4 Ways to Protect PDF from Copying

Audrey Goodwin

2021-09-22 21:21:03 • Filed to: How-To • Proven solutions

Perhaps you want to share PDF files online. First, you need to make sure that the files are secure so that no one can access and copy them without permission. You can protect PDF from copying. This article will discuss three methods about how to protect PDF file from copying with PDFelement and one online solution.

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Method 1: Protect PDF from Copying
Method 2: How to Protect PDF File
Method 3: How to Secure a PDF
Method 4: Protect PDF from Copying Online

Method 1: Protect PDF from Copying

PDFelement has two password options to protect your PDF file. One is "Open Password," which allows you to set a password to prevent unauthorized users from opening or accessing your PDF files, and the other is "Permission Password," which prevents individuals from copying or printing your PDF files even after they have opened it. Follow the steps below to protect your PDF files from unauthorized copying by setting a password.

Step 1. Open Your PDF

Launch PDFelement on your computer. Click the "Open files" button on the Home window. Browse for the file that you want to open and click on the "Open" button to display the PDF file that you want to protect.

Step 2. Protect PDF from Copying and Editing

Go to the "Protect" tab, and click the "Set Password" button. Then select the "Permission Password" option. Enter your desired password and permissions. Once confirmed, click on the "Save" button to apply, and save your PDF file. This will successfully protect your PDF files from being copied.

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To restrict printing, select the "Print Permission" dropdown menu.

"Printing is restricted" - means to prevent printing this file.
"Allows low-resolution printing" - means your document can be printed. However, it can't be printed at high quality. You can choose this option if your document contains sensitive information.
"Allows high-resolution printing" - means your PDF document can be printed at high quality.

To restrict editing, select the "Changes Permission" dropdown.

"No changes are allowed" - means the highest level of protection. No modifications are allowed.
"Inserting, deleting, and rotating pages allowed" - means pages in this PDF document can still be inserted, deleted, and rotated.
"Filling form fields and adding signatures allowed" - means your PDF file can be filled out and signed by others.
"Commenting, filling form fields, and signatures allowed" - means your PDF file can be commented on, filled, and signed by other users.
"Extracting pages is prohibited" - means unauthorized users won't be able to extract pages from your PDF document.

If you want to protect your PDF from copying, you do not need to select the option of "Enable copying of text, images, and other content."

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PDFelement is the best tool for setting up passwords to prevent unauthorized access to your PDF files, as well as unauthorized editing, printing, or copying of the file. In addition, PDFelement can edit PDF files such as pages, color, fonts, and images and can add watermarks. It has a built-in OCR feature that makes scanned PDF documents editable. This program can also convert PDF to other formats such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Images, etc. You can also create PDF files out of images, blank documents, HTML files, or existing PDF files.

Method 2: How to Protect PDF File

Another option for protecting your PDF file from copying is to convert the PDF document into an image. The content in a converted image can't be copied. After opening your PDF file in PDFelement, go to the "Convert" tab and then click on the "To Image" to start the conversion. For further instruction, click the link to learn how to convert a PDF to an image.

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Method 3: How to Secure a PDF

PDFelement can not only help you to set a password and protect PDF but also enables you to protect PDF from copying by a digital signature, which is a mathematical scheme that can verify the authenticity of document content that was not altered in transit.

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After loading your PDF file in PDFelement, click the "Protect" > "Sign Document" button to add a digital signature to the file. For detailed steps, please refer to the article about how to create a digital signature here. This is the method to protect PDF from copying without a password.

Method 4: Protect PDF from Copying Online

If you want to protect your PDF from copying online, then the Hipdf tool is the best option. On their website, select the "Protect PDF" option to upload your PDF document, then enter a password to encrypt the file. This is the only step that you need to do about how to protect PDF files from copying and printing online.