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Creating protected PDF's

Anonymous
2014-07-16T11:20:22+00:00

Dear all

Now that you can access pdf#s with Ms Office 2013 - The whole point of protecting your documents from modifications has gone out of the window.

How do i now create a pdf (from word, powerpoint, excel etc..) whilst at the same time protecting it from modifying .....in as few a clicks as possible?!!

Thank you

Akhlaaq

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-07-17T04:41:47+00:00

    Another possibility is to use PDFCreator, an open source product, though I should warn that PDF protection is weak at best. If the user can see the PDF then it can be copied, modified and recreated.

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  2. Jay Freedman 207.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2014-07-17T01:44:19+00:00

    Unfortunately, if the recipient has the password needed to open the file (the only kind that Word can apply), then with that same password they can open the PDF in Word as an editable file.

    To let people read the PDF but not use Word to modify it, you have to apply a password that prevents copying and printing. For that, you need Adobe Acrobat or a similar editor. If you don't have it, you can download Acrobat version 8.0 (an old version) for free -- see http://josephlo.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/acrobat-8-pro-free-giveaway-from-adobe/ for the link.

    In Acrobat 8.0, open the PDF you get from Word or elsewhere. Click the Secure button and choose Password Security. In the dialog, choose compatibility with Acrobat 7 and later to get 128-bit AES encryption. Under Permissions, check the box for "Restrict editing and printing..." and enter a password. The "Printing Allowed" and "Changes Allowed" dropdowns should both say None, and the "Enable copying..." box should be unchecked. Click OK and save the PDF. 

    Now recipients will be able to view the PDF in Adobe Reader or other readers, but they won't be able to modify it (if they honor the security settings, which most but not all do), and they can't open it in Word:

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  3. Stefan Blom 338.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-07-16T22:06:09+00:00

    When saving the PDF in Word, you can set a password or opening the file (in the PDF Options dialog box).

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