how do I prevent download or sharing of a PDF file

[neiln31444299]

If I want to link my PDF file so people can view it, but not share it, download it or even comment, how do I do that?  What Abode product will let me setup the way a Pdf document can be used for only viewing and nothing else, no download, no sharing, and no comments?

Thank you.

[Dov Isaacs · Accepted solution]

Unless you host your own PDF viewer on your website such that the PDF file itself is not internally downloaded by whatever PDF reader the user has on their computer (i.e., your website displays a raster bitmap of the PDF content), there is absolutely no way to prevent the file from being downloaded and shared using Abode (sic) software.

          - Dov

[iain28153993cymy]

Can they not share the link you send them though?

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

If you are referring to GoogleDrive, sharing can be limited to particular email addresses. 

In the long run, IMHO, it's a fool's errand--anything that can be viewed on screen can be copied in some manner. Protection is about keeping the honest people honest; the dishonest will find a way. 

[sagarrr]

That is possible sir i'll show you provide me link

[leonard@harbrdata.com]

I am interested in this solution.   Can you send a pointer?

[davidb55068192]

Please help! How do i stop the oddamatic link to come up when i drop a PDF in my email. this is the most F up thing ever!!!!

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

What are you taking about? Is this related to the original post? Screen captures are always helpful.

[mariak38518758]

I faced the same issues when I wanted to share a pdf in an elearning but did not want the users to be able to download it. What I did was use the Adobe Reader DC app to export the pdf as an html web page, then embeded it as web object in my elearning package. Worked as intended after publishing. Users can not download it. Hope it helps. 

[try67]

Sure they can. HTML pages can be downloaded just as easily as PDF files.

[mariak38518758]

True. But for my case my users are unlikely to save the entire webpage.
So I agree that this option may not be the best for all cases, but may work for some.

[pdf_7385]

You can share shortcut to the file for people to download. This way people will be able to download and share a path to the file rather than the file itself. Someone could still screenshot the page if they wanted to but downloading the PDF would be disabled. This can be achieved with a simple url file. If you are not a developer there is an app, Salepager, that can do this for you.

[try67]

Once someone opened the file, they can save it to their computer and share it with others, without the need for your shortcut. The only way to do what you described is with DRM protection, which is quite expensive.