How to create a password-protected PDF in ProSeries Professional

Intuit is committed to the security of your data and client's tax return information. To help ensure the security of this data, ProSeries Professional has the ability to password protect all PDFs that are created. 

These PDFs can then be attached to an email using any provider that you wish, or securely stored for record keeping purposes. The password will be automatically generated based on information contained in the return, and can't be changed from within ProSeries.

For more Print & PDF resources, check out our Troubleshooting page for Print & PDF where you'll find answers to the most commonly asked questions.

Before you start:

• This article references default installation paths and uses YY to reference the tax year in 20YY format. C: will always indicate the local drive and X: will always indicate the network drive.

To activate this feature:

1. From the File menu, select Print.
2. In the upper-right of the Print Center, click the Printer, PDF,and DMS Setup button.
3. In the upper-right of the Printer and File Setup section, check the box to Password protect PDF files for returns.
4. Select OK.

The next time you print to PDF, the file will be password-protected.

The file can then be retrieved from the location where your PDF files are saved. The default is C:\ProPDF\TY20YY.

What the password consists of:

• Taxpayer's social security number (SSN) or company employer identification number (EIN)
• Taxpayer's city as shown on the tax return (all lower case with no spaces)
• Five digit  ZIP code as shown on the tax return (all lower case with no dashes or spaces)

For example, if their SSN is 123-45-6789, city is Rio De Janeiro and their ZIP code is 11111, the password would be "123456789riodejaneiro11111"