Protect a ConnectedPDF

With Foxit PhantomPDF, Reader, and MobilePDF for Android and iOS, you can use the Protect Document tool in the ConnectedPDF panel in the navigation pane to protect a ConnectedPDF document. This protects PDF files in real time without any complicated operation and deployment. Document owners are allowed to configure permissions for different users before or after distribution. Users who want to access the protected document can send a request to the document owner for specific permissions. If the protected PDF is opened with non-Foxit PDF viewers, a wrapper will appear notifying users that a Foxit ConnectedPDF-enabled application is required.

Protect Documents for Enterprise-wide Access Only

If you sign in with your enterprise email account, you can choose to protect documents for enterprise-wide access only. The protected documents can be accessed by your colleagues with the same email domain.

1.  Open the document after signing in with your enterprise email account.

2.  Choose the ConnectedPDF panel in the navigation pane and click or tap Protect Document, or click or tap the Protect Document button in the Connect/Protect tab.

3.  You can view a welcome page in the panel if you are using this feature for the first time, and click or tap Start to continue.

4.  Choose Proceed under the Company Confidential. Please note that this option is only available when you sign in with your enterprise email account.

5.  In the Grant permission to colleagues list, check the permission option as required, and click or tap Apply Protection.

6.  Then a new document named “[original document name]_protected.pdf” will be generated in the same folder as the original document. Automatically, the new document is opened while the original one is closed. And only your colleague who signs in with an account sharing the same enterprise email domain can access the protected document.

Protect Documents with Custom Policies

1. Open the document after signing in.

2. Choose the ConnectedPDF panel in the navigation pane and click or tap Protect Document, or click or tap the Protect Document button in the Connect/Protect tab.

3. You can view a welcome page in the panel if you are using this feature for the first time, and click or tap Start to continue.

4.  In the navigation page, tap or click Set Custom Policy.

5.  Enter the e-mail addresses of users or user groups that you want to assign permissions to in the User with READ permission and User with CHANGE permission boxes.

6.  (Optional) Click or tap Advanced Options in the lower left corner of the navigation pane to configure more permissions. In Permission Detail for Document dialog box, you can add more users or delete users and assign different permissions for different users.

Copying:

   None – No content can be copied.  

   Text access for screen reader devices for the visually impaired – Enables text access with screen reader devices for the visually impaired.

   Any – Any content can be copied.

Editing:

Inserting, deleting, and rotating pages – Allows users to insert, delete, and rotate pages.

Filling in forms and signing existing signature fields – Allows users to fill in forms and sign documents in existing signature fields.

Commenting, filling form, signing existing signature fields – Allows adding comments, filling in PDF forms, and signing documents in existing signature fields.

Any except extracting pages – Allows users to do all editing actions listed above except extracting pages.

Printing: chooses an option to print the document in low or high resolution.

Only allow access to these pages (available in PhantomPDF 9.1 and above, Reader for Windows 9.1 and above, MobilePDF for Android 6.2 and above, MobilePDF for iOS 6.3 and above): Specify the page number (s) that a user is allowed to access. If you restrict a user’s access to specified pages, the user will only have “Read” permission on the document. 

Control the number of devices (available in PhantomPDF 9.1 and above, Reader for Windows 9.1 and above, MobilePDF for Android 6.2 and above, MobilePDF for iOS 6.3 and above): Specify the number of devices that can be used to open a protected document while working offline. Turn the toggle to ON to enable this setting, and then specify the number of devices in the “Number of devices the content is available” field. After protection, the document owner can check and change the number of devices in the PERMISSIONS tab in Document Homepage.  

Content expiration: specify when the document will expire and can’t be opened.

Never – The document will be valid all the time.

By date – Set a specific date on which the document will expire.

By days – Specify the number of days after which the document will expire.

Allow offline access (available in PhantomPDF 9.1 and above, Reader for Windows 9.1 and above, MobilePDF for Android 6.2 and above, MobilePDF for iOS 6.3 and above): specify the offline access permissions to the protected document.

Never – Never allow users to access the document when working offline.

Always – Always allow offline access to the document.

By days – Specify the number of days after which the document cannot be accessed offline.

7.  Upload and share this file to these users via email and system notification. No one other than user you have given permission to can access file content: The application will encrypt the current file, upload it to Foxit Server, and generates a download link of the file. The download link will be added in both the email and the system notification that will be sent to the users in the list. The owner can find the uploaded document listed in My Uploaded Documents in MESSAGE CENTER. If this option is not checked, users in the list will receive an email and a system notification, but without the file link.

8.  After you assign permissions, click or tap Protect. (Note: The permissions configured via Advanced Options prevail over the settings in Step 3.)

9.  Then a new document named “[original document name]_protected.pdf” will be generated in the same folder as the original document. Automatically, the new document is opened while the original one is closed.

