Is there a way to force "Save As" on a form so the original can't be overwritten?

[toddr14813053]

Is it possible to have a form that, when the user tries to save it, it forces them to rename the file? I don't want them to be able to overwrite the original, but I want them to be able to make changes to their form in case something happens. Hopefully that makes sense. The majority of the users I deal with are not very computer savvy and I'm worried that they will mess up the form and then I'll spend a lot of time fixing things for them. After reading the forums, I have already tried the following:

1. Protect the Form with a password - still saved and overwrote the form.

2. Flatten the document and Save as optimized, but then the form became unusable if they needed to make any changes. Also, I don't think I can get them to understand the Save As Optimized process.

Also another side concern, if there is a way to set it as Save As, will it force them to Save As every time the change the form or just the first time?

I am using Acrobat Pro DC to create the form and, while I try to get all of my users to use Reader DC, I cannot guarantee they will.

Thoughts?

[Test Screen Name]

You solve this outside Acrobat. Protect the file and the directory that contains the file with normal network security. Then the user can't, accidentally or deliberately, save over the file.

[toddr14813053]

Ok, so I forgot to mention, I will not have access to their systems to make any network or system security setting changes. These are not employees with a unified system but are volunteers with various operating systems and system settings. Is there any other way? Can I make the kind of setting changes you mention to the thumb drives we give them the forms on? Still, that would not help if they transfer the forms to their home machine, right?

[major_thompson]

Could you explain how that would work?

I have a PDF form I have to fill out every day and I want Acrobat to prompt me to Save As instead of overwriting the original. If I can do that by adjusting security settings, I would gladly do so.

[try67]

This has nothing to do with Acrobat. It's a file setting. What's your OS?

[try67]

I answered your question in your other thread: Can I create a PDF "template" akin to Word's template (.dotx) function?

[major_thompson · Accepted solution]

Thanks, try67. I appreciate it.

Todd -- just to help you out, I'll share what try67 told me. If you go to a document's properties, there's a check-box for "Read-only" at the bottom. Clicking that works well enough, even if it isn't quite perfect. It's certainly something that could be undone by a user on the other end, but that's not what I'm trying to avoid.

Thanks again, try67!

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

What try67  suggested is the simplest and easiest way to force all users to save the file with a new name.