# Add restrictions to a PDF

Set the permission flags of a PDF, controlling copying, printing, editing, and form filling, behind an owner password.

Apply permission restrictions to a PDF (limit copying, printing, editing,
form-filling, and more), enforced by an `owner_password`. Restrictions are
permission flags, distinct from [adding a password](/docs/api/add-password-to-pdf),
which sets the password required just to open the file; you can also set a
`user_password` here to require both. The API is stateless: your document is
processed in-region and never stored.

## Endpoint

<Endpoint method="POST" path="/v1/add_restrictions" />

Available in every region. See [Regions & data residency](/docs/api/regions-and-data-residency)
for routing and data residency.

| Region         | URL                                               |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| Global         | `https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions`   |
| United States  | `https://us.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions` |
| US HIPAA       | `https://hipaa.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions` |
| European Union | `https://eu.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions` |
| United Kingdom | `https://uk.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions` |
| Canada         | `https://ca.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions` |
| Australia      | `https://au.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions` |
| Japan          | `https://jp.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions` |
| India          | `https://in.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions` |
| Brazil         | `https://br.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions` |

## Authentication

Authenticate every request with your secret API key in the `X-API-Key` header,
over HTTPS. Create and manage keys from the
[dashboard](https://dashboard.pdfblocks.com). See
[Authentication](/docs/api/authentication) for details.

## Request

The endpoint accepts a `multipart/form-data` request body.

<ParamField name="file" type="file" required>
  The input PDF document.
</ParamField>

<ParamField name="owner_password" type="string" required>
  The owner password. 4–32 printable ASCII characters. Opens the document and
  changes its [permission flags](#permission-flags).
</ParamField>

<ParamField name="user_password" type="string">
  An optional user password. 4–32 printable ASCII characters. When set, the
  document can't be opened without it. Omit it, or leave it empty, to let anyone
  open the document.
</ParamField>

<ParamField name="encryption_algorithm" type="string" default="AES-128">
  The encryption algorithm. One of `AES-128` or `AES-256`.
</ParamField>

<ParamField name="allow_copy_content" type="boolean" default="true">
  Allow copying text and images to the clipboard.
</ParamField>

<ParamField name="allow_change_content" type="boolean" default="true">
  Allow changing the content of the document.
</ParamField>

<ParamField name="allow_print" type="boolean" default="true">
  Allow printing the document.
</ParamField>

<ParamField name="allow_print_high_resolution" type="boolean" default="true">
  Allow printing in high resolution.
</ParamField>

<ParamField name="allow_comment_and_fill_form" type="boolean" default="true">
  Allow adding, editing, or modifying annotations and filling form fields.
</ParamField>

<ParamField name="allow_fill_form" type="boolean" default="true">
  Allow filling form fields.
</ParamField>

<ParamField name="allow_assemble_document" type="boolean" default="true">
  Allow assembling or manipulating the document (insert, delete, rotate pages).
</ParamField>

<ParamField name="allow_accessibility" type="boolean" default="true">
  Allow accessibility software to read the document's text and images.
</ParamField>

### Permission flags

Each flag governs one action a reader can take. Pass the flag as a boolean; set
it to `false` to turn that permission off.

| Flag                          | Default | Set to `false` to…                                          |
| ----------------------------- | ------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| `allow_copy_content`          | `true`  | block copying text and images to the clipboard              |
| `allow_change_content`        | `true`  | block changing the content of the document                  |
| `allow_print`                 | `true`  | block printing the document                                 |
| `allow_print_high_resolution` | `true`  | block printing in high resolution                           |
| `allow_comment_and_fill_form` | `true`  | block adding, editing, or modifying annotations and filling form fields |
| `allow_fill_form`             | `true`  | block filling form fields                                   |
| `allow_assemble_document`     | `true`  | block assembling or manipulating the document (insert, delete, rotate pages) |
| `allow_accessibility`         | `true`  | block accessibility software from reading the document      |

<Note>
  Every flag defaults to `true`, so nothing is restricted unless you say so.
  Send only the flags you want to turn off. The restrictions are enforced by the
  `owner_password`: a reader who supplies it can change the permissions. Add a
  `user_password` only if you also want to require a password just to open the
  file. For the full lifecycle, see [Protecting documents](/docs/api/protecting-documents).
</Note>

