API Tools PDF Security API

PDF Security API

Protect sensitive documents with an easy-to-integrate PDF security API. Add password protection to PDFs, disable printing, and restrict text copying.

Why Nutrient DWS API?

SOC 2 Compliant

Build the workflows you need without worrying about security. We don’t store any document data, and our API endpoints are served through encrypted connections.

Easy Integration

Get up and running in hours, not weeks. Access well-documented APIs and code samples that make integrating with your existing workflows a snap.

Robust and Flexible

With access to more than 30 tools, you can process one document in multiple ways by using API credits. Generate PDF from HTML, convert Word, Excel, PowerPoint and image files to PDF, and more.

Simple and Transparent Pricing

Select a package that suits your needs according to the number of credits you wish to spend. Each API tool and action has a specific credit cost.

Try It Out

This example protects the document with a password.

Use Your Free API Calls

Sign up and receive 100 credits for free, or log in to automatically add your API key to sample code. If you are not sure how credits are consumed read more in our pricing documentation , or check out this guide on calculating credit usage.

Add a File

Add a PDF named document.pdf to your project folder. You can also use our sample file. The file name is case sensitive. Make sure the file name matches the file name in the sample code.

Run the Code

Copy the code and run it from the same folder you added the files to. For more information, see our language-specific getting started guides.

View the Results

Open result.pdf in your project folder to view the results.

Shell Shell (Windows) Java C# JavaScript Python PHP HTTP

curl -X POST https://api.nutrient.io/build \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here" \
  -o result.pdf \
  --fail \
  -F document=@document.pdf \
  -F instructions='{
      "parts": [
        {
          "file": "document"
        }
      ],
      "output": {
        "type": "pdf",
        "owner_password": "owner-password",
        "user_password": "user-password",
        "user_permissions": [
          "printing",
          "modification",
          "extract",
          "annotations_and_forms",
          "fill_forms",
          "extract_accessibility",
          "assemble",
          "print_high_quality"
        ]
      }
    }'

curl -X POST https://api.nutrient.io/build ^
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here" ^
  -o result.pdf ^
  --fail ^
  -F document=@document.pdf ^
  -F instructions="{\"parts\": [{\"file\": \"document\"}], \"output\": {\"type\": \"pdf\", \"owner_password\": \"owner-password\", \"user_password\": \"user-password\", \"user_permissions\": [\"printing\", \"modification\", \"extract\", \"annotations_and_forms\", \"fill_forms\", \"extract_accessibility\", \"assemble\", \"print_high_quality\"]}}"

package com.example.pspdfkit;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.FileSystems;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.StandardCopyOption;

import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONObject;

import okhttp3.MediaType;
import okhttp3.MultipartBody;
import okhttp3.OkHttpClient;
import okhttp3.Request;
import okhttp3.RequestBody;
import okhttp3.Response;

public final class PspdfkitApiExample {
  public static void main(final String[] args) throws IOException {
    final RequestBody body = new MultipartBody.Builder()
      .setType(MultipartBody.FORM)
      .addFormDataPart(
        "document",
        "document.pdf",
        RequestBody.create(
          MediaType.parse("application/pdf"),
          new File("document.pdf")
        )
      )
      .addFormDataPart(
        "instructions",
        new JSONObject()
          .put("parts", new JSONArray()
            .put(new JSONObject()
              .put("file", "document")
            )
          )
          .put("output", new JSONObject()
            .put("type", "pdf")
            .put("owner_password", "owner-password")
            .put("user_password", "user-password")
            .put("user_permissions", new JSONArray()
              .put("printing")
              .put("modification")
              .put("extract")
              .put("annotations_and_forms")
              .put("fill_forms")
              .put("extract_accessibility")
              .put("assemble")
              .put("print_high_quality")
            )
          ).toString()
      )
      .build();

    final Request request = new Request.Builder()
      .url("https://api.nutrient.io/build")
      .method("POST", body)
      .addHeader("Authorization", "Bearer your_api_key_here")
      .build();

    final OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient()
      .newBuilder()
      .build();

    final Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();

    if (response.isSuccessful()) {
      Files.copy(
        response.body().byteStream(),
        FileSystems.getDefault().getPath("result.pdf"),
        StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING
      );
    } else {
      // Handle the error
      throw new IOException(response.body().string());
    }
  }
}

