Vratislav Holub You can encounter PDF documents every day. It is one of the most widespread formats, with which you can quickly and easily share all kinds of documents. Today's systems can handle opening them natively, without any auxiliary applications. In the case of macOS, this task is handled by the native Preview application, which is used for viewing images and documents. But in fact, it offers far more functions and options and has no problem with locking or securing your files.
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In this article, we will therefore shed light together on how to lock PDF documents through the native Preview application and why. You may have encountered a file that could only be opened after entering a password. But this is only one of the security methods. In fact, there are many more and it always depends on your personal preferences and needs.
How to lock a PDF in Preview
First of all, let's shed some light on how to actually lock a document and what are the options in this regard. First, of course, it is necessary to open a specific file. Then click on the option from the top menu bar File > Edit permissions, where all security of a specific file is handled. Specifically, you have two options. Either the file can be directly locked with a password, when it is enough to check the option in the upper part Require a password to open the document, or modify only the permissions and options of the document itself, thereby greatly limiting it. This option is available at the end, where you just need to set the so-called Owner password and in the section Authorization just edit what you actually want to limit in the case of your file. Specifically, it offers the option to disable printing, copying text and graphics, inserting, deleting and turning pages, adding annotations and signatures or filling in existing fields in forms.
How to lock a PDF document
At the same time, the question arises as to why PDF documents should be protected in this way. Of course, the first option in combination with the second will provide you with the best possible protection. Anyone who then opens the PDF file will not even look at its contents without entering a password. Something like this comes in handy especially at times when you need to share a given document confidentially with a narrow circle of people. On the other hand, it may not be the best option, especially in cases where you need to get the item to more people, but still want to keep it secure. For these purposes, it is better to fill in below Owner password and in the section Authorization add some restrictions. As we mentioned above, with this you can for example block printing, copying of text and graphics, and many others. Users will then be able to access the file, but will not be able to perform selected operations - for example, copy from it.
To secure PDF documents, you can also use the native Preview, which actually brings quite a few great functions and options. Sharing a document without a password with limited rights can come in handy in cases where, for example, you don't want someone to copy and use your work. If the PDF file were locked in this way, there is nothing left but to overwrite specific passages directly. Simply marking and copying is not possible without a password.
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Pavel Jelic 