Four Easy Ways to Copy Protect a PDF Document: Free and Paid

From simple password protection and disabling text copying to advanced encryption techniques and the use of digital watermarks, each method offers unique benefits to mitigate the risk of unauthorized distribution and maintain document integrity. Whether you’re looking for basic protection or robust security measures, this blog will provide you with the knowledge and tools to safeguard your PDF documents effectively.

1. Password-Protecting the Document (Document Encryption)

Using PDF encryption to restrict access to a document involves setting a password that users must enter before they can view or modify the PDF. This prevents unauthorized users from opening or copying the contents without the password.

Here’s how to protect your PDF document from copying with a password:

1. Launch your PDF viewing or editing software (e.g., Adobe Acrobat, PDF-XChange Editor, etc);
2. Open the security settings and look for the security or properties option typically found under the "File" menu. In Adobe Acrobat, this is under "Tools" > "Protection" > "Encrypt" > "Encrypt with Password;
3. Choose the option to encrypt the document with a password. Use a strong password that includes a mix of letters, numbers, and special characters — Mozilla has a great secure password guide;
4. Specify the document permissions. After setting the password, you can specify what actions (such as printing, editing, and copying text) users can perform without entering the password. For instance, you can allow printing but disallow copying text;
5. Save the document. The next time someone tries to open the PDF, they will be prompted to enter the password, so no one without a password will be able to open it.

2. Disabling the Text Copying

Many PDF editing software have a setting that lets you disable the copying of text from the PDF. This feature is usually found under security settings where you can restrict text copying and extraction — here’s how it works in Adobe Acrobat:

1. Go to "File" > "Open", and select the PDF document from which you want to disable text copying;
2. Open the security settings by navigating to the "Tools" tab, and password-protect the document as described above;
3. After setting the password, a dialog box will appear where you can specify the document permissions. Look for options related to content copying or extraction. Here, you can choose to disallow copying of text or images by unchecking the relevant boxes.
4. Apply and save — Adobe Acrobat will prompt you to confirm the password again.

Once you’re done, all users attempting to copy text from the PDF will be restricted according to the permissions you’ve specified. 

If you opt for other PDF editors, it’s likely that you’ll go through a similar scenario with security settings, permissions, and copy-proofing options.

Double-check your settings carefully before working with classified documents and sensitive info!

3. Adding a Watermark to the Document (Free)

There are two types of document watermarks you can use:

• Visible watermarks — Overlayed on top of the content, or in the corner/background; the purpose of visible watermarks is to prevent document copying by “spoiling” the clean image, and to deter people from misuse by signaling ownership.
• Invisible watermarks — These watermarks are invisible to the naked eye; special tools and PDF editing software are used to embed the watermark directly into the document data to prevent and trace unauthorized copying and distribution.

Here’s how to add a visible watermark for free with Virtualbadge:

1. Design your watermark or select the old one — create a PNG file with a transparent background so you can easily work with it;
2. Open our Free Certificate Generator and upload your watermark;
3. Upload your PDF document with the Add Background button;
4. Go to “Layers” and add the watermark to the document;
5. Save and use!

In addition to free resources, you can use Virtualbadge for free for a week! 

Test the platform and create secure documents, certificates and badges with ease. 

If you opt for an invisible watermark — here’s what you need to do if you use Adobe Acrobat:

1. Navigate to the "Tools" menu;
2. Select "Protect," then "Watermark" or "Manage Watermarks;"
3. Choose the option to add an invisible watermark and configure the settings.

4. Convert to Image-based PDF (Free)

Another way to protect your documents is to convert the textual document pages into images, and then convert them back into a PDF format.

This method may sound like a hassle or non-intuitive, but converting documents to images will prevent people from selecting and copying the text, and make any editing visible. However, turning text into an image will also sacrifice the ability to search within the document or copy specific sections when needed (and authorized).

If you decide to use this method, you can do it for free with Virtualbadge, and the process is similar to adding a visible watermark as described above:

1. Open our Free Certificate Generator;
2. Upload your PDF document with the Add Background button;;
3. Save it as an image and use freely!

Conclusion

All of these PDF-protection methods provide varying degrees of copy-proofing, but none are completely impervious. 

The level of protection needed depends on the sensitivity of the information and the potential risks involved — so we advise you to:

• Use a combination of all copy-proofing methods available to you: each layer acts as another deterrent and makes the documents more safe;
• Create strong passwords and don’t repeat them;
• Enable 2FA for your and document handlers’ accounts: the documents are only as safe as all the parties handling them are careful!

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