Using security levels and passwords in Acrobat

The security functions and activities you can perform in Adobe® Acrobat® range from adding a password to encrypting a document. You can use two levels of passwords. The user level, or Document Open password, is a traditional type of password that requires the user to type the correct characters in order to open the file. The master-level password, or Permissions password, allows you to modify the document restrictions. You can use one or both of the password options in the same document.

Requirements

To complete this article, you will need the following software:

Adobe Acrobat 8

• Try
• Buy (Professional)
• Buy (Standard)

Prerequisite knowledge:

Basic knowledge of working with the commenting tools in Acrobat

Adding security levels and passwords

The default setting is a high level of security compatible with Acrobat versions 5 and 6. To change to a lower level of security to share documents with readers using older versions of Acrobat, or a higher level of security to use more features, you have to first modify the Compatibility level.

Follow these steps to apply a password to a document in a program using a PDFMaker:

1. Choose Adobe PDF > Change Conversion Settings to open the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog, and click Advanced Settings to open the dialog for the PDF settings, such as the default Standard settings.
2. Select a program and PDF versions from the Compatibility pop-up menu (Figure 1). The level you choose defines what options are available when you’re setting passwords. Select the level and click OK to close the Advanced settings and return to the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog.

    

   

   Figure 1: Specify the program version required to use the security features applied to the document.

3. Select the Security tab. You can add one or two passwords:
   • Select the “Require a password to open the document” check box to activate the field. Type in the password.
   • Select the “Restrict editing and printing of the document” check box. Type in the password. Then specify the restrictions you want to add to the document (Figure 2).

      

     

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     Figure 2: Choose the restrictions to apply to the document from the options that are based on the level of compatibility chosen earlier.

4. Click OK to close the Security dialog. In the confirmation dialog, retype the password and click OK. Click OK again to dismiss the encryption information dialog.

   Tip: When you set both passwords, you must confirm both in separate dialogs.

   After you convert the document to a PDF, you must enter the password in a Password dialog to open it in Acrobat if you used a Document Open password.

Now or later

Add security to a document in programs that use a PDFMaker, such as Adobe Photoshop® CS3 or Adobe InDesign® CS3. Use passwords if you intend to convert and e-mail a document from your source program. If you plan to work with the document in Acrobat, wait until the work is complete and then add passwords. Otherwise, you have to enter the passwords each time you open the document.

What security setting levels mean

Encryption is a software-based method of controlling who has access to a document based on the fact that there is no simple way to factor very large numbers. The differences in security options relates primarily to printing and the types of changes users are allowed to make such as filling in form fields, commenting, and signing. You can also choose various combinations of options and allow specific text access for screen readers used by the visually impaired.

About metadata

Metadata is descriptive information about a file that can be searched and processed by a computer. Adobe’s extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) lets you embed metadata into a file to provide information about the contents of a document. Applications that support XMP can read, edit, and share this information across databases, file formats, and platforms. If you use Acrobat versions 6 to 8 compatibility options, you can choose to enable Metadata in the security settings.

Where to go from here

For more information about security features in Acrobat 8, check out these other great tutorials:

• Adding a signature field to a PDF file , by Donna Baker
• Using security envelopes in Acrobat, by Donna Baker
• Redacting text and images in a PDF file, by Donna Baker

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