Locking Adobe Illustrator AI File

[Guest]

I am wanting to share an adobe illustrator ai file with someone, so they can export various sized pdf files from it. However, I am wanting the file to be locked, so nothing can be edited. Is there a way to lock an ai file? I know I can lock objects, but how can I guarantee they will not edit the logo I am sending? Thanks.

[Jacob Bugge]

Colrtheworld,

The long answer is trust.

[Doug A Roberts]

You can do various types of locking with PDFs themselves in Acrobat, but not an AI file.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

Make a contract.

You can't lock vector files.

PDF locks can be disabled within seconds. And if the file is going to print, locking the PDF would qualify it as invalid and not printable by the preflight procedure.