Is signing the only way to lock a form in Reader?

Question

Hi,We're investigating in my company the use of PDF forms filled in Adobe Reader XI. So far, I haven't hit any limitation.After a form has been filled, it must be locked so it can't be altered. The locking doesn't need to be highly secure, as we're trying to prevent accidental modifications more than fraud. From what I've seen, signature seems to be the standard mechanism to lock a form. Is that the only way? Signature also has regulatory implications that we don't necessarily want when locking a form.Thanks!R.

George_Johnson · Accepted Answer

An alternative is setting the fields to read-only via JavaScript, which will prevent accidental modification.

Reader will also flatten the form when it's saved after e-signing, which is not the same as digitally signing. This converts the fields to regular field contents, making it difficult to extract the form data.

grefghyzehgeh · Answer

Hi,Sorry for the delayed response. I investigated making the fields read-only and found a pretty easy solution. I added a lock button with a script to make all fields read-only, and created a custom action so form authors can easily add this button. It works great!Thanks for your help!R.

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