The Complete Guide to Protecting PDF Files in 2022
Table of Contents
Keeping your PDF files safe and secure is one of the most important things you can do. Today's world is full of serious cyber-threats and malware, and we know that if we don't protect our files, we will lose them.
But with so much information out there about what tools we should be using to keep our PDFs safe, it can be hard to figure out which solution is best for you and your company. Every option has its benefits and drawbacks, and it's hard to know which one is the perfect fit for you.
In this guide you’ll know all about protecting your PDF files:
What are PDF Files?
PDF files are document files that provide a high quality and accurate reproduction of the original document. They are used widely in academic institutions, legal systems, and other organizations that require a permanent record of text or images without any changes.
PDF stands for Portable Document Format. It is developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated as a subset of PostScript language for viewing text and graphics on a monitor. The PDF format is capable of not just providing access to a wide variety of fonts, colors, line art, graphics, and images but it also offers the original file's content with high effectiveness.
Originally, the PDF file format was created by Adobe Systems as a way to easily share documents with other people who may or may not have access to the same software. The PDF file format was created to be universal, so that anyone with Adobe Acrobat Reader could open, view, and interact with these files no matter what device they were on.
Why You Need to Encrypt PDF Files?
PDF files are widely used in many organizations for their convenience, but what most people don’t know is that they are not secure. To make sure that your PDF files are safe, you need to encrypt them.
Encrypting PDF files is a great way to protect the information in these documents from unauthorized access. And it’s not just about preventing data interception through email or file transfer protocol. It also protects data from being leaked because of hacking. Encryption can be applied to the whole document or selected text or images within a document.
But there are some caveats with this topic - for instance, if your PDF file is too large, encryption slows down its performance and renders it unusable at all!
If you want to safely encrypt your PDF files for storage, it's a good idea to use a PDF encryption softwares.
Encryption Tools for Protecting PDFs
The encryption tools are in demand because of the increased awareness for security. The market is filled with different software that takes care of all your data protection needs. It is hard to choose which one to use because it can be very expensive to switch between them.
Encryption tools are easy to use and provide a great level of protection for your PDFs. You can upload your document or generate a new one through the site, encrypt it so only you have access, and download the encrypted PDF which will only be readable on your computer.
Below is a list of encryption tools for protecting PDFs:
How to protect Pdf files from copying
There are a few ways to protect your content from being copied. Most people think that digitally watermarking the content is the only way to go, but there's more.
Digital watermarks can be a form of protection - if someone copies your pdf file and tries to edit it, the watermark will show up and you will be able to identify it as a copy even if they have changed some of the information.
A digital lock that locks your pdf file is also good protection. You can offer their clients an opportunity to purchase a password for their product once its been downloaded from you.
You can encrypt your pdf files so that they can't be opened without an encryption key.
These are all forms of protection available for your PDF files.
How do you password protect a pdf file on mac?
This tutorial will show you how to password protect PDF files on a Mac. If you would like to password protect your PDFs using Windows, please see the link below for more information.
Password protecting a PDF file is not difficult; we just need to know the right tools and techniques. The easiest and most common technique is by using Adobe Acrobat, which has built-in features that can do this task seamlessly. Alternatively, we can also use third-party software and online websites.
List Tools that you can use to protect PDF Files online:
How to protect a pdf file from being edited
There are two ways of protecting PDF files: password-protecting the document and encrypting the document. Password-protecting your PDF file is a method of preventing people from editing your document by making them enter a password before they can edit the file. Encrypting your document is another way of preventing people from editing your document by scrambling all the data in it so that only someone with the right “key” can unscramble it and access its contents.
PDF Files Security Recommendations
A PDF file is a document that contains text, graphics, audio, video and interactive content. It's readable on virtually any computer platform or device since it uses Adobe's Portable Document Format.
PDF files are not secure. They are prone to digital tampering by hackers and other people who want to steal information from them. The PDF file format isn't designed to be secure, but there are ways you can take precautions to keep your PDF files as safe as possible.
Don't open attachments that you don't recognize
Be wary of unknown attachments that might harm your data.
If you must open an attachment, scan it for viruses before opening
Don't open attachments after reading an email if the email is asking for sensitive information
Don't open attachments with the following extensions: .exe, .bat, .zip, .scr, .cmd, .pif, .vbs without scanning them with an antivirus.
Conclusion
We hope that you have found this guide helpful. It is important that you take the necessary precautions to protect your PDF files.
PDF files are increasingly getting more popular because they are easy to share and store. They are also accessible on all devices. Unfortunately, PDFs are also at risk of getting hacked or corrupted which can make them unusable.