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
using RestSharp;

namespace PspdfkitApiDemo
{
  class Program
  {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      var client = new RestClient("https://api.nutrient.io/build");

      var request = new RestRequest(Method.POST)
        .AddHeader("Authorization", "Bearer your_api_key_here")
        .AddFile("document", "document.pdf")
        .AddParameter("instructions", new JsonObject
        {
          ["parts"] = new JsonArray
          {
            new JsonObject
            {
              ["file"] = "document"
            }
          },
          ["output"] = new JsonObject
          {
            ["type"] = "pdf",
            ["owner_password"] = "owner-password",
            ["user_password"] = "user-password",
            ["user_permissions"] = new JsonArray
            {
              "printing",
              "modification",
              "extract",
              "annotations_and_forms",
              "fill_forms",
              "extract_accessibility",
              "assemble",
              "print_high_quality"
            }
          }
        }.ToString());

      request.AdvancedResponseWriter = (responseStream, response) =>
      {
        if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
        {
          using (responseStream)
          {
            using var outputFileWriter = File.OpenWrite("result.pdf");
            responseStream.CopyTo(outputFileWriter);
          }
        }
        else
        {
          var responseStreamReader = new StreamReader(responseStream);
          Console.Write(responseStreamReader.ReadToEnd());
        }
      };

      client.Execute(request);
    }
  }
}

// This code requires Node.js. Do not run this code directly in a web browser.

const axios = require('axios')
const FormData = require('form-data')
const fs = require('fs')

const formData = new FormData()
formData.append('instructions', JSON.stringify({
  parts: [
    {
      file: "document"
    }
  ],
  output: {
    type: "pdf",
    owner_password: "owner-password",
    user_password: "user-password",
    user_permissions: [
      "printing",
      "modification",
      "extract",
      "annotations_and_forms",
      "fill_forms",
      "extract_accessibility",
      "assemble",
      "print_high_quality"
    ]
  }
}))
formData.append('document', fs.createReadStream('document.pdf'))

;(async () => {
  try {
    const response = await axios.post('https://api.nutrient.io/build', formData, {
      headers: formData.getHeaders({
        'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
      }),
      responseType: "stream"
    })

    response.data.pipe(fs.createWriteStream("result.pdf"))
  } catch (e) {
    const errorString = await streamToString(e.response.data)
    console.log(errorString)
  }
})()

function streamToString(stream) {
  const chunks = []
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    stream.on("data", (chunk) => chunks.push(Buffer.from(chunk)))
    stream.on("error", (err) => reject(err))
    stream.on("end", () => resolve(Buffer.concat(chunks).toString("utf8")))
  })
}

import requests
import json

response = requests.request(
  'POST',
  'https://api.nutrient.io/build',
  headers = {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
  },
  files = {
    'document': open('document.pdf', 'rb')
  },
  data = {
    'instructions': json.dumps({
      'parts': [
        {
          'file': 'document'
        }
      ],
      'output': {
        'type': 'pdf',
        'owner_password': 'owner-password',
        'user_password': 'user-password',
        'user_permissions': [
          'printing',
          'modification',
          'extract',
          'annotations_and_forms',
          'fill_forms',
          'extract_accessibility',
          'assemble',
          'print_high_quality'
        ]
      }
    })
  },
  stream = True
)

if response.ok:
  with open('result.pdf', 'wb') as fd:
    for chunk in response.iter_content(chunk_size=8096):
      fd.write(chunk)
else:
  print(response.text)
  exit()

<?php

$FileHandle = fopen('result.pdf', 'w+');

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
  CURLOPT_URL => 'https://api.nutrient.io/build',
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'POST',
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => '',
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => array(
    'instructions' => '{
      "parts": [
        {
          "file": "document"
        }
      ],
      "output": {
        "type": "pdf",
        "owner_password": "owner-password",
        "user_password": "user-password",
        "user_permissions": [
          "printing",
          "modification",
          "extract",
          "annotations_and_forms",
          "fill_forms",
          "extract_accessibility",
          "assemble",
          "print_high_quality"
        ]
      }
    }',
    'document' => new CURLFILE('document.pdf')
  ),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
    'Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here'
  ),
  CURLOPT_FILE => $FileHandle,
));

$response = curl_exec($curl);

curl_close($curl);

fclose($FileHandle);

POST https://api.nutrient.io/build HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=--customboundary
Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here

--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="instructions"
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": "document"
    }
  ],
  "output": {
    "type": "pdf",
    "owner_password": "owner-password",
    "user_password": "user-password",
    "user_permissions": [
      "printing",
      "modification",
      "extract",
      "annotations_and_forms",
      "fill_forms",
      "extract_accessibility",
      "assemble",
      "print_high_quality"
    ]
  }
}
--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="document"; filename="document.pdf"
Content-Type: application/pdf

(document data)
--customboundary--

Using Postman? Download our official collection and start using the API with a single click. Read more

Your API Key

PDF Passwords

PDF files can be protected with passwords to control who can access, modify, and print the contents of a document.

