It is currently Tue Mar 17, 2020 4:59 am

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 17 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
Post subject: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 1:23 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 4:50 pm
Posts: 7998
Location: ʎɹʇunoɔ ǝsoɹ pןıʍ
In my line of work I create documents in Word, Excel and sometimes PowerPoint (PC, not Mac) which are legal documents. I have to share these files electronically when I submit reports. At one time I was creating PDFs as my main method of preventing tampering. I have recently begun protecting the document within the associated Office program because I had a person use Acrobat to create an Office document from my PDF and then modify it and recreate a new PDF. The problem I forsee is that there is nothing that I can see in the Office file protection method to prevent highlighting an area and then copying and pasting it into a new document. I also suspect there may be no way to prevent them from creating a PDF from my protected file and then reverse engineering it. It would take some work but I suspect it wouldn't be impossible.

Does anybody know of an aftermarket program which prevents highlighting and PDF-ing?


As far as this being music related, I am currently listening to Don Henley's Everybody Knows.

:wink:

_________________
Image
Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 2:08 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 4:21 pm
Posts: 986
Location: moon base #9
The Idea with a pdf is that it is like an image file rather than a txt. However, pdf is easy to edit now with free tools. No matter how you protect the file it can be copied with recognition software. You can make it more difficult for novice users (that was the idea with pdf for a while). My guess is you would need to save it as an image file like jpeg or something to make tampering more difficult, not sure if that is practical though. The bottom line is if you can read it on the screen, so can a program to copy or reverse engineer it.

You're text would probably need to look like this to confuse the recognition software.


Tried it with OneNote and got this:
"You're text .ould prob y n d to to Like this to conlfuse the recognition Software."

_________________
My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 2:54 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 4:50 pm
Posts: 7998
Location: ʎɹʇunoɔ ǝsoɹ pןıʍ
I never thought of Jpegs.
I'll ponder that idea for a bit and make some test runs.
I do have some initial thoughts even before I go much further than just thinking on it.
My fear is that the files might grow to be too large for a typical company mailbox. I frequently file reports that have tag-along supporting documentaion and they're sometimes 15 to 20 pages long by the time everything is added. The standard practice is to keep the all the docs together in one file to prevent parts of the file from going missing. I fear using Jpegs would likely bump me from 0.75 - 1.25 Mb per file to ... well ... a LOT more but I'll try it and see. I'll also try zipping the final product to see how much compression I can build in.

_________________
Image
Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.


Last edited by BMW-KTM on Mon May 20, 2013 2:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 2:55 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
Might want to read this:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/p ... sions.html

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 2:57 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 4:50 pm
Posts: 7998
Location: ʎɹʇunoɔ ǝsoɹ pןıʍ
Thanks, Bill.
That looks closer to what I need.

_________________
Image
Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 3:01 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
I know you can protect PDFs from copying because I have seen them out there. I don't have full Acrobat, just the Reader and I have seen PDFs from government agencies that are protected from doing a copy and paste operation with them.

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 3:03 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 4:50 pm
Posts: 7998
Location: ʎɹʇunoɔ ǝsoɹ pןıʍ
I use Nuance PDF Creator Pro which might be able to bypass Adobe encryptions and vise versa.

Keeping this related to music, I'm now on Nora Jones' Deceptively Yours for inspiration while I try to suss this issue out.

:wink:

_________________
Image
Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 3:18 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
We're beyond my skill level now. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 3:28 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 4:21 pm
Posts: 986
Location: moon base #9
Pdf is probably the most professional solution. However, this format is consistently unlocked by third party tools. All you can really do is discourage copy/edit of your work. If you could figure out a format that is practical and not common then there is less chance of a tool to edit it. Now, if it's a matter of maintaining the original copy and making sure that an edited version is not being returned to you, you can watermark it.

_________________
My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 4:21 pm
Offline
Roadie
Roadie

Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2012 10:16 pm
Posts: 209
Deluxe Matt wrote:
Now, if it's a matter of maintaining the original copy and making sure that an edited version is not being returned to you, you can watermark it.

I was just going to ask if watermarking was a possibility for your purposes.

_________________
Most profound blues lyric, from Robert Johnson's Hell Hound On My Trail:

"If today was Christmas Eve, if today was Christmas Eve,
Tomorrow would be Christmas Day..."


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 8:26 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician

Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2007 4:04 pm
Posts: 388
Location: Lititz, PA
bluesky636 wrote:
I know you can protect PDFs from copying because I have seen them out there. I don't have full Acrobat...

You need the full version of Acrobat.

How to Lock Adobe Acrobat PDF Files


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 5:04 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:18 am
Posts: 3084
or try pdfcreator.com

cheers :D

_________________
It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting - paulo coelho


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 7:39 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician

Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:15 am
Posts: 522
Does Adobe have a security setting for the PDF to not allow copying.

I use the latest version of LibreOffice to create PDF's and they have a security setting to prevent copying of the pdf content.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 7:50 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician

Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2007 4:04 pm
Posts: 388
Location: Lititz, PA
With Adobe Acrobat, you can use a password to prevent viewing.
Or you can use a password to merely prevent editing.

You can always copy a file but it doesn't do you much good if you can't read it.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Do we have any software gurus here?
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 11:30 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 4:50 pm
Posts: 7998
Location: ʎɹʇunoɔ ǝsoɹ pןıʍ
warnergt wrote:
With Adobe Acrobat, you can use a password to prevent viewing.
Or you can use a password to merely prevent editing.

You can always copy a file but it doesn't do you much good if you can't read it.

But do other PDF creation programs recognise and obey Adobe privacy rules? That's all well and good if someone is just using Adobe Reader to read the files but what if I open an Adobe protected document with my Nuance PDF Creator Pro? That's the $64,000 question.

I just checked my software and there is a protection scheme available. My only question is whether Adobe or other products are limited by my settings. I guess I'll just have to try a sample. I'll try locking a PDF and then have someone with Acrobat try to edit it.

_________________
Image
Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 17 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: