Guides

How to Create Your Client Password Spreadsheet (CSV) for Batch PDF Protection

November 3, 2026 · 6 min read

Batch protection in PDF Protect Plus can give every client their own password. To do that, it needs just one thing: a small spreadsheet that says which password goes to which client. Most guides explain how to import it. This one starts a step earlier: why the spreadsheet exists, and how to build it in a few minutes in the spreadsheet app you already use.

Why a spreadsheet?

Picture forty year-end statements going to forty clients. Without a spreadsheet, you open each PDF, type the right client's password, save, and move on to the next one. Forty times, with a real chance of mixing up two passwords along the way.

With a spreadsheet, you write the list once: one row per client, with their name and their password. Then, for every send-out, you drop the PDFs and the spreadsheet into the app. It finds each file's client from its name and protects the whole batch in one run, each file with its own client's password.

The spreadsheet also works as a reminder: each client keeps the same password from one send-out to the next, and you always know which one they received.

What goes in the spreadsheet

Three columns, two of them required:

client: the client's name, written as it appears in their file names;
password: that client's password;
file (optional): the exact name of a file that does not contain the client's name.

Here is the sample spreadsheet used in this guide, with fictional clients:

client	password	file
Dupont SARL	Dupo-Bilan-2026!q
Martin Plomberie	Mart-Liasse-2026!k
Fontaine Café	Font-Bilan-2026!z
Garnier Immobilier	Garn-Scan-2026!w	Scan_0412.pdf

Once saved as CSV, the same spreadsheet is just a text file, one line per client:

client,password,file
Dupont SARL,Dupo-Bilan-2026!q,
Martin Plomberie,Mart-Liasse-2026!k,
Fontaine Café,Font-Bilan-2026!z,
Garnier Immobilier,Garn-Scan-2026!w,Scan_0412.pdf

The PDFs to protect are called Year-end 2025 - Dupont SARL.pdf, Tax return 2025 - Martin Plomberie.pdf, Year-end 2025 - Fontaine Café.pdf and Scan_0412.pdf. The first three contain their client's name, so the file column stays empty. The scan does not, so its row gives its exact name.

Step by step in your spreadsheet app

1. Open a blank sheet

Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc or Numbers: any spreadsheet app works. Rather not start from scratch? In the app, the Download the template button gives you a file with the right columns, ready to fill in.

2. Type the headers in row 1

In A1, B1 and C1: client, password, file. Capital letters don't matter, and the app also recognizes other common headers:

for the client: name or customer;
for the file: filename or file name.

Step 2: the three headers in row 1 — Illustration · fictional spreadsheet and data

3. One row per client

From row 2 on, type each client's name, then their password. The key point: write the name as it appears in their files. The app looks for the client's full name in the PDF's name, ignoring capitals, accents and punctuation: YEAR-END 2025 - dupont-sarl.pdf still finds “Dupont SARL”. It compares whole words, so “Dupont” is never mistaken for “Dupontel”.

The client’s name, written as in their file names, is what links each PDF to its row — Illustration · fictional spreadsheet and data

For the passwords:

Use at least 12 characters. Below that, the row shows Too weak in the app, and the Generate button creates a strong one instead.
Don't start a password with =, +, - or @: your spreadsheet app may read it as a formula.
Keep the same password for a client from one send-out to the next, so they don't have to learn a new one each time.

Step 3: one row per client, their name then their password — Illustration · fictional spreadsheet and data

4. The file column, only when needed

If a PDF doesn't carry its client's name, such as a scan called Scan_0412.pdf, type its exact name, extension included, in the file column of that client's row. This match takes priority over all others. For every file that already contains the client's name, leave the column empty.

Step 4: the file column, only for a file that doesn’t carry the client’s name — Illustration · fictional spreadsheet and data

5. Save as CSV

This is the only step that depends on your spreadsheet app:

Excel (Windows or Mac): File > Save As, then the CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) type.
Google Sheets: File > Download > Comma Separated Values (.csv).
LibreOffice Calc: File > Save As, Text CSV (.csv) type, then keep the suggested options.
Numbers: File > Export To > CSV.

Step 5: Save as, CSV type — Illustration · fictional spreadsheet and data

There is nothing to configure: the app accepts commas, semicolons or tabs as separators, and reads both UTF-8 and Excel's Windows encoding, so accented names come through correctly.

Using the spreadsheet in PDF Protect Plus

Open PDF protection, then the Batch protection tab. Add your PDFs and choose My clients' passwords.

The PDFs are added and “My clients’ passwords” is selected: the app now waits for your spreadsheet — Actual PDF Protect Plus interface · fictional documents

Click Import the spreadsheet and pick your CSV file. You can also drop it together with the PDFs: the app recognizes it. Each file then shows its client and its status:

Matched: the client was found;
To confirm: several clients could match, such as two clients who share a last name; you pick the right one from the list;
Client not found: no name matches; add the row to your spreadsheet or pick the client from the list.

The spreadsheet from this guide, imported: every file finds its client, including Scan_0412.pdf through the file column — Actual PDF Protect Plus interface · fictional documents

On a bigger batch: orange “To confirm” and “Too weak” lines are fixed before anything is encrypted — Actual PDF Protect Plus interface · fictional documents

When every row is ready, click Protect. Each copy is encrypted with AES-256 using its client's password, and your original files stay untouched.

Each file is protected with its own client’s password, in one run — Actual PDF Protect Plus interface · fictional documents

Keep the spreadsheet safe

The spreadsheet holds passwords in plain text, so treat it as a sensitive document. Keep it in a protected folder, and never send it with the PDFs. On your first batch, tick Save these passwords in the vault: the app keeps one entry per client in its encrypted local vault, and next time it finds your clients without the spreadsheet.

The “Save these passwords in the vault” option: next batch, no spreadsheet needed — Actual PDF Protect Plus interface · fictional documents

Reading the spreadsheet, matching the files and encrypting them all happen on your computer. Neither your PDFs nor your spreadsheet are sent to our servers. For the details, see how local processing works.

The most common mistakes

“Unreadable spreadsheet: it needs at least the client and password columns”: row 1 does not contain these headers.
“This file is not a CSV spreadsheet”: the file was kept in the spreadsheet app's own format (.xlsx, .ods, .numbers). Save it as CSV, as in step 5.
A duplicated client: if a name appears twice, the last row wins.
A row without a client name is skipped.
The limits: 1,000 clients and 1 MB per spreadsheet, 200 PDFs per batch.

In short

Row 1: client, password and, if needed, file.
One row per client, with the name written as in their files.
Passwords of at least 12 characters, kept from one send-out to the next.
Save as CSV, then import it in Batch protection.

The rest of the method, including sending passwords separately and the sending summary, is in the article password-protecting a batch of client PDFs, one password per client and on the batch PDF protection page. You can download the app and try your spreadsheet on a test batch.