# Any programmers out there... help with PDFs?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-programmers-out-there-help-with-pdfs/19991>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 19, 2000, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-programmers-out-there-help-with-pdfs/19991 "2000-05-19T18:12:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shadenwawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Shadenwawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadenwawa)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-programmers-out-there-help-with-pdfs/19991/1 "2000-05-19T18:12:08Z")

</div>

Hi…  
I’ve checked adobe’s forums, I’ve looked everywhere. Do any of you programmers out there know how to do the following:

\*\*Convert a Word Document to _Read-Only_ PDF through Visual Basic? \*\*

I can convert fine using VBA to change the printer to the PDFWriter and printing. But I can’t figure out how to make it read only! This is a very important part, because these docs are for clients and we don’t want them changing it, even if they have the full Acrobat.

Thanks for any help…

-S

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![soulsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@soulsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulsling)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-programmers-out-there-help-with-pdfs/19991/2 "2000-05-19T18:23:47Z")

</div>

can’t do it. if one has the full acrobat, they can edit pdf’s. if you really want, convert your full pages into actual images. eps… etc. then convert that into a PDF where it will be a useable file size again. then they can add all kinds of things to the final PDF if they want to, but not alter any of the text.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shadenwawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Shadenwawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadenwawa)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-programmers-out-there-help-with-pdfs/19991/3 "2000-05-19T21:01:43Z")

</div>

Hmm. There is a security setting in the full acrobat that lets you set the file as read-only… I’ve done that. If you open up a PDF in acrobat and “save as…” then select the security thing, it gives you that option. My problem is that I don’t know how to do it through code.

Thanks… converting to images is a good idea, I might have to resort to that.

-S

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![soulsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@soulsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulsling)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-programmers-out-there-help-with-pdfs/19991/4 "2000-05-19T21:46:38Z")

</div>

you could try saving with security settings at normal, and providing a password in the second field, they don’t have the password, they can’t edit the thing, you can allow for only printing and reading then.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shadenwawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Shadenwawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadenwawa)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-programmers-out-there-help-with-pdfs/19991/5 "2000-05-19T22:17:09Z")

</div>

According to Adobe’s forum, you can’t write a read-only file unless you use a plug-in, which is impossible for us because of how we are deploying this.

I found a third party control that will take a PDF and allow you to mess around with the security, so I’m trying that now.

-S