Managing large volumes of PDFs can be a challenge—especially when each document needs to be individually secured with a password. But what if you could let the document secure itself?
We’re excited to introduce a new feature that allows you to use text from within a PDF—such as an invoice number, customer ID, or name—as the password (or part of the password) for that file. This is especially powerful when you’re batch processing multiple PDFs, and each one requires a unique password based on its contents.
Why This Matters
Traditionally, password-protecting PDFs in bulk required external data sources, manual input, or the same password for every file—none of which are ideal when you’re handling sensitive, personalized documents. Our new feature solves this by letting the content within each PDF drive its own security.
Real-World Use Cases
Invoices: Automatically set each PDF’s password to the invoice number or customer ID printed within the file.
Payslips: Use the employee’s name or employee ID from inside the document as the password.
Statements: Secure bank or utility statements using account numbers embedded within each PDF.
Certificates: Protect certificates or official documents using candidate names or registration numbers.
How It Works
To get started, open All-About-PDF and click on the “Protect” tile as usual. Then, select the file—or an entire folder—you want to password-protect. You can also use wildcards to target multiple specific files in one go. e.g Invoice10*.pdf
Next, click the “Select” button to load a preview of the PDF. This lets you visually choose the area of the document from which the password text will be extracted.
You can prepend or append custom text to the extracted content to create a more complex password. For example:
mypwd{{32.08,738.53,106.11,743.47,1}}!Just make sure not to edit the text within the double curly braces {{ }}, as this defines the coordinates and page of the text to extract.
Repeat this step for both the User and Owner passwords as needed. Once you’re done setting permissions, click “GO” to apply password protection to all selected documents.
It’s that easy. It’s flexible, scalable, and eliminates the need for separate spreadsheets or manual password assignment.
A Smarter, Safer Workflow
This feature doesn’t just save time—it helps reduce errors, improve personalization, and strengthen document security. Whether you’re a financial institution, HR department, school, or business sending sensitive documents, this new capability brings smarter automation to your PDF workflows.
Try it today and see how easy and secure batch processing can be.
