Password protect a PDF
A password protected PDF is the most convenient way to hand a document over: the recipient needs nothing but the PDF reader they already have. Loclavis creates it locally in your browser, without sending the PDF anywhere.
What the recipient sees
They open the PDF like any other, get asked for the password, and then see the document. This works in Adobe Reader, in macOS Preview and in the PDF viewers built into modern browsers. Loclavis uses AES-256, the encryption standard defined by current PDF versions.
Why the password matters more here
For a PDF, the standard dictates how the key is derived, and that is considerably faster to attack than the scheme used in the protected Loclavis format. So on this path Loclavis requires at least twelve characters from three different character classes. If your password does not qualify, the app either offers to generate a secure one or to save the file as a protected file instead.
If your PDF is a special one
PDF/A documents and electronic invoices in the ZUGFeRD or Factur-X formats contain structures that later encryption can damage. Loclavis detects those and stores them unchanged inside a protected file instead. The original is preserved byte for byte.
Very large PDFs
Native PDF encryption has to process the document as a whole. From roughly 50 MB upwards Loclavis therefore suggests the memory friendly route through a protected file. You can still choose the PDF variant if being directly openable matters more to you.
What a password protected PDF does not do
It protects the contents from being opened, not from being passed on. Anyone who knows the password can copy the contents and forward them. Permissions such as a print restriction can technically be set in PDF, but many programs ignore them easily, so Loclavis promises nothing about them.