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How to Prevent PDF From Being Edited, Printing, Copying

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Published By Ashwani Tiwari
Aswin Vijayan
Approved By Aswin Vijayan
Published On February 13th, 2024
Reading Time 6 Minutes Reading
Category PDF Updates

You all must have heard prevention is better than a cure and that’s why you are searching all over the internet about “prevent pdf from being edited”. There is a plethora of ways to get it done in no time. Here we are describing every method concisely so you don’t need to navigate anywhere from now but just stick with this guide the last option will do wonders for you and discover the vast options to protect a PDF from being edited.

Overview of Prevent PDF From Being Edited

PDF or portable document format is used to share data on a large group of users around the world but what if your PDF gets edited by someone else and you will again need to rectify all the changes that have been modified into it?

We understand your endeavors to make a PDF and resource all the information. So that’s why we brought you unwavering methods to keep a PDF from being edited.

Table of Content

What Could Be Possible Ways to Protect PDF from Being Edited?

According to the users of diverse locations from all over the world, we have curated the ultimate solutions for them so they don’t need to spend searching for the steps, now you just need to follow the below guide to prevent PDF from being edited:-

Follow These Steps in Adobe Acrobat

  • “Download and install” Adobe in your system.
  • Open Adobe go to “File” > “Open” and select the file from your computer.
  • Now Click on “File” and select the “Protect Using Password” option and then “Encrypt with Password” to make PDF secure.
  • Afterward, “Put a password” in the password dialog box.
  • Put your desired password into the “Document Open Password” field. Use this password to open the PDF file.
  • Set additional permissions by clicking the “More Options” button and set actions (e.g., printing, editing).
  • Once you configured the password and permissions, click the “OK” button.
  • “Re-enter the password” for verification in the confirmation dialog.
  • Finally at last go to “File” > “Save” or “Save As,” and choose a location on your computer to save the secured PDF.

Prevent PDF From Being Edited in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is useful to stop a PDF from being edited, follow the below-listed steps to save the PDF:-

  • Open the desired file in Microsoft Word.
  • Select the “File” > “Save As” and choose PDF as the file format.
  • Now stay in the dialog box and click on  “Options” to set a password and other security settings of the PDF.

Free Online PDF Conversion Tools

Multiple online services are available to upload a PDF online and help prevent a PDF document from being edited. Here’s a general process to secure PDFs:-

  1. Search on the browser for PDF Conversion Tool
  2. Now “Upload” your PDF file.
  3. Select the desired security settings and “Set a password”.
  4. Once you select your password, click on the “Protect” or “Encrypt” button.
  5. Finally, Download the secured PDF.

Professional Method to Lock PDF Document

Use  SysTools Ultimate PDF locker to  secure the PDF, Because locking PDF is not enough if you don’t protect it with the highest secure algorithm that can’t be decrypted tool. This tool is the most authoritative and trustworthy because it does not copy your data in its system and maintains its integrity:-

Download Now Purchase Now

Step 1. Start the application now you will see a user interface of this tool click the “add files or add the folder” option to secure PDF as you desire.

Add files in software

Step 2. Choose the Destination button for saving files for ease of recognition and select the path or location to create the destination for the password-protected PDF.

Choose saving destination

Step 3. Click on the Security option settings interface in the tool and choose the security options in the dialog “Apply Document Restriction” option. 

Choose restriction types to prevent pdf from being edited

Step 4. Choose “restriction types” from “changes” and “enter the password”. Printing resolution is also there for user preference.

insert password

Step 5. Create dual security with the “document open password” feature. For that, just select the Apply Document Open Password option, enter the Password, and select encryption types.

select security types

Step 6. Once to applied all the settings, So now wrap up the process by clicking on the “Lock button” to secure the PDF file.

click on lock button

Also Read:- How to Lock a PDF File With Two Passwords

Why Prevent PDF From Being Edited?

Protecting Sensitive Information

This is one of the primary reasons to lock PDFs from editing because in this world. Because there is no world for privacy and if your PDF contains financial records, personal data, or any proprietary information. It needs to remain hidden from unauthorized access. Because the document’s contents can be kept secure from prying eyes by locking the PDF with a password, encryption, or other security measures.

Preventing Unauthorized Editing

One of the key reasons is you can prevent PDF from being edited, copied, or printing of the document. So if you are dealing with any legal contracts or agreements and any kind of official reports that should be shared between your known users. So it’s remain intact with the security applying restrictions to the PDF. Such as disabling editing or printing, the original content can be preserved and unauthorized changes can be prevented.

Compliance and Legal Requirements

In some of the time, you need to adhere to compliance requirements for safeguarding sensitive information. So that’s why some of the big industries like hospitals must comply with HIPAA regulations that are necessary for confidential patient health information. Bu if we talk about financial institutions they also comply with data security standards to safeguard customer information. So encrypting PDFs with security and making restrictions control can help organizations meet these regulatory requirements.

Sharing and Distribution Control

Control sharing the PDF and distribution is a prominent feature. Owners can control access levels and control who can view or edit the PDF. This is very useful when you are sharing confidential information with a select group of individuals or when distributing sensitive documents externally.

Conclusion

So now you can Prevent PDF from being edited using these ruling methods in the industry to keep a PDF from being edited. Because unsecured PDFs can create a mess for you and what if your work is stolen? This little initiative towards security can create lots of changes be it editing your PDF or copying its data. If you do think that manual methods can be a tedious process, Then you can go for the PDF lock tool to work for you to process multiple PDFs at one time.

 

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