---
title: "Protecting the generated PDF"
description: "Learn how to protect generated PDFs with passwords using C# and the HttpClient library. This guide offers detailed steps with code samples in C# and the HttpClient library, showing how to secure your PDF documents."
language: 'C#'
library: 'HttpClient'
property: 'protection'
output: 'pdf'
related: ['adding-an-image-watermark', 'adding-a-text-watermark']
default: false
---

In this guide, we'll show you how to protect generated PDFs with passwords using C# and the HttpClient library.

When generating PDFs, you might want to add password protection to restrict access.

```csharp
using System;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Net.Http.Headers;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

// You can get an API key at https://pdfshift.io
var apiKey = "sk_xxxxxxxxxxxx";

var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("X-API-Key", apiKey);

var payload = new
{
    source = "https://www.example.com",
    // Protect the PDF with a password
    protection = new
    {
        user_password = "user123",
        owner_password = "owner123"
    }
};

var json = System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer.Serialize(payload);
var content = new StringContent(json, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");

var response = await client.PostAsync("https://api.pdfshift.io/v3/convert/pdf", content);

// Handle errors:
if (response.StatusCode >= System.Net.HttpStatusCode.BadRequest)
{
    throw new Exception($"Request failed with status code {response.StatusCode}");
}

var result = await response.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync();

System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes("result.pdf", result);

Console.WriteLine("The PDF document was generated and saved to result.pdf");
```

This allows you to secure your PDF documents with passwords.