PDF XChange Forum

Hello,

Is there a way to prohibit changes to a PDF that is read only? With our PLM (product life-cycle management) system we can open PDF files for viewing and the file is read only, however PDF x change editor allows me to mark and comment in the document, but I dont know its read only until i try to save it and the save button is grayed out. then I get the option to save as.

I would like to have it so if PDF Exchange Editor opens a read only file, the editing options would be prohibited until they saved a copy that was writable. or if the document is checked out correctly and the document has write permissions that the editing functions would operate as expected.

Thanks
-Paul

Hi Paul,

welcome to the Tracker foums!

I am afraid that the Editor does not have such a feature, as you are already aware. You would have to do a "Save As" anyway, so I am not sure what advantage there would be in changing the logic there...

Hello,

What happens is someone would start making comments and edits to the PDF, but they don't realize they are working on a read only copy. Saving the edits as a different file doesn't get the data back into the PLM system. The edits would need to be copied to the file after it is checked out, or the edits would have to be re-done.

I didn't think it was a strange request because this option is available in the SharePoint Options (When open document without write permissions.. Show warning message/ Disable editing). It looked like some of the functionality was there but only applied to the SharePoint plugin.

Hello Paul,

Is this PLM system SharePoint based? Or how are files stored there and how is the Editor retrieving them?
If the retrieval is through an URL - most likely the Editor is downloading and showing you a temporary copy of the original file - that's why it allows Edits, and then when you try to save the file - you get an error.
With SharePoint - the file on the server is directly accessed and written into - that's why there are different options when working with SharePoint files.
We will need to know a bit more about the system in use - before we can comment further on what the available options might be!

Regards,
Stefan

The software we have is PLM, it downloads a copy to a local directory and launches the editor.

C:\Users\....\AppData\Local\Temp\PLMobjectname\file.pdf

The only difference between a document that is checked out and not checked out is the read-only status of the file.

I just figured if there was an option to restrict editing on read only documents, it would be useful. Thanks for the feed back.

Hello PaulKUKA,

Thank you for your suggestion. I am afraid the logic here is unlikely to change, as it would be cumbersome for the majority of users, including myself, should the "read only" files in the temp directory be restricted. I am afraid that with the best will in the world, we simply cannot accommodate each and every request. To quote Spock "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few".

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding,
Sincerely,