SECURE your PDFs!!!

Raise your hand if you thought by saving your documents to sell on TPT or TN as a PDF, it was safe and secure? <raises hand> We are wrong! 🙁 Little did I know, you can copy images from a PDF, or even turn them into word docs unless you have actually changed security settings in the PDF. I feel awful after having seen this wording in all the clip art Terms of Use I’ve ever read:

Scrappin Doodles Terms of Use

…and thinking this whole time I have been following the rules. I AM a rule-follower (most of the time anyway) and I certainly would not have broken this rule had I known… and I have a feeling most of you feel the same!

SOOOO, here is a tutorial on how to make your current PDFs secure… it’s super easy and fast! Re-doing and re-uploading all my TPT files, however, will not be. Urgh…

Step 1: Open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat. You must have Acrobat to secure a document-Adobe Reader does not have the capability (as far as I know).

Step 2:

Click the padlock button at the top in the toolbar, or you can go to “Advanced” and select “Security” then “Encrypt with Password.” (If you do the “or,” skip to step 4.)

Step 3:

Choose “Encrypt with Password.”

Step 4:

Click “yes,” you are sure you want to change the security. I went ahead and checked “Do not show this message again” too.

Step 5:

I left compatibility on 7.0 or higher since TPT requires you to have an updated version of Adobe anyway. I also kept the radio button selected for “Encrypt all document contents.” That way it covers everything. DO NOT CHECK “Require a password to open the document” or people won’t be able to open it! (Unless you share your password…) The only place you want to make changes is in the red box: check “Restrict editing and printing of the document.” Type in your password (make sure it’s one you’ll remember in case you need to edit the document yourself!). Change “Printing Allowed” to “High Resolution,” so people can print your document in high quality. Make sure “NONE” is selected for changes allowed. That way they cannot edit your document in any way, keeping your material original. Make sure the box for “Enable copying of text, images, and other content” is UNCHECKED- that’s really the biggie. That’s what those Terms of Use are all about. And then I would keep it checked for “Enable text access for screen reader devices for the visually impaired.” No discrimination here. 🙂

Step 6:

Re-enter your permissions password…

Step 7:

And that’s it!!

You are now secured! I hope this tutorial helps you. I promise it’s super-easy to do, and now, you won’t be breaking any Terms of Use! And your work will be kept unaltered and “sacred,” too!

As for saving after you create a new item- if you create it in Word, when you Save As PDF, follow these steps when it opens as a PDF.

If you create it in PowerPoint, click on print then at the bottom, click on PDF, and select “Save as PDF.” There is a box that brings up what the document can be renamed as, but underneath that is a box for “Security Options”. Click that. Then just check “Require password to copy text, images, and other content” and fill in your password. *Thank you to Christy from Teaching In Oz for this tip!!*

I think Christy may have a different version of PPT, so hers is a little different… On my version, I go to Print, and choose my printer as Adobe PDF. Then select Printer Properties… where it says Adobe PDF Security, select Reconfirm Security for each job, then click edit. That screen should look just like the one from the tutorial in this post.

Here are some tips from Aimee at Pencils, Books, and Dirty Looks for Mac Users! I found out that you do not have to purchase Adobe Acrobat to secure your PDFs. Simply open your PDF through preview (right click on your PDF for the menu and the pick Open with, the click preview). Next go to the menu and select print. If you are in preview you will see a drop menu for PDF on the bottom left. Click that and go to Save as PDF. The next screen to pop up has a Security Options button. When you click on that, you will get three choices. Check “Require password to copy text, images and other content.” DO NOT check the other options or your buyers will not be able to open or print your product. If my explanation does not make sense, check out this youtube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GxmzmugVU0

For those of you without Acrobat, Nicki at Mrs. Thigpen’s Kindergarten suggested getting PDFill for free to do encryptions.

I hope this helps! Anyone else that figures out tips along the way, I’ll be glad to add them to this post, just I have been doing! 🙂