Check the document's access.
Open the PDF, then choose Tools → Passwords. The panel shows whether you can edit page content, add comments, fill fields, rearrange pages, export text and pictures, or print. A PDF can open for reading while still restricting some of these actions.
Use owner access when you need it.
If the document restricts an action, choose Enter owner password. This is the PDF owner's permissions password. It may be different from the password that opens the document, and it is separate from your Windows sign-in password.
Pagekind checks the password before changing your access. Your current tab, page and Undo history stay in place. Cancelling or entering an incorrect password keeps your existing access. A reading password will not grant owner access; ask the owner for the right password or an editable original.
Keep the original protection while editing.
Supported page, image, form, comment and OCR edits retain the original reading password, owner password and PDF permission settings. Pagekind checks the saved security settings before publishing the edited working copy. Choose Save a copy when you are ready. Your source PDF stays unchanged.
Some text and conversation tools require an unencrypted original. Unusual encryption filters and metadata exclusions are refused when Pagekind cannot retain them safely. The preview does not support certificate encryption or rights-management services.
Print at the allowed quality.
A document may allow normal printing, limit printing to 150 DPI, or disable it. The Print panel explains the restriction and limits the available quality settings. Open password settings takes you back to owner access. Printed pages and print files do not carry a PDF opening password.
Change protection deliberately.
With owner access, enter and repeat a new opening password, then choose Protect this document. This explicitly replaces the working copy's password settings. Remove password makes an unlocked working copy. Save a copy to keep that result as a file.
An exported redacted image copy also has no PDF password, so exporting one from an encrypted document requires owner access. Ordinary exports require the document's copying permission. Keep new files somewhere appropriate for their contents.
Choose reading and owner passwords.
Open Owner password and permissions (optional), then explicitly turn on Use separate owner password and permissions. Opening the section alone changes nothing. All reading permissions start allowed.
Enter and repeat a separate owner password. Keep Require a password to open the PDF on to use the reading password above. Turn it off only when anyone should be able to open the saved copy. The owner password still controls restricted actions.
Choose no printing, up to 150 DPI, or normal print quality. Choose copying, content editing, comments, form filling and page organization. Content editing includes page organization; comments include form filling, so those linked choices stay enabled together. Screen reader access stays allowed.
Creating or changing form fields requires both Edit page content and Add or change comments. Filling an existing field is a separate permission. Signed form structures cannot be redesigned.
Choose Apply password settings. Pagekind checks both new passwords and the actual saved permissions before accepting the working copy. Your current tab retains owner access, and Undo restores its earlier protection. Save a copy when ready. After a restart, owner access must be verified again.
Use different reading and owner passwords. A password must fit within 127 normalized UTF-8 bytes; characters can use more than one byte. Invalid or overlong passwords are refused, with the entered choices kept for correction. Signed or unchecked structures are refused before password changes.
Understand a restriction before typing.
Tool search and supported tool panels explain when owner access is needed. Supported protected text and paragraphs can be edited while keeping their original passwords and permissions. If your reading access restricts editing, choose Enter owner password in the text tool. Signed structures and unsupported security policies stay read-only. Selecting text never removes protection.
After restarting.
PDF passwords are held in memory for the current session, not written into Pagekind's workspace records. Reopened or recovered protected PDFs may ask for their password again. Keep passwords somewhere safe; Pagekind cannot recover a forgotten password.
Available in the 0.65.0 engineering preview. Permission support is separate from certificate-signature validation and PDF accessibility certification.