10.  Users who have been granted permissions will receive an email and a system notification from the owner, with the download link of the protected document if any.

The new document is a new ConnectedPDF document of your own, with a new Document ID and document homepage (the original document information, which stores version history and events, will be cleared).

Note:

1.  A ConnectedPDF document that is protected by Foxit CDP (ConnectdPDF Document Protection) can only be opened online by authorized signed-in users with Foxit ConnectedPDF-enabled applications.

2.  Users of PhantomPDF Standard edition, PhantomPDF Online, Reader, Reader Online, and MobilePDF (for Android & iOS) Free edition require subscriptions to Foxit PhantomPDF Business to protect  files with Foxit CDP (ConnectdPDF Document Protection).

View Permissions

When opening the protected ConnectedPDF document, both the owner and users can view permissions by clicking or tapping View Permissions in the message box that appears in the upper right corner of application window (or at the top of the Mobile application window). The detailed permission information is shown in the expanded ConnectedPDF panel, where the owner can edit and manage permissions and the other users can request more permissions.

Edit and Manage Permissions

In Foxit PhantomPDF, Foxit Reader, and Foxit MobilePDF for Android & iOS, after applying Foxit Connected Protection to a ConnectedPDF document, the document owner can also change permission settings. If you are the document owner, you can do any of the following: You can edit and manage permissions in the ConnectedPDF panel, including changing permission settings, and removing protection.

Remove Protection

The document owner can remove the protection from a document protected by Foxit Connected Protection in just one step. Click or tap Remove Security and a dialog pops up for you to choose an option:

·    Choose Unprotected Copy to generate an additional copy named “[original document name]_UnprotectedCopy.pdf” without any protection, which will be saved in the same folder as the original document by default. The generated document is a new ConnectedPDF document of your own, with a new Document ID and document homepage (the original document information, which stores version history and events, will be cleared)

·    Choose Remove Protection to remove all the restrictions in the current document. Once the owner removes the protection from the protected document, all versions with the same document ID will be unprotected.

Revoke Access

The owner can click or tap Revoke Document to cancel all permissions granted to users. Only the document owner will be able to access the document.

Change permission settings

The owner can change permission settings for different users by using the steps below:

1.  Choose the ConnectedPDF panel in the navigation pane and click or tap Protect Document, or click or tap the Protect Document button in the Connect/Protect tab.

2.  To change permission settings for a document which is protected for enterprise-wide access only: in the Manage users and access rights list, click or tap “Everyone in your organization have edit (or read) permission”, select/deselect Read or Edit and Copy, and then tap or click OK to apply. Please note that the “Read” permission will be granted in the meantime if you grant users with “Edit and Copy” permissions. (Optionally, you can grant permissions to more users by clicking or tapping the icon  to add users. See also Protect Documents with Custom Policies).

2.   To change permission settings for a document protected by custom policies, do the following: 

Ø  In the Manage users and access rights list, click or tap the down arrow next to the email address of the user that you want to change permissions for. Click or tap Edit to change the settings. If you click or tap Revoke, all previously granted permissions for the user will be removed.

Ø  (Optional) You can grant permissions to more users by clicking or tapping the icon to add users.

Ø  Change the permission settings in the Edit Permission dialog box as needed.

Ø  Click OK after you complete the settings.

Request Permissions to a protected PDF

In Foxit PhantomPDF, Foxit Reader, and Foxit MobilePDF for Android & iOS, when unauthorized document viewers open a PDF protected by Foxit Connected Protection, a wrapper appears notifying them that they need to send a request to the document owner for permission to access the file.

On the wrapper page, you can do the following:

1.  Select the permissions you need.

2.  Then click or tap Send Request.

3.  A dialog box pops up to indicate that request was sent successfully. Click or tap Message Center in the dialog box to open your MESSAGE CENTER in the web browser where you can check the status of this request or send a reminder to the owner.

4.  (Optional) Click or tap Open Document Homepage on the wrapper page, to open the Document Homepage in WebPDF Reader in the web browser. You can request permissions to access the document homepage.

Tip: Users who can only open and read the protected document can ask for more permissions by clicking or tapping View Permissions in the message box that appears when opening the document. Or directly navigate to Protect Document in the ConnectedPDF panel. Click or tap Request additional permission(s), in the pop-up dialog box select permissions you want to request, input request reason, choose to send email and system notification, and then click or tap Send Request.

The document owner will receive the request email later, and be prompted by a pop-up notification message when opening the document. Then the owner can click or tap the link in the email to view the request details in the web browser and respond to the request. Or, from the pop-up notification message box, the owner can click or tap the Reject/ Allow button to give a quick response with/ without a system notification, or click Message Center to open his MESSAGE CENTER in the web browser to handle the request.  

After the owner responds to your request, you will receive a system notification (if any) that your request has been approved or not. You can click Message Center on the notification message box to open your MESSAGE CENTER in the web browser to check the status of the request.