Adobe Creative Cloud All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 6

Securing Your PDF Files

IN THIS CHAPTER

Using the security feature in Acrobat

Using passwords

Setting limits for editing and printing

Removing sensitive data from PDF files

You may think that because you’ve converted your documents to PDF (Portable Document Format) that they’re secure. This isn’t quite true because Adobe Acrobat includes tools for changing text and images, as well as extracting them for use in other files. For example, you can use several tools to modify text and graphics (see Chapter 4 of this minibook) or copy a passage of text.

Applying security provides you with control over who can view, edit, or print the PDF documents you create and distribute. You can restrict access to files so that users need a password to view them, or you can restrict certain features of Acrobat, which stops most users from manipulating your files. All Adobe applications recognize and honor security settings applied in Acrobat, but some software ignores Adobe’s security settings or can bypass them altogether. For this reason, you should be careful with whom you share your most ...