## Examples

Lock a document so it can't be copied or printed, keeping it openable by anyone:

<CodeGroup>

```bash title="cURL"
curl https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions \
  -H 'X-API-Key: your_api_key' \
  -F file=@input.pdf \
  -F owner_password='s3cr3t-owner' \
  -F allow_copy_content=false \
  -F allow_print=false \
  -F allow_print_high_resolution=false \
  -o restricted.pdf
```

```python title="Python"
# pip install requests
import requests

with open('input.pdf', 'rb') as file:
    response = requests.post(
        'https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions',
        headers={'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key'},
        files={'file': file},
        data={
            'owner_password': 's3cr3t-owner',
            'allow_copy_content': 'false',
            'allow_print': 'false',
            'allow_print_high_resolution': 'false',
        },
    )

response.raise_for_status()
with open('restricted.pdf', 'wb') as output:
    output.write(response.content)
```

```javascript title="Node.js"
// Node.js 18+
import { readFile, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';

const body = new FormData();
body.set('file', new Blob([await readFile('input.pdf')]), 'input.pdf');
body.set('owner_password', 's3cr3t-owner');
body.set('allow_copy_content', 'false');
body.set('allow_print', 'false');
body.set('allow_print_high_resolution', 'false');

const response = await fetch('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key' },
  body,
});

if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
await writeFile('restricted.pdf', Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer()));
```

```php title="PHP"
<?php
$ch = curl_init('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions');
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['X-API-Key: your_api_key'],
    CURLOPT_POST => true,
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => [
        'file' => new CURLFile('input.pdf', 'application/pdf'),
        'owner_password' => 's3cr3t-owner',
        'allow_copy_content' => 'false',
        'allow_print' => 'false',
        'allow_print_high_resolution' => 'false',
    ],
]);

$pdf = curl_exec($ch);
if (curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE) === 200) {
    file_put_contents('restricted.pdf', $pdf);
}
```

```ruby title="Ruby"
# gem install http
require 'http'

response = HTTP
  .headers('X-API-Key' => 'your_api_key')
  .post('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions', form: {
    file: HTTP::FormData::File.new('input.pdf'),
    owner_password: 's3cr3t-owner',
    allow_copy_content: 'false',
    allow_print: 'false',
    allow_print_high_resolution: 'false',
  })

File.write('restricted.pdf', response.body) if response.status.success?
```

```go title="Go"
package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"io"
	"mime/multipart"
	"net/http"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	var buf bytes.Buffer
	form := multipart.NewWriter(&buf)

	file, _ := os.Open("input.pdf")
	defer file.Close()
	part, _ := form.CreateFormFile("file", "input.pdf")
	io.Copy(part, file)

	form.WriteField("owner_password", "s3cr3t-owner")
	form.WriteField("allow_copy_content", "false")
	form.WriteField("allow_print", "false")
	form.WriteField("allow_print_high_resolution", "false")
	form.Close()

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions", &buf)
	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", form.FormDataContentType())
	req.Header.Set("X-API-Key", "your_api_key")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	defer res.Body.Close()

	out, _ := os.Create("restricted.pdf")
	defer out.Close()
	io.Copy(out, res.Body)
}
```

```csharp title="C#"
using var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("X-API-Key", "your_api_key");

using var form = new MultipartFormDataContent
{
    { new ByteArrayContent(File.ReadAllBytes("input.pdf")), "file", "input.pdf" },
    { new StringContent("s3cr3t-owner"), "owner_password" },
    { new StringContent("false"), "allow_copy_content" },
    { new StringContent("false"), "allow_print" },
    { new StringContent("false"), "allow_print_high_resolution" },
};

var response = await client.PostAsync(
    "https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions", form);
response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
await File.WriteAllBytesAsync(
    "restricted.pdf", await response.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync());
```

</CodeGroup>

## Response

On success, the response is `200 OK` with the restricted PDF as the body:

```http
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/pdf
Content-Length: 48213
```

The output is the same document with the requested permissions applied. Its
pages and content are unchanged. Stream the body straight to a file, as the
examples above do; nothing is stored on our side.

