How to Disable PDF file "Copy & Paste"

[Noel Cunningham]

Is there any way of disabling the "copy & paste" function in pdf files? I searched the archives but the last thread was 4 years ago so I wonder can anyone give me some advice...

I was looking through the security settings in Adobe Reader but it won't let me change them. I'm not worried about encrypting the file or password protect - just disable to copy & paste function.

Does anyone know of a way around this? Or is it worth the hassle?

[Colin Theriot]

I presume you want to do this in an attempt to thwart piracy or infringment, but as a consumer of information who frequently uses C&P to make my own notes, I am infuriated when I come across a C&P or Print-locked PDF. If you are damaging the normal usefulness of something for the majority of legit users in order to stop a few bad eggs, IMO, it's not worth it.

The only real reason I can think of to do such a thing is if it is a legally confidential document, or something containing information that is under a binding NDA or something. Most PDF authoring tools can do either, but then again, both print lock and C&P lock are easily removed if you know what you're doing.

[Noel Cunningham]

I just want to make it that little bit difficult for pirates to just copy and re-purpose my work as their own. I know there are ways around it but anything that would remove the simplicity of C&P would be appreciated.

[iMassMarket]

You need Acrobat or other third party tools to lock functions in your PDF file. Readers lack those functions.

Frankly it's not worth it in my opinion. There are just as many tools to unlock functions from PDF files as there are to implement them. If someone has the notion to do it, they can easily find a way.

[Colin Theriot]

Like I said, it offers NO complication for someone who wants to steal it (which are just a few people) but a LARGE complication for legitimate users who want to copy and paste for legitimate purposes (hopefully a much, much larger number of people).

So who do you care about more? Pirates or your prospects and customers?

Piracy is a problem that the biggest, richest companies in the world can't solve. Why even try when what you'll be doing will just tick off people who want to give you money?

But hey, do what you like. Like I said, you will need PDF authoring software, like FoxIt Phantom, or Adobe Acrobat (not Reader, but the full blown product). As far as I know, a wordprocessor that simply exports documents to PDF format will not have this feature, but you could try reading the manual/instructions to be sure - they would know better than random forum folks like me.

[Noel Cunningham]

Originally Posted by Colin Theriot

Like I said, it offers NO complication for someone who wants to steal it (which are just a few people) but a LARGE complication for legitimate users who want to copy and paste for legitimate purposes (hopefully a much, much larger number of people).

If your not giving away Rights with the material then any block copying and pasting would be against the copyright. It's pretty common with paid ebooks/ free reports that the copy and paste function has been disabled.

Just wanted to know was there a quicker or easier way to do this that what I've been trying.

Originally Posted by iMassMarket

You need Acrobat or other third party tools to lock functions in your PDF file. Readers lack those functions.

Frankly it's not worth it in my opinion. There are just as many tools to unlock functions from PDF files as there are to implement them. If someone has the notion to do it, they can easily find a way.

Cheers for that mate - that solves my question Learn something new everyday.

[Dean Dhuli]

Hi,

You'll need to do this when you're converting the Word doc into PDF.
You can disable just the C&P and leave the printing option on.

Openoffice lets you do this easily.

Changing permissions for an already created PDF will relatively
be more difficult. You gotta have PDF editors for that.

[Colin Theriot]

Originally Posted by Noel Cunningham

If your not giving away Rights with the material then any block copying and pasting would be against the copyright. It's pretty common with paid ebooks/ free reports that the copy and paste function has been disabled.

Yes, it's common, and also very, very irritating when I want to copy and paste portions of an ebook or report into my own notes so I can actually use the material I bought as instructed. When I encounter such a book, I use a piece of software that is free online, and simply crack it. It takes two seconds. I'm not even a pirate, I'm just trying to actually USE one of the BENEFITS of the document being in digital format in the FIRST PLACE.

But again, if you don't mind irritating legit users of your material, who would likely want to copy and paste portions for completely legitimate and legal use in the name of mildly inconveniencing pirates, go right ahead.

But for the final time, I would highly recommend against it. It won't do what you want it to do (stop pirates) and it will only irritate people who actually might give you money.

[mindreaderwriter]

Noel,

You may try any of these tools:

PDF Password Cracker, Crack PDF Password, PDF Password Security
How to Disable PDF to Prevent from People Copy and Paste? [A-PDF.com]

I hope this helps.

