Forum Discussion
How to lock a pdf from editing without adobe acrobat?
Has anyone found a simple way to lock a pdf file from editing without using Adobe Acrobat? Acrobat is way too expensive for what's needed here and the installation process alone has been a nightmare ...
Microsoft's Print to PDF feature, combined with print restrictions, is a quick, native Windows trick that allows you to lock a pdf from editing. It flattens all text and editable layers into static graphics, so no one can modify the text or objects.
How to Lock a PDF from editing
- Open the original PDF file in Microsoft Edge.
- Press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + P to bring up the print dialog box.
- From the printer drop-down menu, select Microsoft Print to PDF.
- Click Print, then select a folder and enter a filename to save the new file
Disadvantages
- Cannot set password protection for opened files
- No text can be selected; the text search function does not work
- Complex layouts containing forms, tables, or vector graphics will permanently lose their edibility
- Cannot restore flattened PDFs to editable text
The generated PDF file becomes a file similar to a static image, with its editable text layers removed. Users can only view the pages, but cannot edit, copy, or extract text from the document.
ps
- Before printing a document as a PDF, back up the original editable PDF file.
- You can only lock a PDF file to prevent editing; you cannot prevent users from taking screenshots or photos.
- When printing large, multi-page documents, the rendering process may take longer.