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Correct answer try67

True, this "protection" is far from safe. However, if you apply a file-open password (different than the file-edit one, of course) then it would be much more difficult to remove. Not impossible, though.

2 replies

try67
Community Expert
try67Community ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
March 3, 2025

True, this "protection" is far from safe. However, if you apply a file-open password (different than the file-edit one, of course) then it would be much more difficult to remove. Not impossible, though.

MikelKlink
Participating Frequently
March 3, 2025

The permissions feature of PDF is a soft security feature, it requires PDF processors to cooperate and abstain from certain operations if certain flags in a document are not set. Apparently the tool you reference does not respect those flags. Even worse, it removes them. 

 

That permissions feature is coupled with the encryption feature, but as soon as a PDF processor can decrypt an encrypted document to display it, it technically can do anything with it. 

 

Adobe Acrobat does warn you about this when you apply permissions unless you have in a prior such warning clicked the "Don't show this warning again" check box.