PDFX 4 B162 Cannotset document permissions without password

[anieuwstadt]

When generating a PDF with build 149, document permissions can be set without having to use a password. In build 162 document permissions cannot be set unless a password is provided for "Password Required to Change ..." Not sure if this is intentional.

[John - Tracker Supp]

This was 'unified' intentionally in build 162 - assuming I understand you correctly

Hope that hekps.

[anieuwstadt]

I have been using the product for many years and one of the benefits from an expedience point of view was that permissions could be set without the need for a password. There are many situations where on does not want it to be possible for the permission constraints to be over-ridden with a password.

[BigMike]

There are many situations where on does not want it to be possible for the permission constraints to be over-ridden with a password.

I can't imagine any situation, where you want to restrict access to the document via security settings, but don't want to protect these restrictions with a password.

You must always keep in mind, that setting no owner password means, anyone can change your set permissions without a password. So restricting access without a password doesn't really restrict the access!
Even worse - it pretends a security which isn't there. You think your content is protected, but anyone can easily access it with just a few clicks more.

[anieuwstadt]

Ok, I misunderstood the security model and thought that no password meant that the permissions could be completely locked down and unchangeable forever.

[BigMike]

If you still have an old PDF, which is secured, but no password is set, you can easily try it out yourself with PDF-XChange Viewer 2.0 build 42 (beta).
The restrictions are removed with just a few clicks - and security settings management seems to be even a feature of the free version. (But since it's possible, there are probably plenty other applications, which allow this...)