Copy Protect PDF Files

PDF Copy Protection: Protect PDF Files from copying without passwords

Protect IP

Copy protect PDFs without useless passwords:

Stop unauthorized access
Stop sharing and distribution
Strong US Gov strength encryption, DRM and licensing controls

Restrict Use

Set Expiry

Revoke Access

Watermark

Log Use

Comply Law

Benefits

DID YOU KNOW?

Not all PDF copy protection is equal

Passwords are useless – once the user has the password, they can unprotect the PDF and do what they like with it
Adobe PDF permissions (stop copy, edit, print etc.) can be removed instantly or simply ignored by Viewer applications
Plugins to Adobe Acrobat don’t always work – they can be circumvented by other plugins and stop working after updates
Browser-based solutions (used by secure data rooms) rely on passwords and weak JavaScript protection

“We would really recommend Safeguard PDF Security to every publishing company for managing their ePubs or e-books securely.

Before using this PDF DRM product we were mainly worried about our valuable data, unauthorized use and data piracy. But after implementing this product we have overcome all those issues and managing our e-books has become an easy task.

Safeguard has an easy to use interface to copy protect PDF files, and it is simple to distribute them to our authorized customers only. Also the prompt response and less turnaround time form Locklizard sales team provided a good customer support experience.”

Copy Protect PDF files without password protection using Safeguard DRM security

How to protect PDF from copying text, images & printing

Safeguard PDF allows you to copy protect PDF files against the copying of text, printing, and screenshots so that users cannot share content with others. Safeguard:

Stops the copying of text and images
Stops the editing of text and copying & pasting of content
Prevents printing of PDF files
Stops the saving of a protected PDF file to other file formats
Stops screen grabbing applications from taking screenshots (Windows and third-party)
Locks PDF files to devices so they cannot be shared with others
Revoke PDF files at any time, regardless of where they reside
Wotj no passwords for users to enter, manage, share or remove

Additionally, you can:

Add dynamic watermarks to digital and/or printed pages. Dynamic variables insert user and system information when the document is viewed/printed, so that you only have to protect the document once for all users.
Make the PDF expire on a fixed date, after a number of views or prints, or after a number of days from opening.
Track PDF use – log document views and prints.
Lock PDF files to locations.

Protect a PDF against copying with Safeguard:

To copy protect PDF files using DRM security, right-click on a PDF and select ‘Make Secure PDF”.
Select the copy protection controls you want to apply. We recommend that you add a watermark to identify users. Safeguard creates permanent dynamic watermarks that cannot be removed using PDF editing software.
Locklizard will automatically prevent users from copying text and images, but you may want to take additional steps to protect from screen capture. Without screen capture protection, a user can screengrab your document and import it into an optical character recognition (OCR) tool to make the text editable. To prevent this, open the “Environment Controls” tab and tick “Disallow screen capture”. Optionally, tick “Add screen mask,” which covers the viewer window with an image if focus is moved away from it. Makes it harder for users to reference information to manually type into another document.
Press the “Publish” button at the bottom of the window.

Your copy protected PDF will output to its source folder in the .pdc format, and you can safely share it knowing that nobody can access it without a valid license.
Add a user account and send them their license via the Safeguard admin portal.

You’ll need to send your recipients the DRM-protected file, alongside a download link for the secure reader application and a valid license. The simplest way to do so is by ticking the “Email license” option when you add a new user. See how to add a new user and grant them document access.

