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Erica_Schul
Participating Frequently
October 5, 2011
Question

Disable Comments & Mark Ups

  • October 5, 2011
  • 2 replies
  • 48881 views

Hello,

I created a form in Adobe Indesign and then brought it into Adobe Acrobat Professional and made it interactive.

I understand the security settings and am able to get the form working propertly except when I use the Save As...Reader Extended PDF.

Every feature works properly except the user is able to make comments and mark ups and I want that to be disabled when using Acrobat Reader and Pro.

Is there a way to make it so they can print the form with their answers filled in using my print button I created, email me the form using the submit button I created, and still keep it so they are not able to edit or make changes to the form itself, other than filling in the forms.

In Summary:

I need this to work for users using Acrobat Pro and Acrobat Reader.

The only changes that should be allowed are filling in form fields and signing existing signature fields, printing the form using my print button, and submitting the form using the email button I created.  This all works perfectly until I go to the Save As... Reader Extend PDF option... After testing the form in Acrobat Reader, I was able to fill in the form with my information.. print the form using my print button, submit the form using my submit button... and also able to cross out and mark up things....  I need to be able to do ALL but the crossing out and marking up.

Please advise!

Thanks,

Erica

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

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Erica_SchulAuthor
Participating Frequently
October 7, 2011

Hello Steve,

I just went through the steps and created a certified document without a visible signature.  I understand how to do that... but when I tested it in acrobat reader... I was able to fill out the form and use the print button and submit button....

However, I was not able to save the filled out form, which is something I want them to be able to do.

My original method where I password protected the form so that the form could only be filled out and signed...and then saved that form..... them reopend the form and and saved as: Reader Extended PDF.. it then works 100% as I want...

I thank you for your time and effort.. I see that you just responsed and after better understanding, agree that the Password Protect option is the best way to go.

I am not worried about coworkers or internal people changing the form.. I don't want our customers to be able to edit the form by accident when they are filling it in.

On a side note, you mentioned that Password Protect beign simple and cheap... After reading your previous post, I played around and created a digital signature... is this going to get billed to me?  If so, then I need to contact adobe as this is not necessary for me to have and I was just practing.

Again, thank you for your time!

Erica

Steven_Madwin
Adobe Employee
Steven_Madwin
Adobe Employee
October 7, 2011

Hi Erica,

No, you do not have to pay for the self-signed digital ID that you created.

What I meant by cheap is there is low overhead with password security when you only use a Permissions password. You don't have to get people to generate their own digital IDs and then get them to export the public-key certificate in order to share it with others like you do with Certificate Security. There is also the overhead cost of getting everyone to create a digital ID if you really want to use digital signatures. However, if you get a digital ID from a trusted third-party Certificate Authority then there is a cost involved, but no cost (other than your time) in using Acrobat to create a digital ID.

There are advantages to using PKI based digital signatures along with a lot of overhead. It all depends on who you are sharing the files with and how easy you want it to be for them and just how much security do you need. Adobe offers server based security solutions, but we are talking $$$$ and if you don't need to protect your intellectual property to that extent then Password Security is all you need. You can add a Document Open password (which I skipped over above) to keep unauthorized eyes from seeing the file, but once you do that not only do you have to make the file available to your co-workers, but you also need to relay the password to them. That too is a cost of time and effort, which is part of what I meant by "cheap" in the example above.

Steve

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Erica_SchulAuthor
Participating Frequently
October 5, 2011

I am pretty sure I just solved my problem... not sure how I did, but I did.

If someone had written step by step instructions on how to do this... that would be appreciated.

Thanks so much!

Erica

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    George_Johnson
    Inspiring
    October 5, 2011

    It's just a matter of setting the appropriate restrictions when setting up password security. You can allow form filling but disallow commenting.

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      Erica_SchulAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      October 5, 2011

      Hello George,

      Thank you for your response.  I did set that security setting but when I then went to the Save As... Reader Extended PDF it over wrote the settings.

      I was able to get around this by saving the document normally and then reopening it in Acrobat Pro and then doing the Save As...Reader Extended PDF and it kept the commenting option disabled.  I am not sure if this is the proper way to achieve my goal, but it works and I tested it in Acrobat Reader with success.

      Thanks again!

      Erica

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