PDF photos- security

[dglas]

Sometime back I converted some digital photos to PDF and sent them via email to persons who may want to purchase them. There was a way to do this so that the PDF photos could not be printed. I have completely forgotten how I accomplished this.

Anyone familiar with this procedure?

 

[telecomm]

Do you have Acrobat Pro? I don't think this can be done in Preview, but I haven't played around with Preview very much.

In Acrobat, press Command+D to bring up the Document Properties pane, then in Security select Password security, and under Permissions check the "Restrict editing..." button to make the Printing options active. Save it with a password, and it won't be possible to print the document.

 

[jdavtz]

They can just zoom in and screen-capture if they want to print.

Or probably unrestrict the PDF easily using free software (esp. on Linux).

 

[ChrisA]

Sometime back I converted some digital photos to PDF and sent them via email to persons who may want to purchase them. There was a way to do this so that the PDF photos could not be printed. I have completely forgotten how I accomplished this.

Anyone familiar with this procedure?

You are going to have to use Adobe Acrobat. But be warned, a smart user can get around this kind of protection. It's far from fool proof.

 

[telecomm]

They can just zoom in and screen-capture if they want to print.

Or probably unrestrict the PDF easily using free software (esp. on Linux).

You are going to have to use Adobe Acrobat. But be warned, a smart user can get around this kind of protection. It's far from fool proof.

Yes, the password security options aren't foolproof, but if people are that desperate to print out your photos, there's not much you're going to be able to do about it, save not providing digital copies at all. You could always embed lower resolution/smaller images into the PDF just in case.

Most people, I suspect, won't bother using something like PDFKey Pro (which, when last I checked, couldn't crack the 256-bit AES encryption introduced in Reader 9).

 

[Kronie]

You are going to have to use Adobe Acrobat. But be warned, a smart user can get around this kind of protection. It's far from fool proof.

Its super easy to get around PDF securities. The easiest I can think of is just open the acrobat file in PS.

If your worried about theft you would be better off with a watermark. Maybe one thats subtle, but placed in a spot that would deter theft?

 

[cdcastillo]

...There was a way to do this so that the PDF photos could not be printed. I have completely forgotten how I accomplished this.

Anyone familiar with this procedure?

When you create a PDF with preview, select security options, and select the "Require password to print document" option, then enter the desired password and save. Easy, ain't it? Be warned, however, that as some others have pointed out, it is not too dificult to get around this security measure.

Do you have Acrobat Pro? I don't think this can be done in Preview...

Yes, it CAN be done in Preview.

You are going to have to use Adobe Acrobat...

No, it CAN be done in Preview.

 

[Kronie]

Just for kicks I tried to edit a PDF file that a broker sent me a few days back in PS CS3. I have done this before with other PDF files. I couldn't open this one.

The file had a "master password" so I could view and even edit in Acrobat 8 Pro. But couldn't open in PS without the password. That was new to me.