DRM controls to protect PDFs from copying

Prevent copy and paste
Locklizard’s PDF copy protection software prevents copy and paste by using our own secure PDF viewers to limit the functions available to users.
We prevent users from copying text and images and pasting them into other applications.
Unlike Adobe permissions or restrictions, our copy controls cannot be easily removed.
Prevent editing & saving
Locklizard Safeguard prevents saving and editing of PDF documents. Users cannot easily edit and copy content or save to unprotected file formats. You can also restrict the size of the document window (resolution).
Prevent screenshots
Locklizard’s copy protection software prevents the use of print screen and screen grabber applications.
While nothing can prevent a user from taking a photograph of the screen, Locklizard can hinder the capture of high-quality screenshots, making the task more laborious. It is even more effective when combined with dynamic watermarking, which helps discourage users from distributing any photos.
Prevent printing
Stopping users from printing a PDF is one of the most effective ways of preventing copies of your PDF documents from being circulated, since printed documents can be readily photocopied or scanned and then duplicated. By default, Locklizard disables printing.
That said, it may be a requirement to let users print. If you want to allow printing, you can apply secure watermarks to discourage the distribution of printed copies. You can also limit the number of high-quality prints allowed, enforce greyscale or black & white printing, and log prints so you can track when your PDFs are being printed, by whom, and when.
Locklizard’s copy protection software automatically prevents printing to PDF drivers, XPS files and other file formats so that secure PDFs cannot be readily converted back to unprotected ones.
Permanent & Dynamic Watermarks
To further discourage copying and sharing of PDF content, you can add dynamic watermarks that automatically insert the user’s name, email, company name, and a date/time stamp at view/print time. This ensures that the user of those documents is clearly identifiable.
By using dynamic variables, you only have to protect one PDF document for all users. With Acrobat PDF security you must protect each PDF document individually for each user to add details such as their name and company. This is unfeasible at scale.
Locklizard watermarks are also permanent and cannot be removed in a PDF editor.
Prevent sharing
If you use password protection to copy protect PDF files, users can easily share both the PDF file and the password with others or just remove it. Any restrictions you apply to prevent copying, editing and printing can be instantly removed using free online password removal tools.
Unauthorized recipients won’t be able to open Locklizard protected PDFs since they are encrypted. To open the PDF, the user has to be authorized to view it. If a user has been authorized to view it, then that PDF is locked to their device and will not open if copied to another. There are no passwords or codes for users to enter – keys are transparently and securely transferred to authorized devices and locked to them.

What does copy protect PDF mean?

PDF copy protection is one aspect of PDF security and PDF digital rights management and is the process of applying copy protection controls to PDF documents. In PDF digital rights management systems it is used to:

prevent users from selecting and copying and pasting content into other applications
prevent screen grabbing (copying and pasting of screen content)
prevent printing and editing of content
lock PDF files to authorized devices to prevent users from sharing protected PDF files

What is copy protection?

Copy protection is the Holy Grail of the music and film industries. There have been attempts to make DAT tapes, and then CDs, and DVDs, MP3s, and now streaming content uncopyable. These industry attempts have been notable only in their lack of success.

At the heart of the problem is that everything on a computer is a copy – there are no originals! To play a music file, watch a video, or read a PDF document, it must be copied onto the computer.

It follows that, no matter how hard you might try, something that must be copied in order to be used can also be copied! After all, you can play a music CD and record the output from the speakers if you want to, and no copy protection system on earth can stop you. It’s just a matter of convenience and quality.

So, when choosing software, ignore solutions that claim they can copy protect PDF files by stopping users from transferring the documents themselves. It’s just plain make-believe.

Do you need copy protection?

Now that you know what copy protection is, you may be wondering if you really need it. Creators, after all, have more tools at their fingers than the constraints software can provide. One of those is the ability to register their copyright for a particular work.

Registering copyright is an important step. It allows you to better enforce your inherent artistic rights. You should not, however, assume that it removes the need for copy protection. If you are selling a work or trying to maintain association with a publicly accessible one, PDF copy protection is a good idea.

Why? Once your work has been distributed by an unauthorized party, it’s very hard to undo. Trying to remove every copy of a file across the internet is just as futile as trying to stop it from being copied in the first place. Though you can file a DMCA request, most piracy sites will refuse to comply with them anyway.

As a result, it’s much better if you can either make copies of the file useless to others in the first place. Failing that, find a way to identify the original distributor so that you can sue for damages. In many industries, such tools are essential to a business’s survival.

