My company posts many PDFs to our websites. We have recently received word from our "governing body" that we need to implement the following settings:
*Allow printing
*Allow document assembly
*Allow page extraction
*Allow content copying for accessibility
However, these settings go against our stricter company policies, so we are trying to figure out if there is anything we can do to satisfy both sides. Our alternate option is to post both a non-secure and secure version of each PDF that we post, which (1) is not user-friendly, (2) draws attention to the fact that we have non-secure PDFs on our site, whereas now, the general population won't even wonder about that and (3) creates double work for our team, which is substantial given the number of PDFs we have.
Is there any way to make the above settings work? I'm pretty sure I've tried every combination possible and nothing seems to work (I can get everything but page extraction).
Thanks!
Need help with security settings-Acrobat
2011-12-19 10:46:08
My Product Information:
Acrobat, Windows
Acrobat, Windows
2011-12-19 13:30:45
#2
Ideally, these four things would be allowed and nothing else, but our goal is to make the document as "secure" as possible while still allowing these things that are required. What would my options be, if any?
*Allow printing
*Allow document assembly
*Allow page extraction
*Allow content copying for accessibility
*Allow printing
*Allow document assembly
*Allow page extraction
*Allow content copying for accessibility
2011-12-19 13:44:24
#3
As you've probably noticed, many of these options are related, so by allowing one of them requires some of the other to be allowed as well. It's possible that by selecting this combination you're basically allowing everything.
2011-12-19 13:52:55
#4
Yes, that is what I'm seeing, but I was hoping that there was some sort of setting combination that would make our "required" settings work. I've tried and tried and couldn't come up with anything myself.
2011-12-20 00:34:30
#5
You still haven't told us what your two sets of permissions are. The four items you list do in effect leave the content open to unrestricted access, but they don't specify everything.
Acrobat's encryption dialogs make some simplifications of the permissions flags, so with third-party software you can in theory have more granular control; however as some permissions override others it's not as simple as picking from a list. The ISO PDF standard defines exactly what permissions can be set via the "P" bitmask:
3 : Print the document at low resolution, or at high resolution if bit 12 is also set
4 : Modify the contents other than by operations listed in bits 6, 9 and 11 (e.g. add tags, embed fonts)
5 : Copy and extract text and graphics by operations other than those listed against bit 10 (e.g. open the file in Photoshop)
6 : Add or edit annotations, fill in form fields. If bit 4 is set, also create and edit form fields
9 : Fill in form fields even if bit 6 is zero
10: Extract text and graphics for accessibility or other purposes (screen reading, search indexing, etc.)
11: Assemble the file (add, remove or rotate pages, edit bookmarks, create thumbnails)
12: Print in high-res
Obviously if bit 12 is on, you can "print" an unencrypted copy of the file to another PDF (you'll lose interactive features and tagging, but all the text and graphics will be preserved) - so it makes no sense to set bit 12 on and bit 5 off, or vice-versa.
Acrobat's encryption dialogs make some simplifications of the permissions flags, so with third-party software you can in theory have more granular control; however as some permissions override others it's not as simple as picking from a list. The ISO PDF standard defines exactly what permissions can be set via the "P" bitmask:
3 : Print the document at low resolution, or at high resolution if bit 12 is also set
4 : Modify the contents other than by operations listed in bits 6, 9 and 11 (e.g. add tags, embed fonts)
5 : Copy and extract text and graphics by operations other than those listed against bit 10 (e.g. open the file in Photoshop)
6 : Add or edit annotations, fill in form fields. If bit 4 is set, also create and edit form fields
9 : Fill in form fields even if bit 6 is zero
10: Extract text and graphics for accessibility or other purposes (screen reading, search indexing, etc.)
11: Assemble the file (add, remove or rotate pages, edit bookmarks, create thumbnails)
12: Print in high-res
Obviously if bit 12 is on, you can "print" an unencrypted copy of the file to another PDF (you'll lose interactive features and tagging, but all the text and graphics will be preserved) - so it makes no sense to set bit 12 on and bit 5 off, or vice-versa.
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