PDF security options

To set PDF file permissions
To set a user password for a PDF file

You can set security options to protect PDF files that you create. Security options let you control whether, and to what extent, a PDF file can be accessed, edited, and reproduced when viewed in Adobe Reader.

The level of security that is available is also determined by which version of Adobe Reader you use to create the PDF file. The encryption levels provided by Adobe Reader have increased over time. For example, if you save to Adobe Reader version 6, or lower, it has standard encoding, version 8 has 128-bit encoding, and version 9 has 256-bit encoding. For more information about choosing a version, see Optimize PDF files.

The security options are controlled by two passwords: the Permission password and the Open password.

The Permission password is the master password that lets you control whether a file can be printed, edited, or copied. For example, as the owner of the file, you can protect the integrity of the file’s content by choosing permission settings that prevent editing.

You can also set an Open password that lets you control who can access the file. For example, if your file contains sensitive information, and you want to limit the users who can view it, you can set an Open password. It is not recommended that you set an Open password without setting a Permission password, because users would then have unrestricted access to the PDF file — including the ability to set a new password.

The security options are applied when you save the PDF file. These settings can be viewed when a PDF file is opened in Adobe Acrobat.

To open and edit a secured PDF file, you must enter the Permissions password (or the Open password if no Permission password is set). For information about opening and importing PDF files, see Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

To set PDF file permissions

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1 Click File Publish to PDF.
2 Locate the folder in which you want to save the file.
3 Type a filename in the File name box.
4 Click Settings.
The PDF settings dialog box appears.
5 Click the Security tab.
6 Enable the Permission password check box.
7 Type a password in the Password box.
8 Retype the password in the Confirm password box.
9 In the Printing permissions box, choose one of the following options:
• None — lets users view the PDF on-screen but prevents them from printing the PDF file
• Low resolution — lets users print a low resolution version of the PDF file. This option is available for PDF files compatible with Adobe Acrobat 5 or higher.
• High resolution — lets users print a high resolution version of the PDF file
10 In the Editing permissions box, choose one of the following options:
• None — prevents users from editing the PDF file
• Insert, delete, and rotate pages — lets users insert, delete, and rotate pages when editing the PDF file. This option is available for PDF files compatible with Adobe Acrobat 5 or higher.
• Any except extracting pages — lets users edit the PDF file but prevents them from removing pages from the file
If you want to allow copying of content from the PDF file to other documents, enable the Enable copying of content check box.
11 Click OK.
12 Click Save.

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The Permission password is the master password for the document. It can be used by the file owner to set permissions, or to open the file if an Open password is set.

Some PDF compatibility options, such as PDF/X-3 and PDF/A-1b, do not let you set PDF file permissions. If you choose such a compatibility option, all controls on the Security page appear disabled. To change the compatibility, see To select a compatibility option.

To set a user password for a PDF file

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1 Click File Publish to PDF.
2 Locate the folder in which you want to save the file.
3 Type a filename in the File name box.
4 Click Settings.
The PDF settings dialog box appears.
5 Click the Security tab.
6 Enable the Open password check box.
7 Type a password in the Password box.
8 Retype the password in the Confirm password box.
9 Click OK.
10 Click Save.

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If you set an Open password, it is recommended that you also set a Permission password.

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