Choosing which type of security to use

By adding security to documents, you can limit viewing, editing, printing, and other options to only the specified users. You can choose if you want the users to have the required password, a digital ID, or access to Adobe LiveCycle® Rights Management ES.

Acrobat provides different security methods with which to specify document authenticity, encryption, and permission settings. You can encrypt all or part of a document and limit user actions. For example, you can restrict users to only typing in fields in a form or prevent them from printing a PDF.

You can easily share some or all of your security settings with others by exporting and importing the settings. In enterprise environments, you can save the security settings on a server, and then load them by specifying the URL for the server. You can also use the exported settings to back up and restore your settings, as needed.

Acrobat takes advantage of the security features of Windows XP and other security systems. Use the Document Properties dialog box to choose one of the following security methods:
Note: “Security” is sometimes confused with “accessibility,” which involves making documents easier to read for the visually impaired.
Password security
Use passwords to restrict opening, editing, and printing PDFs. Password security provides a simple way to share documents among users where sharing passwords is possible or when high levels of backward compatibility is required. Password security policies do not require specifying any document recipients.

You set password protection either for all contents or only on file attachments. PDF envelopes enable you to attach encrypted files to an unencrypted PDF envelope.

Certificate security
Certificate security provides a high level of security and eliminates the need for password sharing. It also allows assigning different permissions to different users whose identities can be verified and managed.

Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management ES security
Use Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management ES to apply a policy to documents without the need for digital signatures and certificates. The policy contains the list of recipients and their individual set of permissions.

Security policies

If you often apply the same security settings to PDFs, consider creating a security policy to simplify your workflow. Different policies are useful for accommodating different requirements.

Envelope policy
You can secure multiple documents by embedding them in a PDF envelope. Envelopes can be encrypted to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the contents and certified to provide proof of origin. Authorized recipients can open the envelope and extract the files to view them.

LiveCycle Rights Management ES policy
Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management ES policies are stored on a server, and users must have access to the server to use them. Creating these policies requires specifying the document recipients from a list on Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management ES.

Password and certificate policies
Save your password or certificate settings and reuse them to encrypt PDFs without setting up the password or certificate for each instance.

Protection required:

Action:

Require a password to open a PDF, or copy or print its contents

Choose Encrypt With Password from the Secure button in the Tasks toolbar. For a PDF Portfolio, choose File > Modify PDF Portfolio > Secure Portfolio.

If your company is signed up, you can also use Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management ES to secure documents.

Indicate that you approve of the PDF content

Sign and certify the PDF. You must obtain a digital ID to add digital signatures.

For Asian languages, you can add an approval stamp.

Prevent forms from being tampered with

Use LiveCycle Designer to secure forms and create locking signature fields. See the Adobe LiveCycle Designer Help.

Send secure file attachments via email

Use security envelopes.

Allow only the people you specify to view a PDF

Choose Encrypt With Certificate from the Secure button in the Tasks toolbar, or apply security using Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management ES. You must have certificates for users who can view the documents.
For more information on using security features, see these resources: