How to Protect PDF Documents

This video explains how to protect your PDF file using the new Protection Panel in Acrobat X.

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Closed Caption:

protecting documents against
unauthorized access or alteration is an
important part of one life and in
Acrobat 10 we have improvements in both
the strength of our encryption methods
and the simplicity of applying and
managing them protection can be applied
to PDF files and three portfolios and
file attachments to other file formats
to either restrict the ability to open a
file or block access to features such as
printing editing commenting and content
extraction acrobat 10 supports the
widest range of protection methods with
varying degrees of encryption to choose
from
based on the value of the documents and
the needs of your users all PDF
protection relies on encryption using
either a password and digital
certificate or a server-based rights
management solution to encrypt a file
open the new tools pane and select
protection
the first two buttons are what we're
looking for clicking encrypt opens a
drop down list of the methods and preset
profiles available certificate
encryption is designed for situations
where you know your recipients in
advance and they each have a digital ID
the public k of which they must share
with you in a file by using their
certificates to encrypt the document
only they can open it so of course you
need to make sure you include your own
certificate in the list of recipients or
you'll be locked out
then we browse for the shared public
keys that have been sent by each of our
recipients and for each user we can set
individual permissions on what they may
be allowed to do when they open the file
then click Next and click finish the
settings have been remembered but they
haven't been applied to the file
they'll only be applied when you save
the document so you can continue to make
changes to it and if you change your
mind you can choose encrypt remove and
reset the document to its unsecured
state password based encryption is the
most commonly used method and the most
widely supported in non adobe software
plus it doesn't need any advanced
knowledge is anyone who knows the
password can open the file the settings
dialog for password protection has a
number of important changes in Acrobat
10
first when you select the compatibility
level you can see we still have the
ability to target older versions of
Acrobat which can be important if your
files are being opened in third-party
software
however the strongest method based on
256 bit encryption is now compatible
with acrobat and read a 10 and later if
you're distributing files to users of
Accra battle read and nine
you should choose the acrobats seven and
later preset there were two ways we can
protect the file we can apply an open
password which of course is needed to
open the file in the first place
all we can restrict operations on the
file with the permissions password or
both
of course if you choose both you can't
use the same password twice
I'll leave the open password blank the
new strength indicator shows how complex
the password is and how likely it is to
be guests by a human or a software-based
attack if i just type in hello
it tells me it's a week choice add a
couple of digits and it's getting better
and maybe some punctuation
of course the more complex it is the
harder it is to remember so i'll just
stick with hello
in this example we then define what our
recipients will be allowed to do if they
don't know this password if they do they
can turn off the restrictions
I'll allow them to print the file but
not to make any changes
remember that adobe reader 10 now allows
access to a basic set of commenting
tools for any on secure document so by
selecting known from the changes option
I'm turning those off as well to keep
them active I'd need to choose one of
the commenting options instead you
usually leave this first entry on
checked so people can't copy and paste
your content to other applications and
the second entry checked if you turn
this off
acrobat warns you that maybe regulatory
requirements for accessibility to deal
with now I just re-enter the password
and we're done
I can save the file with a new name
using file save as PDF if i was going to
distribute the file to adobe reader
users and I wanted them to be able to
fill in forms signed pages or use the
full range of commenting tools
I choose reader extended PDF however the
security permissions are chosen will
take priority
so as I've decided to prevent all
changes reader extending this file
wouldn't serve any purpose when we
finally save the file the security is
applied as you can tell from the title
of the window
of course always applying the same
choices every time is a bit annoying and
in Acrobat we can create presets for any
type of encryption using encrypt manage
the dialog shows all of your predefined
policies including any from drm service
you may be connected to
let's click new and make a new password
based policy we are asked to name and
describe the policy
the name will appear within the document
so you have to be slightly careful what
you say
the description is optional and you can
choose whether the password will be
embedded in the profile or not on taking
this box allows you to use a different
password each time you apply the policy
now we get the same settings dialog box
we saw earlier and this time i'll create
an open password
clicking finish saves the new policy and
I can choose to apply it to the current
document right away you can see there's
a little star next to the name this
means it's a favorite and will appear on
the encrypt drop-down list you can
choose which policies appear by toggling
the star if I close the settings manager
you can see the new profile is now ready
for use
more protection is where you can control
files that are protected using digital
rights management using adobe livecycle
service depending on the policy applied
drm files can be revoked
which stops anyone else being able to
open their copies and you can see who's
done walk from the order history with a
server-based drm solution
these links will open your web browser
and take you to the online management
interface you can manage your
subscriptions the drm service as well as
your install digital IDs using the more
protection security settings dialog
this is also the place where you can
export your public keys so that other
people can produce certificate signed
documents using your identity
simply choose your key choose export
decide whether you wish to save it to a
file or attach it to an email and save
the file as an FTF
finally if you're managing the policies
and settings for an enterprise or simply
want to transfer all your presets from
one computer to another then you can
export all your security settings to an
encrypted file using more protection
export security settings you choose what
you want to export from the list i'll
choose only export my security policies
and what actions to take
with each policy then click export
you'll need to encrypt the file i'll
enter a simple password and then sign it
with a digital ID
the file is saved with an acrobat
security settings file extension and the
file can be distributed to anyone else
who providing they know the password can
import it using more protection in port
security settings and by clicking import
existing entries are updated new ones
around it and revoked entries are
removed if you're applying encryption
regularly
you can add the encrypt tool to your in
quick tools menu either by right
clicking it and choosing add to quick
tools or just by dragging it into the
quick tools bar in combination with
presets protecting a document in Acrobat
10 is literally a one-click process