PDFs are protected with two types of passwords: the owner password and the user password.

Owner password — This password allows the owner of a PDF file to modify the file and change its permissions. The owner can change the user password, as well as set or modify the user permissions that control what users can do with the file.
User password — This password allows a user to open a PDF file with a set of permissions defined by the owner of the file. These permissions control what the user can do with the file, such as view, print, copy, or modify the contents. The user password can be used to protect the PDF file from unauthorized access by preventing users from viewing or modifying the file without the password.

PDF Permissions

Specify what users can do to a password-protected document with the user_permissions parameter. The value of this parameter is an array, where each element is one of the following:

annotations_and_forms allows users to add or modify text annotations and fill in interactive form fields.
assemble allows users to insert, rotate, or delete pages and create document outline items or thumbnail images.
extract allows users to copy or otherwise extract text and graphics from the document.
extract_accessibility allows users to copy or otherwise extract text and graphics from the document using accessibility options.
fill_forms allows users to fill in existing interactive form fields (including signature fields).
modification allows users to modify the document in any way not covered by the other permissions settings.
print_high_quality allows users to print the document in high quality.
printing allows users to print the document.

Disable document printing:

Shell Shell (Windows) Java C# JavaScript Python PHP HTTP

curl -X POST https://api.nutrient.io/build \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here" \
  -o result.pdf \
  --fail \
  -F document=@document.pdf \
  -F instructions='{
      "parts": [
        {
          "file": "document"
        }
      ],
      "output": {
        "type": "pdf",
        "owner_password": "owner-password",
        "user_password": "user-password",
        "user_permissions": [
          "modification",
          "extract",
          "annotations_and_forms",
          "fill_forms",
          "extract_accessibility",
          "assemble"
        ]
      }
    }'

curl -X POST https://api.nutrient.io/build ^
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here" ^
  -o result.pdf ^
  --fail ^
  -F document=@document.pdf ^
  -F instructions="{\"parts\": [{\"file\": \"document\"}], \"output\": {\"type\": \"pdf\", \"owner_password\": \"owner-password\", \"user_password\": \"user-password\", \"user_permissions\": [\"modification\", \"extract\", \"annotations_and_forms\", \"fill_forms\", \"extract_accessibility\", \"assemble\"]}}"

package com.example.pspdfkit;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.FileSystems;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.StandardCopyOption;

import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONObject;

import okhttp3.MediaType;
import okhttp3.MultipartBody;
import okhttp3.OkHttpClient;
import okhttp3.Request;
import okhttp3.RequestBody;
import okhttp3.Response;

public final class PspdfkitApiExample {
  public static void main(final String[] args) throws IOException {
    final RequestBody body = new MultipartBody.Builder()
      .setType(MultipartBody.FORM)
      .addFormDataPart(
        "document",
        "document.pdf",
        RequestBody.create(
          MediaType.parse("application/pdf"),
          new File("document.pdf")
        )
      )
      .addFormDataPart(
        "instructions",
        new JSONObject()
          .put("parts", new JSONArray()
            .put(new JSONObject()
              .put("file", "document")
            )
          )
          .put("output", new JSONObject()
            .put("type", "pdf")
            .put("owner_password", "owner-password")
            .put("user_password", "user-password")
            .put("user_permissions", new JSONArray()
              .put("modification")
              .put("extract")
              .put("annotations_and_forms")
              .put("fill_forms")
              .put("extract_accessibility")
              .put("assemble")
            )
          ).toString()
      )
      .build();

    final Request request = new Request.Builder()
      .url("https://api.nutrient.io/build")
      .method("POST", body)
      .addHeader("Authorization", "Bearer your_api_key_here")
      .build();

    final OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient()
      .newBuilder()
      .build();

    final Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();

    if (response.isSuccessful()) {
      Files.copy(
        response.body().byteStream(),
        FileSystems.getDefault().getPath("result.pdf"),
        StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING
      );
    } else {
      // Handle the error
      throw new IOException(response.body().string());
    }
  }
}