How do you protect PDF files from copying & printing?

The first point of order is making sure that the file that people have access to cannot be used without some other information. If you don’t do that, then you have no copy protection at all. You cannot prevent people from copying the file, so you have to prevent them from being able to make any use of it.

Normally, preventing access is achieved using PDF encryption. This technique means that whilst people can readily copy PDF files, they cannot use the copied file — the encryption renders it incomprehensible. Thus, PDF copy protection is not obtained just by trying to prevent people from copying physical files, but by making sure that the digital files they copy are useless.

As mentioned, the copy protection needs to have some additional information that users cannot pass on. Specifically, the cryptographic key(s) used to decrypt the files must not be shareable. This is achieved by making sure the decryption key is not seen by people and by ‘locking’ it to individual computers. This is a critical feature of any PDF copy protection software.

PDF copy protection vs PDF copy removal tools

Tool Name	Type	Protection Strength	Can Copy Protection Be Removed?
Adobe Acrobat Password	Password-based	Weak – Easily removed	Yes, with free tools
Online PDF Protectors	Cloud password/JS-based	Very weak	Yes, easily bypassed
Locklizard Safeguard	DRM-based with encryption	Strong – Cannot be bypassed	No, content is encrypted

Copy protecting PDF files using passwords

Protecting PDF files with passwords is useless because it does not fulfil the criteria above – users can grant access to their documents by sharing the password with others. Alternatively, they can just remove the copy protection from the PDF in a PDF editor or password removal application.

How to remove copy protection from a PDF

It’s easy to copy or print from password protected PDF files that use Adobe Acrobat security. As covered in how to remove a password from a PDF, there are various methods to remove copy protection from a PDF. Below, we list how to remove copy protection in five different ways:

Users who know the passwords can remove copy protect from PDF files in any PDF editor
Open passwords can be guessed and removed using cracking tools (provided they are not too complex) or shared with others
Permissions passwords (which apply the copy protection) are easily removed along with the copy protection by uploading the PDF to one of many free online tools
You can also strip a permissions password by converting to a Google Doc or Word doc
If all else fails, users can screenshot each page and use optical character recognition (OCR) to convert it back to text

Once the permissions password has been removed, users are free to copy, edit, print, and share as much as they like.

Can you protect a PDF from copying online?

There are various tools online that promise to protect PDF files against copying, editing, and misuse. They fall into two categories: online PDF password-protection tools and cloud-based protection tools.

Protecting a PDF from copying online using a password

Online PDF password protection tools use the same technology as desktop Adobe Acrobat, which, as we’ve demonstrated, is easy to circumvent. In fact, they represent even worse security, since you need to upload your unprotected PDFs to somebody else’s servers. This makes them potentially vulnerable to interception or theft through the compromise of a provider’s servers.

Protecting a PDF from copying without a password online

Cloud document tools can protect a PDF from copying without a password online using JavaScript controls. These try to disable certain functions of an online PDF viewer, such as printing, editing, copying, and download capabilities.

Unfortunately, as covered previously in Is Google Drive secure?, these have a limited impact. As JavaScript executes partially on the user’s side, it is usually easy bypass. It can be as simple as disabling JavaScript on that webpage, modifying a single line of code, or installing a browser extension. Users can then download the PDF content unrestricted and do what they like with it.

That’s not the only problem with cloud-based protection. You need to think about how you’re going to give users access to their document. Typically, this is achieved by providing a link and then asking them to log in with a valid username and password system. This reintroduces the issue of password sharing, as users can then share their account details to grant access to all their copy protected documents.

PDF copy protection and DRM security

Apart from being able to stop unauthorized users from opening protected PDF files, you need to implement additional controls to prevent the copying of content when that PDF is viewed and or printed.

