We’ve been redacting way too much — sometimes hiding payment terms that Purchasing needs — and other times not redacti…
Open the PDF file you want to restrict in Adobe Acrobat.
Select Tools from the main menu.
Choose Protect from the list of available tools.
Click Restrict Editing under the Permissions section.
When prompted, set a permissions password to prevent others from changing these restrictions.
In the permissions dialog, uncheck options for printing, editing, and copying as desired to make the PDF read-only.
Click OK to apply the restrictions.
Save the PDF file to ensure the new permissions are in effect.
Best practiceIf you want to prevent users from removing these restrictions, choose a strong, unique permissions password and do not share it.
After applying restrictions, test the PDF by reopening it to confirm that editing and printing are disabled.
This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.
Setting 'Printing Allowed: None' means no one can print your PDF document at all. Choosing 'Low (150 dpi)' allows printing, but only at a very low quality. This means printed images or text will look blurry or pixelated, making it hard to read or use for professional purposes, while still allowing a basic printout if needed. It's a way to allow some printing but discourage high-quality copies.
If you set 'Changes Allowed' to only 'Form Fill', users can type information into form fields within your PDF. However, they cannot do other things like insert new text, delete existing content, rotate pages, or extract any pages. This is useful for surveys or application forms where you want responses but no changes to the form itself.
An owner password is required to remove PDF protection because it acts as the key to unlock the document's security settings. Without this password, anyone could easily bypass the restrictions you set, such as preventing printing or editing. It ensures that only the authorized owner can change or remove the document's security measures, keeping your content safe.
Yes, you can restrict copying text from a PDF independently of printing. When you set up document protection, you can choose specific actions to allow or disallow. You would configure the 'Changes Allowed' option to prevent copying, while leaving the 'Printing Allowed' setting as 'High' or 'Low (150 dpi)' to permit printing. This gives you fine control over how users interact with your document's content.