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Participant
June 8, 2022
Answered

Fillable PDFs

  • June 8, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 562 views

Hello everyone, I have a somewhat particular request to ask. I have a pdf (a contract) made in Adobe Illustrator and made fillable with Adobe Acrobat. My question is this: is it possible to "block" some fillable text fields so as not to make them editable? I would need it because, being contracts, there would be certain data on the contract to protect and not make them editable by the customer. Thanks in advance to who will answer me!

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Correct answer Test Screen Name

Be aware that NOTHING will stop the customer editing them, because - although you can set security options with Acrobat, and many apps will block editing - there are MANY other apps which ignore security. This is why you need to rethink the idea of locking and use signatures instead. NOT as a kind of security though - but as a way to detect tampering. Don't use "self sign" certificates if you want legal standing.

3 replies

Test Screen NameCorrect answer
Legend
June 9, 2022

Be aware that NOTHING will stop the customer editing them, because - although you can set security options with Acrobat, and many apps will block editing - there are MANY other apps which ignore security. This is why you need to rethink the idea of locking and use signatures instead. NOT as a kind of security though - but as a way to detect tampering. Don't use "self sign" certificates if you want legal standing.

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
June 8, 2022

The best way to do that is to digitally sign the form using a signature field. That will allow you to specify which fields to lock, and which to leave editable (under the field's Signed event). Any other method can be overcome, some very easily, if someone is willing enough to do so.

Bernd Alheit
Community Expert
Community Expert
June 8, 2022

You can set the fields as read-only.