JC

[Alexa Smith]

Hi Noel,

Have you ever thought of using e-Junkie as the delivery method? It's very cheap to use, and if you do that, you can elect to have the purchasers' transaction-details stamped on each page of the PDF they download.

Again, there are (not-so-easy) ways of removing it, but it's a major deterrent to people from uploading the PDF to file-sharing/torrent/black-hat sites.

It seems like quite reasonable product security, to me - with no inconvenience and at very little cost. Just a suggestion.

[iMassMarket]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Hi Noel,

Have you ever thought of using e-Junkie as the delivery method? It's very cheap to use, and if you do that, you can elect to have the purchasers' transaction-details stamped on each page of the PDF they download.

Again, there are (not-so-easy) ways of removing it, but it's a major deterrent to people from uploading the PDF to file-sharing/torrent/black-hat sites.

It seems like quite reasonable product security, to me - with no inconvenience and at very little cost. Just a suggestion.

As Colin was hinting at above, there is a free software that will make even the e-Junkie stamp and any lock function rather useless.

Once you have the software simply click a button to unlock any pdf, select all, copy & paste, find & replace to remove stamp and bam you're done in under two minutes.

You can not stop everyone whose only intention is to steal. The music and movie industry has been at it for decades and haven't came close.

You must decide if you want to waste your valuable time pissing off your customers trying to lock it all down as Colin once again points out... or use that time to provide top quality content that keeps your customers happy and buying years to come.

Remember: The music and movie industry has dedicated teams working around the clock as well as a fully funded US Government task force on their side... but can anyone here find any movie they want online this very minute? ahhh... Yep.

If you are worried about people copying your content and posting on the web there is always copyscape.

[eternalwarrior]

I use PDF Creator to create images from MS Word file. After generating the images, I compile all the images into a single PDF file using the same software.

From those PDF, readers can't copy the text, because the contents are embedded inside the PDF as images.

Here's the download link: Download | pdfforge.org

[aaaa33030]

Originally Posted by Noel Cunningham

Is there any way of disabling the "copy & paste" function in pdf files? I searched the archives but the last thread was 4 years ago so I wonder can anyone give me some advice...

I was looking through the security settings in Adobe Reader but it won't let me change them. I'm not worried about encrypting the file or password protect - just disable to copy & paste function.

Does anyone know of a way around this? Or is it worth the hassle?

You can disable "copy and paste" here: BCL easyPDF SDK Online Demo - Create PDF, Merge PDF, PDF Watermark using the "security" tab.

It is a free service.

[Patti Lowe]

Noel - I agree that 90% or more of us (me) just want to leverage the information that we find and do not want to steal content. I would spend time writing more quality content and which will benefit you instead of playing guardian role.
Patti

[IanGreenwood]

Adobe reader does not create PDF files - it just reads them. Open office will create PDF files with security settings to disable C+P but...

I must agree with the general feeling here. Cracking this is child's play for even the average half hearted lazy a**ed pirate.

Either, just create your PDF and trust that the majority of your customers are honest and those who are not will rot in hell, or better still create a free version with pass around rights to your main product. Then anyone who wants to pass it on is doing you a favour in free marketing.

Then create your main product on video or audio that is at least more difficult to pass around. (note "more difficult" - not impossible).

[TheArticlePros]

Hey Noel! I'm going to chip in and side with everyone else here, but also give you an example of why it's so annoying even in legitimate uses:

My mentor recommended that I take out a monthly subscription for Paul's Backlinks and Angie's Backlinks. Combined they're like $13 a month, and I get 100 backlinks every month, so it seemed like a good deal.

I'm 3 months into Paul's service and it's fantastic. I put copies of the PDFs on my desktop and laptop, and then I keep a third copy in my Google Drive personal account in case I need it somewhere else.

With Angie's Backlinks, she has her PDFs locked and secured so I can only open them on one computer. I had so many problems with her PDFs due to all of the "security" measures that she implements, that I couldn't even use them at all. There was no cut & paste (so I had to manually type in the URLs in my browser), no printing so I have to keep shifting it back and forth on my screen, and God forbid I accidentally deleted it because then it was lost forever.

I cancelled her service after 48 hours. I'm still using Paul's. I'll never again buy a product with "secure" PDFs, and I think everyone here knows I'm a legit business owner.

-- j

[edd666666]

Just google your own choice of wording asking how to defeat blocked copying and you will get thousands of hits. You cannot stop anyone from copying your material if they want to and you just create a lot of extra work for yourself and reduce your response. Give it up, you can't win this one.