## Errors

Failed requests return an `application/problem+json` body. The most common one
for this endpoint is a `400`, returned when a parameter is invalid (for example
an `owner_password` that isn't 4–32 printable ASCII characters), with the
`errors` object naming each field:

```json
{
  "type": "https://www.pdfblocks.com/docs/api/v1/error/400",
  "title": "One or more validation errors occurred.",
  "status": 400,
  "errors": {
    "owner_password": ["The field owner_password must match the regular expression '^[\\x20-\\x7e]{4,32}$'."]
  }
}
```

A missing or invalid `X-API-Key` returns a `401`. See
[Errors](/docs/api/errors) for every status code and the full response shape.

## Recipes

Common variations. Expand one to see it in every language.

<AccordionGroup>

<Accordion title="Read-only: block copying, editing, and printing">

<CodeGroup>

```bash title="cURL"
curl https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions \
  -H 'X-API-Key: your_api_key' \
  -F file=@input.pdf \
  -F owner_password='s3cr3t-owner' \
  -F allow_copy_content=false \
  -F allow_change_content=false \
  -F allow_print=false \
  -F allow_print_high_resolution=false \
  -o readonly.pdf
```

```python title="Python"
import requests

with open('input.pdf', 'rb') as file:
    response = requests.post(
        'https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions',
        headers={'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key'},
        files={'file': file},
        data={
            'owner_password': 's3cr3t-owner',
            'allow_copy_content': 'false',
            'allow_change_content': 'false',
            'allow_print': 'false',
            'allow_print_high_resolution': 'false',
        },
    )

response.raise_for_status()
with open('readonly.pdf', 'wb') as output:
    output.write(response.content)
```

```javascript title="Node.js"
import { readFile, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';

const body = new FormData();
body.set('file', new Blob([await readFile('input.pdf')]), 'input.pdf');
body.set('owner_password', 's3cr3t-owner');
body.set('allow_copy_content', 'false');
body.set('allow_change_content', 'false');
body.set('allow_print', 'false');
body.set('allow_print_high_resolution', 'false');

const response = await fetch('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key' },
  body,
});

if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
await writeFile('readonly.pdf', Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer()));
```

```php title="PHP"
<?php
$ch = curl_init('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions');
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['X-API-Key: your_api_key'],
    CURLOPT_POST => true,
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => [
        'file' => new CURLFile('input.pdf', 'application/pdf'),
        'owner_password' => 's3cr3t-owner',
        'allow_copy_content' => 'false',
        'allow_change_content' => 'false',
        'allow_print' => 'false',
        'allow_print_high_resolution' => 'false',
    ],
]);

$pdf = curl_exec($ch);
if (curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE) === 200) {
    file_put_contents('readonly.pdf', $pdf);
}
```

```ruby title="Ruby"
require 'http'

response = HTTP
  .headers('X-API-Key' => 'your_api_key')
  .post('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions', form: {
    file: HTTP::FormData::File.new('input.pdf'),
    owner_password: 's3cr3t-owner',
    allow_copy_content: 'false',
    allow_change_content: 'false',
    allow_print: 'false',
    allow_print_high_resolution: 'false',
  })

File.write('readonly.pdf', response.body) if response.status.success?
```

```go title="Go"
package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"io"
	"mime/multipart"
	"net/http"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	var buf bytes.Buffer
	form := multipart.NewWriter(&buf)

	file, _ := os.Open("input.pdf")
	defer file.Close()
	part, _ := form.CreateFormFile("file", "input.pdf")
	io.Copy(part, file)

	form.WriteField("owner_password", "s3cr3t-owner")
	form.WriteField("allow_copy_content", "false")
	form.WriteField("allow_change_content", "false")
	form.WriteField("allow_print", "false")
	form.WriteField("allow_print_high_resolution", "false")
	form.Close()

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions", &buf)
	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", form.FormDataContentType())
	req.Header.Set("X-API-Key", "your_api_key")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	defer res.Body.Close()

	out, _ := os.Create("readonly.pdf")
	defer out.Close()
	io.Copy(out, res.Body)
}
```

```csharp title="C#"
using var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("X-API-Key", "your_api_key");

using var form = new MultipartFormDataContent
{
    { new ByteArrayContent(File.ReadAllBytes("input.pdf")), "file", "input.pdf" },
    { new StringContent("s3cr3t-owner"), "owner_password" },
    { new StringContent("false"), "allow_copy_content" },
    { new StringContent("false"), "allow_change_content" },
    { new StringContent("false"), "allow_print" },
    { new StringContent("false"), "allow_print_high_resolution" },
};

var response = await client.PostAsync(
    "https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions", form);
response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
await File.WriteAllBytesAsync(
    "readonly.pdf", await response.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync());
```

