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Feb 10, 2016 9:44 AM UTC
Question

Can we Password protect PDF files from Command Line?

Hi All,

I have a requirement where I need to password protect PDF files in background task. I have an option to call external OS commands from my system to run the tool on specific file.

Does Adobe Acrobat DC help in this? Can we execute from command line and make a PDF password protected?

Kindly advice,

Thank you,

Pallavi

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5 replies

Inspiring
Feb 10, 2016 10:53 PM UTC

Look at the Actions feature in Acrobat XI and DC. You can't run it from the command line but from within Acrobat you can use it to batch-encrypt PDFs or to encrypt one PDF with a pre-determined password.

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Bernd Alheit
Community Expert
Community Expert
Feb 10, 2016 11:17 AM UTC

Adobe Acrobat doesn't have a command line option for this.

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d_logaan
Inspiring
Aug 30, 2023 1:21 PM UTC

Wow.  For what we pay for Adobe, there's no option to automate this task because there's no CLI.  Absolutely ridiculous.

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try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
Aug 30, 2023 1:29 PM UTC

Is Word a command-line utility? Is Photoshop? Chrome?

Can you name any major application that is, beyond some basic commands like specifying a file-path or a URL to open? None of these applications offer such an interface.

A command-line utility is a very specialized type of tool, different from a GUI-based one, and usually developed for a more automated workflow. Such tools are usually developed for enterprise customers, not the general market.

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