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PDF Security

PDF Permissions Checker

Read the permission bits a PDF sets — and what they are really worth.

Processed locally in your browser. Your file is not uploaded to any server. How this works

  1. 01Add your file
  2. 02PDF Permissions Checker
  3. 03Download

Runs in your browser · nothing uploaded

About PDF permissions checker

PDF permissions are a set of bits in the file's encryption dictionary. Each one corresponds to an action: high-quality printing, degraded printing, copying text, modifying content, adding annotations, filling forms, extracting content for accessibility, assembling pages. This tool decodes every bit and reports it in plain language, so you can see exactly what a document claims to permit. The important part is what that claim means. These bits are not enforced by cryptography — they are conventions that a cooperative viewer chooses to respect. Adobe Reader greys out the print button because it agreed to; a different reader, a command-line utility or a script using a PDF library reads the same bits and can ignore them entirely. So this report tells you what a document requests, which is genuinely useful for auditing and for understanding why a file behaves oddly in one reader and not another. It does not tell you what someone with the file can actually do.

How to PDF permissions checker

  1. 01

    Load the PDF

    Any document. Files with no encryption dictionary have no permission bits at all, and the report will say so.

  2. 02

    Read each flag

    Printing, copying, modification, annotation, form filling, accessibility extraction and page assembly are listed individually.

  3. 03

    Check the password context

    The report notes whether the file has a user password, an owner password, or only an owner password — which changes how much the flags mean.

What this tool does

  • Every permission bit decoded individually, not collapsed into one "restricted" label
  • Distinguishes high-resolution printing from degraded-quality printing, which the format treats separately
  • Reports the accessibility-extraction bit, often the cause of screen-reader failures
  • States whether restrictions sit behind a user password or only an owner password
  • Explains, inline, that each flag is advisory rather than enforced

Limitations worth knowing

Every PDF tool has constraints. Stating them plainly is more useful than discovering them halfway through your work.

  • Permission flags are requests, not controls. This report shows what the file asks for; any viewer can disregard it.
  • A file with no encryption has no permission bits — absence of restrictions is not a finding, it is the default.
  • Cannot tell you which specific readers honour which flags; that varies by application and version.
  • Does not report the passwords themselves or their strength, only whether they are present.

How your file is handled

This tool runs entirely inside this browser tab. When you choose a file, your browser reads it from your own disk and hands the bytes to JavaScript running on this page — no network request carries your document anywhere. You can confirm that yourself: open your browser’s developer tools, switch to the Network panel, and run the tool. You will see no upload.

Nothing is stored after the fact. Closing or reloading this tab discards the file, the result and everything derived from them, because none of it ever left your machine. Read how local processing works.

Questions about PDF permissions checker

If a PDF says printing is not allowed, why can some apps print it anyway?

Because the flag is a request. Nothing in an unencrypted-content PDF prevents printing; a reader honours the bit voluntarily. Readers that ignore it are not defeating a security mechanism, they are declining a courtesy.

Why does the report mention an owner password?

Because it determines the weight of everything else. A user password keeps content encrypted. An owner password only guards the permission settings — the document still opens for anyone, so the restrictions are the weakest kind.

How do I actually stop someone printing or copying a document?

With a PDF, you largely cannot. Encrypt it with a user password so only intended recipients can open it, and accept that once someone can read a page they can copy it. Permission flags communicate intent; they do not enforce it.

My screen reader will not read a document. Is a flag responsible?

Quite possibly. The content-extraction-for-accessibility bit is sometimes cleared by tools applying blanket restrictions. This report will show whether it is set on your file.

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