</CodeGroup>

</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Require a password to open, with AES-256">

<CodeGroup>

```bash title="cURL"
curl https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions \
  -H 'X-API-Key: your_api_key' \
  -F file=@input.pdf \
  -F owner_password='s3cr3t-owner' \
  -F user_password='open-me-2024' \
  -F encryption_algorithm=AES-256 \
  -o protected.pdf
```

```python title="Python"
import requests

with open('input.pdf', 'rb') as file:
    response = requests.post(
        'https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions',
        headers={'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key'},
        files={'file': file},
        data={
            'owner_password': 's3cr3t-owner',
            'user_password': 'open-me-2024',
            'encryption_algorithm': 'AES-256',
        },
    )

response.raise_for_status()
with open('protected.pdf', 'wb') as output:
    output.write(response.content)
```

```javascript title="Node.js"
import { readFile, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';

const body = new FormData();
body.set('file', new Blob([await readFile('input.pdf')]), 'input.pdf');
body.set('owner_password', 's3cr3t-owner');
body.set('user_password', 'open-me-2024');
body.set('encryption_algorithm', 'AES-256');

const response = await fetch('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key' },
  body,
});

if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
await writeFile('protected.pdf', Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer()));
```

```php title="PHP"
<?php
$ch = curl_init('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions');
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['X-API-Key: your_api_key'],
    CURLOPT_POST => true,
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => [
        'file' => new CURLFile('input.pdf', 'application/pdf'),
        'owner_password' => 's3cr3t-owner',
        'user_password' => 'open-me-2024',
        'encryption_algorithm' => 'AES-256',
    ],
]);

$pdf = curl_exec($ch);
if (curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE) === 200) {
    file_put_contents('protected.pdf', $pdf);
}
```

```ruby title="Ruby"
require 'http'

response = HTTP
  .headers('X-API-Key' => 'your_api_key')
  .post('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions', form: {
    file: HTTP::FormData::File.new('input.pdf'),
    owner_password: 's3cr3t-owner',
    user_password: 'open-me-2024',
    encryption_algorithm: 'AES-256',
  })

File.write('protected.pdf', response.body) if response.status.success?
```

```go title="Go"
package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"io"
	"mime/multipart"
	"net/http"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	var buf bytes.Buffer
	form := multipart.NewWriter(&buf)

	file, _ := os.Open("input.pdf")
	defer file.Close()
	part, _ := form.CreateFormFile("file", "input.pdf")
	io.Copy(part, file)

	form.WriteField("owner_password", "s3cr3t-owner")
	form.WriteField("user_password", "open-me-2024")
	form.WriteField("encryption_algorithm", "AES-256")
	form.Close()

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions", &buf)
	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", form.FormDataContentType())
	req.Header.Set("X-API-Key", "your_api_key")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	defer res.Body.Close()

	out, _ := os.Create("protected.pdf")
	defer out.Close()
	io.Copy(out, res.Body)
}
```

```csharp title="C#"
using var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("X-API-Key", "your_api_key");

using var form = new MultipartFormDataContent
{
    { new ByteArrayContent(File.ReadAllBytes("input.pdf")), "file", "input.pdf" },
    { new StringContent("s3cr3t-owner"), "owner_password" },
    { new StringContent("open-me-2024"), "user_password" },
    { new StringContent("AES-256"), "encryption_algorithm" },
};

var response = await client.PostAsync(
    "https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_restrictions", form);
response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
await File.WriteAllBytesAsync(
    "protected.pdf", await response.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync());
```

</CodeGroup>

</Accordion>

</AccordionGroup>

## Related actions

<CardGroup cols={2}>

<Card title="Remove restrictions" href="/docs/api/remove-restrictions-from-pdf">
  Clear these permission flags.
</Card>

<Card title="Add a password" href="/docs/api/add-password-to-pdf">
  Require a password just to open the file.
</Card>

<Card title="Remove the password" href="/docs/api/remove-password-from-pdf">
  Decrypt a password-protected PDF.
</Card>

<Card title="Remove signatures" href="/docs/api/remove-signatures-from-pdf">
  Strip signatures before re-processing.
</Card>

</CardGroup>