Number 205 - June 2000

Locked Adobe Acrobat Files
from Q&A by Patrick Marshall, Seattle Times May 14, 2000
Q. I had been using Adobe Acrobat 3.0 to read PDF files. These files are forms and I write on them and have been saving the results. Recently, I downloaded Acrobat 4.0 and it does not seem to have a Save function. Could you shed any light on this? I called and talked to someone at Adobe, but they didn't seem to know what I was talking about and said that the people writing the files may have a lock on the Save feature of their files. This is not true. --Gary Jang	A. Actually, I think you got the straight story from Adobe. The author of an Acrobat file can specify that those who open it will not be able to save changes to the document. If you've written a PDF document you can "lock it" by going to the File menu, selecting Save As and then choosing Standard in the Security field. You can then choose from a number of options, including requiring a password and disallowing changes to the document. Once you've disallowed such changes, the Save command will be grayed out, indicating it is no longer an option.
Number 205 - June 2000