Comparing Secured PDFs

[Guest]

Can I secure PDFs from editing and still compare the two in Acrobat Pro DC?

[try67]

Depends what you're not allowing in your security policy... I assume that Content Extraction must be enabled for this to work.

[Guest]

Thank you for you answer.

Im assuming that it is not possible to have both a secure PDF and the ability to compare one PDF to another.

Is there a way to Enable Content Extraction and Prevent Editing to the existing file? I do not mind if content is copied or that the file is printed. Im trying to prevent the existing file from being easily manipulated.

Ive attached a screenshot of my Security Document Properties. Are there preferences that I am overlooking that would make this task possible?

[try67]

You need to enable Content Copying. It's a separate check-box in the

Password Security window.

[Guest]

Thanks for the help. I saved the PDFs to allow content copying. But when I tried to compare the two PDFs I was still prompted to enter the password.

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

That seems to be behavior on Acrobat DC Pro. The good news is that this is already better than what was available in Acrobat XI and earlier, which did not prompt for passwords, but just refused to perform the comparison.

[Guest]

So is my assumption that this task is not possible accurate?

[Karl Heinz Kremer · Accepted solution]

Yes, not until Adobe changes this. You may want to submit an enhancement request: Feature Request/Bug Report Form

[Test Screen Name]

"So is my assumption that this task is not possible accurate?" no, because as has been said you just need to enter the password then it can be done.

[adeep93]

Hi,

Greetings! Thanks for you using the new 'Compare Files' feature.

In the latest version of Acrobat DC Pro, behavior of comparing secured documents is as follows:

Due to security reasons, if the Input PDFs have any type of 'Password Security' i.e. having an Open Password or Permissions Password, you will be prompted to enter the respective password. Also, the Compare Report generated from such secured files won't have any Password security applied on it.

Thanks,

Acrobat DC Team.

[Test Screen Name]

Prompting for a password seems correct, if about to make an unprotected report that could contain copies of content.

[VeraUser1]

In the latest Acrobat Pro DC if the secured file is open and pdedit permission is allowed on the document, then the file is being compared without any password prompts. Also, once the compare is used then all the other security settings of the pdf are also not honored. This seems to be a bug can someone confirm?

This is a serious security breach according to me.

Post the compare compare file the permissions of the already opened file will automatically be listed as everything is allowed. 

[Ali226830424wal]

The work around I have found is to drop both secured PDF files into the google drive, and then print to PDF.  This gives you versions that don't have security that you can then compare.  This at least allowed me to get the two documents side by side with the changes highlighted. 

[Wes the Key]

Thank you for the usggestion. I printed to PDF (selected Microsoft Print to PDF in the printer list), and that gave me a PDF that I could compare.