and XFA forms.
SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, with a 91% customer retention rate among enterprise users.
For enterprise deployment, the pdfRest API Toolkit Container packages this technology as a self hosted REST API for on premises, private cloud, or hybrid environments.
Datalogics also offers Scout, an AI assistant, and an MCP server so teams can bring PDF capabilities into AI powered workflows.
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PDFCreator
PDFCreator automates document output for Windows-based business environments, handling the full creation pipeline from conversion to delivery. It converts print output from any application into PDF, JPG, PNG, or TIF using a virtual printer driver, with no changes to existing workflows required.
Businesses use PDFCreator to automate repetitive document tasks: output is captured, formatted, named, secured, and routed based on configurable profiles. Use cases include automated report generation, batch document processing, and compliant document delivery in regulated industries.
Key capabilities: encryption, password protection, digital signing, watermarking, MSI deployment, GPO support, and centralized profile management. Compatible with Word, Excel, web browsers, ERP systems, and any Windows print-enabled application.
Available in a free edition for individual, non-commercial use and three paid editions for business, terminal server, and enterprise deployments.
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Pricing
Starting Price:
Free
Free Version:
Free Version available.
Integrations
Company Information
PDFEncrypt
pdfencrypt.net
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Product Details
Platforms Supported
Windows
Support
Online
