To open and use policy-protected documents, the policy
must grant the user access to the document. The document user also
needs a valid Rights Management account and the appropriate client
application. For PDF documents, the user needs Acrobat or Adobe
Reader. For other file types, the user needs the appropriate application
for the file with the Rights Management extension installed.
When a user attempts to open a policy-protected document, Acrobat,
Adobe Reader, or Rights Management Extension connects to Rights
Management to authenticate the user. Then, the user can proceed
to log in. If the document usage is being audited, a notification
message appears. After Rights Management determines which document
permissions to grant, it manages the decryption of the document.
The user can then use the document according to the policy confidentiality
settings.
The steps in the diagram are as follows:
The document user opens the document in a supported client
application and authenticates with the server. This task is performed
in the supported client application. The document identifier is
sent to the Rights Management service.
The Rights Management service authenticates the users, checks
the policy for authorization, and creates a voucher. The voucher,
which contains the document key and permissions, is returned to
the client application.
The document is decrypted with the document key, and the
document key is discarded. The document can then be used according
to the confidentiality settings of the policy. These tasks are performed
in the supported client application.
If the policy specifies that document events are logged, the
client software sends event information to the server for logging
as soon as the user opens the document. For information about the
audit log, see Monitoring events in LiveCycle Administration Console Help.
If the user saves a copy of a policy-protected document, the
policy is automatically applied and enforced for the new document.
Events such as attempts to open the new document are also audited
and recorded for the original document.
The user can continue to use a document with the following time
limits:
