Flatten PDF now allows other Acrobat users to edit the contents?

Question

I am currently troubleshooting an issue that has come to my attention. Someone sent me a flattened PDF file. (They tried flattening it a couple of different ways. One was by printing to PDF and the other was to use the Save As > Optimize option.)

In Acrobat, I can go in to edit that document and it appears that it is not flattened. I am able to edit all of the text and move their signature. The only thing I cannot edit is if they put a layer on top of the text, I am not seeing any way to move that layer or view the text underneath (which is good in my case).

Is there a way to ensure that other users that may have access to this file cannot edit the text or signature of the "final version" of the file in Acrobat? Flattening once did this for us, but doesn't seem to fulfill the same function any longer.

try67 · Accepted Answer

Flattening is not the same as "protecting from editing". Never was.

To do that you can apply a security policy, or (better yet), digitally sign the file.

Be aware that the former is not respected by many PDF viewers, unfortunately, and the latter doesn't actually prevent someone from editing the file, but it does make it possible to detect that a file has been edited (because it invalidates the signature).

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