Certificate security

The certificate-based security lets you ensure only the intended recipients whose certificates have been exchanged and added to trusted identities can open and view the document. A certificate includes the public key component of a digital ID that can be shared and added to your list of trusted identities. See Manage Digital IDs.

Before you distribute a certificate-secured PDF file, you must receive certificates from those whom you intend to send the file to and add the certificates to the list of trusted identities, setting them as trusted recipients. Likewise, to open a certificated-secured PDF file, you need to create your own digital ID (consisting of a private key and a public key) and share the certificate (the public key of you digital ID) with the person who distributes the file encrypted with certificates.

When managing certificate security, you can specify who can view the document and define permissions for each recipient. For example, you can grant one person the power to perform any function except extracting pages, while another is limited to filling in form fields and signing signature fields.

Note: remember to add your own certificate to the list of intended recipients of the encrypted document when you manage certificate-based security. This way, you have the access to the PDF file.

Methods to secure a PDF or PDF Portfolio with certificate security

There are two ways to encrypt a PDF or PDF Portfolio with certificate security: using the certificate security dialog box or applying a certificate-based security scheme. You can secure a single PDF file or a component file of a PDF Portfolio using either way, while using the certificate security dialog box is the only way to encrypt an entire PDF Portfolio with certificate security.

  • Certificate Security Settings dialog box. It lets you specify components to encrypt, an encryption algorithm, intended recipients, and permissions for each recipient. To open it, choose Security > Encryption > Encryption > Interactive Certificate or open the Document Properties dialog box, click the Security tab, and select Certificate Security from the Security Method drop-down menu.

  • Security scheme. A security scheme is a security profile that contains custom security settings that can be reused and applied to multiple files at once without having to configure settings again. See Create a new security scheme.

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