PDF Security

This operation allows you to add or remove security features such as passwords, accessibility restrictions, and modification limitations to your document.

Modifying Restriction Settings: To modify assembly or extraction settings that control PDF restrictions (such as allowPrintDocument, allowFillForms, allowModifyDocument, allowAssemblyDocument, and related permission settings), you must use the ownerPassword in your request. The userPassword alone cannot modify these permission settings. Attempting to change these restrictions with only a userPassword will result in an error: "This file is password-protected. Please ensure you've entered the correct password…". This requirement applies only when making changes to those restrictions.

Input

Name	Description	Required
PDF URL	Provide the URL to the source PDF document, or a filetoken:// link from PDF.co Built-In Files Storage. If you use another cloud service such as Google Drive or Dropbox ensure the link is publicly accessible.	Yes
Operation Mode	Choose whether you want to add or remove security features from PDF documents.	Yes
Owner password	The main owner password that is used for document encryption and for setting/removing restrictions.	Fill at least one for Remove Security
User Password	The optional user password will be asked for viewing and printing document.	Fill at least one for Remove Security
Encryption Algorithm	Encryption algorithm. AES_128bit or higher is recommended. The available algorithms are: RC4_40bit, RC4_128bit, AES_128bit, AES_256bit.	No
Allow Accessibility Support	Allow content extraction for accessibility. Applies only if a User password is set, bypassed if the file is accessed using the Owner Password.	No
Allow Document Assembly	Allow document assembly. Applies only if a User password is set, bypassed if the file is accessed using the Owner Password.	No
Allow Printing	Allow printing. Applies only if a User password is set, bypassed if the file is accessed using the Owner Password.	No
Allow Form Filling	Allow form filling. Applies only if a User password is set, bypassed if the file is accessed using the Owner Password.	No
Allow Document Modification	Allow document modification. Applies only if a User password is set, bypassed if the file is accessed using the Owner Password.	No
Allow Content Extraction	Allow content extraction. Applies only if a User password is set, bypassed if the file is accessed using the Owner Password.	No
Allow Annotation Modification	Allow annotation modification. Applies only if a User password is set, bypassed if the file is accessed using the Owner Password.	No
Print Quality	Specify the allowed printing quality.	No
File Name	File name for the generated output, the input must be in string format.	No
Webhook URL	The callback URL or Webhook used to receive the output data.	No
Output Links Expiration (In Minutes)	Set the expiration time for the output link in minutes. After this specified duration, any generated output file(s) will be automatically deleted from PDF.co Temporary Files Storage. The maximum duration for link expiration varies based on your current subscription plan. To store permanent input files (e.g. re-usable images, pdf templates, documents) consider using PDF.co Built-In Files Storage.	No
Custom Profiles	Use JSON to customize PDF processing with options like output resolution, OCR settings, text extraction methods, encryption, and image handling. Check our Custom Profiles section to see all available parameters for your current endpoint.	No

Custom Profiles

You can set additional options for the operation used in the PDF.co node by using Custom Profiles. A custom profile is a string in JSON-like format containing predefined parameters.

Here’s an example of a Custom Profiles input:

{ "outputDataFormat": "base64" }

With this input, the PDF.co operation will return the output in base64 format. You can find the list of available parameters for customizing profiles in the PDF.co operation documentation below:

You can use any regular API parameter from the API Reference within n8n using the std_params feature in profiles. The std_params enables the definition of regular API parameters in a JSON format, See Standard Parameters for detailed documentation and examples.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
outputDataFormat	string	-	If you require your output as base64 format, set this to base64
DataEncryptionAlgorithm	string	-	Controls the encryption algorithm used for data encryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information. The available algorithms are: AES128, AES192, AES256.
DataEncryptionKey	string	-	Controls the encryption key used for data encryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information.
DataEncryptionIV	string	-	Controls the encryption IV used for data encryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information.
DataDecryptionAlgorithm	string	-	Controls the decryption algorithm used for data decryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information. The available algorithms are: AES128, AES192, AES256.
DataDecryptionKey	string	-	Controls the decryption key used for data decryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information.
DataDecryptionIV	string	-	Controls the decryption IV used for data decryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information.

Output

Name	Description
jobId	Unique identifier for the background job.
pageCount	Number of pages in the PDF document.
error	Indicates whether an error occurred (false means success)
status	Status code of the request (200, 404, 500, etc.). For more information, see Response Codes.
credits	Number of credits consumed by the request
remainingCredits	Number of credits remaining in the account
duration	Time taken for the operation in milliseconds
url	Direct URL to the final PDF file stored in S3.
name	Name of the output file
outputLinkValidTill	Timestamp indicating when the output link will expire