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Participant
July 27, 2016
Question

How do I combine and encrypt files without Acrobat DC?

  • July 27, 2016
  • 3 replies
  • 622 views

Is it necessary to purchase Acrobat DC in order to 1. Combine several pdf items into one, and 2. Encrypt with a password?  I am trying to do both, and the instructions are leading me to purchase a monthly subscription.  The "help" answers talk about choosing options that do not exist on my Acrobat Adobe!

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3 replies

Participant
July 27, 2016

What Acrobat product would allow me to do both combining and encryption?

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 27, 2016

Any version of Acrobat (except for Acrobat Reader) can do that.

Participant
July 27, 2016

Thanks.  I now know what I need to do.

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 27, 2016

If you want to do it using Adobe software, then yes, you need Acrobat for that.

Inspiring
July 27, 2016

Reader has always been free and is used to encourage users to either upgrade or purchase Acrobat or Acrobat like services.

This is a forum paid for by Adobe, so there is a bias toward Adobe products.

PDF Labs for years has provided PDFtk, PDF Toolkit, that can do what you are asking for. For free  you can get the PDFtk server that will allow to do what you want by using the Windows  command line. There is a GUI for free but it only allows one to combine PDF files. They also offer a Professional version for a fee that can add passwords to the PDF but not certificate or policy security features.