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
using RestSharp;

namespace PspdfkitApiDemo
{
  class Program
  {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      var client = new RestClient("https://api.nutrient.io/build");

      var request = new RestRequest(Method.POST)
        .AddHeader("Authorization", "Bearer your_api_key_here")
        .AddFile("document", "document.pdf")
        .AddParameter("instructions", new JsonObject
        {
          ["parts"] = new JsonArray
          {
            new JsonObject
            {
              ["file"] = "document"
            }
          },
          ["output"] = new JsonObject
          {
            ["type"] = "pdf",
            ["owner_password"] = "owner-password",
            ["user_password"] = "user-password",
            ["user_permissions"] = new JsonArray
            {
              "modification",
              "extract",
              "annotations_and_forms",
              "fill_forms",
              "extract_accessibility",
              "assemble"
            }
          }
        }.ToString());

      request.AdvancedResponseWriter = (responseStream, response) =>
      {
        if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
        {
          using (responseStream)
          {
            using var outputFileWriter = File.OpenWrite("result.pdf");
            responseStream.CopyTo(outputFileWriter);
          }
        }
        else
        {
          var responseStreamReader = new StreamReader(responseStream);
          Console.Write(responseStreamReader.ReadToEnd());
        }
      };

      client.Execute(request);
    }
  }
}

// This code requires Node.js. Do not run this code directly in a web browser.

const axios = require('axios')
const FormData = require('form-data')
const fs = require('fs')

const formData = new FormData()
formData.append('instructions', JSON.stringify({
  parts: [
    {
      file: "document"
    }
  ],
  output: {
    type: "pdf",
    owner_password: "owner-password",
    user_password: "user-password",
    user_permissions: [
      "modification",
      "extract",
      "annotations_and_forms",
      "fill_forms",
      "extract_accessibility",
      "assemble"
    ]
  }
}))
formData.append('document', fs.createReadStream('document.pdf'))

;(async () => {
  try {
    const response = await axios.post('https://api.nutrient.io/build', formData, {
      headers: formData.getHeaders({
        'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
      }),
      responseType: "stream"
    })

    response.data.pipe(fs.createWriteStream("result.pdf"))
  } catch (e) {
    const errorString = await streamToString(e.response.data)
    console.log(errorString)
  }
})()

function streamToString(stream) {
  const chunks = []
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    stream.on("data", (chunk) => chunks.push(Buffer.from(chunk)))
    stream.on("error", (err) => reject(err))
    stream.on("end", () => resolve(Buffer.concat(chunks).toString("utf8")))
  })
}

import requests
import json

response = requests.request(
  'POST',
  'https://api.nutrient.io/build',
  headers = {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
  },
  files = {
    'document': open('document.pdf', 'rb')
  },
  data = {
    'instructions': json.dumps({
      'parts': [
        {
          'file': 'document'
        }
      ],
      'output': {
        'type': 'pdf',
        'owner_password': 'owner-password',
        'user_password': 'user-password',
        'user_permissions': [
          'modification',
          'extract',
          'annotations_and_forms',
          'fill_forms',
          'extract_accessibility',
          'assemble'
        ]
      }
    })
  },
  stream = True
)

if response.ok:
  with open('result.pdf', 'wb') as fd:
    for chunk in response.iter_content(chunk_size=8096):
      fd.write(chunk)
else:
  print(response.text)
  exit()

<?php

$FileHandle = fopen('result.pdf', 'w+');

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
  CURLOPT_URL => 'https://api.nutrient.io/build',
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'POST',
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => '',
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => array(
    'instructions' => '{
      "parts": [
        {
          "file": "document"
        }
      ],
      "output": {
        "type": "pdf",
        "owner_password": "owner-password",
        "user_password": "user-password",
        "user_permissions": [
          "modification",
          "extract",
          "annotations_and_forms",
          "fill_forms",
          "extract_accessibility",
          "assemble"
        ]
      }
    }',
    'document' => new CURLFILE('document.pdf')
  ),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
    'Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here'
  ),
  CURLOPT_FILE => $FileHandle,
));

$response = curl_exec($curl);

curl_close($curl);

fclose($FileHandle);

POST https://api.nutrient.io/build HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=--customboundary
Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here

--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="instructions"
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": "document"
    }
  ],
  "output": {
    "type": "pdf",
    "owner_password": "owner-password",
    "user_password": "user-password",
    "user_permissions": [
      "modification",
      "extract",
      "annotations_and_forms",
      "fill_forms",
      "extract_accessibility",
      "assemble"
    ]
  }
}
--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="document"; filename="document.pdf"
Content-Type: application/pdf

(document data)
--customboundary--