A good PDF digital rights management system should stop the following:

editing of content
screen shots – both print screen and screen grabber applications
copying and pasting of content
saving protected content to unprotected files (i.e. Save As)
printing
printing to file drivers (if printing is allowed)
storing unprotected content to temporary files on disk

And ensure that:

PDF documents are locked to authorized devices so that users cannot gain unauthorized access
Keys to unlock protected PDF files are transparently relayed to authorized devices and stored securely
Content is only ever decrypted in memory
Dynamic watermarks can be added to documents so that user information is displayed on viewed and/or printed content
Documents can automatically expire after a given time and that you can manually revoke access regardless of where PDF documents are located
Document use can be logged so that any unusual behaviour can be detected and acted on – e.g. instantly revoking access
PDFs can be locked to locations so documents cannot be used outside these locations. For example, you may want users to be able to view PDF files on their tablet devices but only at the office.

Why Locklizard Viewers protect PDF files from copying better than other PDF Readers

Locklizard uses its own secure PDF Viewers to achieve a higher level of copy protection than other PDF security systems. PDF content cannot be compromised by other applications or the common Adobe PDF security flaws and cracks.

	NO Plug-ins PDF copy protection is not compromised by plug-in failures or conflicts. Plug-ins are potentially so insecure that we prevent them from loading so they can’t compromise security. See Adobe PDF plug-in vulnerabilities.

	NO JavaScript JavaScript is one of the commonest forms of malicious attack. We do not allow JavaScript to run in any of our installed Viewers since it can seriously compromise user’s computers and leave you liable to lawsuits – see PDF security issues.

	NO Adobe Acrobat We don’t have to update our PDF security product every time Adobe updates Acrobat in order for it to work. We don’t rely on the Adobe Viewer at any time or the Adobe Security Handler due to multiple security issues.

	NO Passwords NO passwords are required to grant access to protected PDF content. Users therefore cannot use password crackers to remove copy protection functionality.

	NO temporary files PDF documents are only ever decrypted on-the-fly in memory and decrypted content is never saved to temporary files.

For a more detailed security overview see our DRM technology.

FAQs

Can you protect a PDF from copying for free?

Not effectively. There are some online tools that let you protect a PDF from copying by converting the text to images. However, this is easily bypassed by using an OCR tool to turn the images back into text. Any good PDF reader can achieve this.

If you want effective protection, you’re better of paying for a more sophisticated tool like Locklizard Safeguard.

Can you protect a PDF from copying without a password online?

Not effectively. Most online tools just apply Adobe password encryption. Ones that don’t, such as data rooms or collaboration platforms, enforce their copying controls using JavaScript, which is easy to bypass.

Is I Love PDF safe / are online copy protection tools safe?

It is difficult to say for sure. A lot depends on how long they store your files, how safely they store them, and whether there are any temporary files left over. You should be conscious when using any online tool that your sensitive or confidential PDFs could be compromized if the provider’s servers are. This includes if they use HTTPS or end-to-end encryption if this functionality is not implemented correctly.

Is there a way to print from a copy protected PDF?

It depends on what was used for PDF copy protection. If the answer is Adobe Acrobat or another PDF editing tool, then the answer is absolutely. Due to flaws in the security handler, you can easily remove the print protections with various online tools.

If the owner protected your document with Locklizard Safeguard, you can only print if the publisher allows you to.

How do I know if my PDF is copy protected?

If your PDF is protected with Adobe Acrobat, you’ll be prompted for a password when trying to edit and/or open it.

All Locklizard Safeguard PDFs, which are presented in the .pdc file format, are copy-protected by default.

How can I convert my PDF with copy protection to a Word file?

If the copy protection is Adobe Acrobat security, you can just remove the copy protection with a free online tool or Google Docs and then open it in Word. Locklizard-protected PDFs cannot be converted into other file formats. You must open them in the dedicated viewer application and in the .pdc format.

How to Remove Copy Protection from a PDF?

