Assign Security Options to a PDF Document

When creating PDF documents, you may want to protect the content of the document. You can do this by assigning security options to the document.

To assign security options at the HotDocs Save As dialog box

1. Assemble a document. (See Assemble a Text or Form Document.)
2. Choose Save Document As (HotDocs File menu). The Save As dialog box appears.
3. Click the Save as type drop-down button and choose PDF File (*.pdf).
4. Click the Security button. The PDF Security Settings dialog box appears.
5. Make your selection, based on the following information (for additional information about each of these options, see the Adobe Help file):
   • Select None to leave the document unprotected. No security options will be applied and the user can edit the document (using Adobe Acrobat Professional).
   • Select 40-bit RC4 encryption to apply less-stringent security options to the document (and make the document compatible with all versions of Adobe starting Adobe 3.x). (Selecting this option affects which options are available in the rest of the dialog box.)
   • Select 128-bit RC4 encryption to apply more stringent security options to the document (and restrict use of the document to Acrobat 5.x and later users). (Selecting this option affects which options are available in the rest of the dialog box.)
   • Select Master password and enter (and confirm) the required password to require the user to enter a password when changing security options for the document.
   • Select User password and enter (and confirm) the required password, require the user to enter a password when attempting to open the document.
   • Select one of the printing options: Fully allowed, Low resolution only, and Not allowed to allow varying levels of printing.
   • Clear Allow content copying and extraction to keep users from copying the text in the document and pasting it into other applications.
   • Select Allow access for visually impaired to allow the document to be read out loud by Acrobat.
   • Select Allow content editing to let users can modify the pages of the document, including adding or removing pages, or rotating pages to let users make changes to the document.
   • Select Allow page-level editing (insert, delete, rotate) to let users make changes to page properties of the document (such as inserting pages).
   • Select Allow annotations to let users make comments or other notes in the document.
   • Select Allow form filling to let users enter information in Adobe fields on the form.