Most tools that let you remove PDF copy protection work only on Adobe password-protected files. If the file uses weak permissions security, it can be unlocked using:

Google Docs
Online PDF unlocking tools
Word conversion

However, PDFs protected with DRM-based systems like Locklizard cannot be unlocked this way. They use encryption and licensing tied to devices, with no passwords to remove.

Download PDF copy protection software

Download PDF copy protection software that uses US Government strength encryption and Digital Rights Management controls to copy protect PDF documents.

Ensure your PDF files are protected against copying, printing, editing and distribution. Lock PDF files to individual computers and locations so they cannot be shared.

Stop unauthorized access and sharing
Control use – stop copying, editing, printing, etc.
Lock PDF files to devices and locations
Expire and revoke files and users at any time

Locklizard’s PDF copy protection software provides superior copy protection to Adobe Acrobat, allowing you to prevent PDF copying and sharing without insecure passwords.

Customer Testimonials

We needed to deliver e-book versions of our handbooks while not compromising on security and digital rights. Safeguard PDF security is easy to use and intuitive.

The implementation was painless and we now have a greener, more secure way of distributing training manuals.
Locklizard’s PDF protection is exactly as described – the features are highly effective and I would give it 5 stars.

I would recommend Locklizard to others - their security is simple to use and fit for purpose. It meets common needs of businesses who have information they want to protect.
We would be happy to recommend Locklizard to any company needing a flexible way to secure PDF files.

Safeguard PDF Security has provided us with a very workable solution for sharing of information in a secure fashion. The support has been excellent and very accommodating.
We can cut accounts for a user five minutes before his class starts and he is ready to go. Happy smiling customer, while we still have security and personalized watermarking.

I have immense respect for the product and Locklizard provide great customer satisfaction and service.
We would recommend Safeguard to other companies for its security, cost and ease of use. It does what we expected it to do and more.

Ease of use is a bonus and the implementation was very easy. The product manual is excellent and Locklizard staff are very accommodating.
We sell a highly valued educational product in an open and competitive market so it was important to ensure we had effective security to protect our digital rights.

We highly recommend Locklizard - a professional company with a competitive and professional PDF Security product.
We would absolutely recommend both Locklizard as a company, and Safeguard PDF Security. It has transformed our study materials to the next level.

Not only did this increase sales, but we also believe that it has increased our customers’ ability to learn, which is even more important!
We would recommend Locklizard Safeguard to other companies that need to protect PDF reports. Customers have found the process of accessing the protected documents to be seamless.

Implementation was easy and technical support has been very responsive to requests for help.
Our company would without reservation recommend Locklizard. Their document DRM software opens up delivery of our new products in a timely fashion while knowing that the content will remain secure.

The return on investment to our company has been immediately evident.
We use Safeguard to make sure that documents cannot be opened outside our local network or from a unauthorized computer in order to copy or print the documents.

It is the most feature rich, affordable, & simple to use PDF security product on the market.
Safeguard PDF Security is simple to administer and meets our needs, consistently delivering secured manuals to our customers with ease.

Return on investment has been elimination of many man hours, printing resources and postage – it is estimated that costs decreased by 50% or more.
We would really recommend Safeguard PDF Security to every publishing company for managing ePubs or e-books securely. It is easy to secure PDF files and simple to distribute them to our authorized customers only.

Locklizard also provides a good customer support experience.
The ROI for us is incalculable. We have the security of knowing that our proprietary documents are secure. This is the entire value of our company.

I would most certainly recommend your PDF security product and already have. The ease of implementation was surprising.
We can now sell our manuals without the need to print them first, saving time, money and helping safeguard the environment.

We would recommend Safeguard PDF DRM – it is the perfect solution to sell and send e-documents securely whilst making sure someone cannot copy them.
We would recommend Locklizard to other companies without hesitation.

Their PDF DRM products provide a manageable, cost effective way to protect intellectual investment and they are always looking for ways to improve them. Moreover, their staff provide an excellent level of support.