Security

vivePDF’s security tools let you add a password and permissions to a PDF, remove a password, seal a file so that only chosen certificate holders can open it, add watermarks and stamps, clean out hidden data before sharing and permanently redact text. Every tool writes its result to a new file; your original stays as it was.

Finding the tools

Open Tools › Security; the page starts on Add password. Click Security above the page title to list every tool in the group: Add password, Remove password, Seal with a certificate, Open with a certificate, Redaction, Privacy check and the signing tools. Add watermark, Stamp and Remove watermark sit in the Content editing group. Show all in the Tools menu lists every tool as well.

Passwords and permissions

If you leave the owner password empty, a random one is created and shown once when the file is written. Keep it somewhere safe: it is the only way to lift the limits later. For Encryption, use AES-256 (recommended); AES-128 and RC4 are only for older readers and cannot store letters such as ş, ğ or İ in a password. Encrypt the file information too also protects the title, author and subject.

New passwords are checked against a built-in list of common breached passwords. If you turn on the online check in Settings › Web, only the first 5 characters of the password’s SHA-1 hash go to Have I Been Pwned, never the password itself.

Remove password creates a copy without a password; enter the open or the owner password. If the file is protected by permissions only, it works without one.

Sealing with a certificate

Seal with a certificate encrypts the file so that only the holders of the private keys for the certificates under Recipients can open it, with no password at all. Add the recipients’ public certificates with Add a certificate, then click Seal. Only RSA certificates can receive a sealed document.

To open a sealed file, use Open with a certificate: choose the Sealed PDF, the Certificate (.p12 / .pfx) that carries your private key and its password, then click Open. An unprotected copy is written. To give someone your own public certificate, see Export public certificate on Sign and verify.

Watermarks and stamps

In Add watermark, choose a Watermark type: Text, Image (PNG / JPG) or a PDF page from another file. A live preview shows the first page while you set the size, position and pages. Show the watermark can limit it to the screen or to print. Burn the watermark into the page turns marked pages into pictures, so the watermark can no longer be removed, but the text on those pages can no longer be selected or searched either.

Stamp puts a framed word at the chosen place on each page: pick a preset such as APPROVED, DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL or PAID, or write your own. Placeholders such as {date}, {name}, {page} and {total} are filled in. Settings you use often can be kept under Presets.

Remove watermark scans the document and lists the watermarks it finds; tick the ones to remove. Check the result in the Viewer.

Privacy check

Privacy check shows what a file reveals beyond its visible pages. Click Scan document to see findings such as metadata, XMP metadata, JavaScript and automatic actions, embedded files, comments, external links, hidden text, hidden layers, and camera and location details in photos. Tick the items under What to remove and click Clean and save.

Redaction

If sensitive text stays in the file, remove it for good with Redaction. Type words under Text to find, or pick kinds from Sensitive data found, such as IBANs, e-mail addresses or phone numbers, and add regular expressions if needed. Use Count matches to check first, then click Redact. Matching text is removed from the file and covered; this cannot be undone.

Also remove matches outside the page searches comments, form fields, bookmarks and document properties too. To black out an area by hand, open the document in the Viewer, choose Edit › Page tools › Black out area, drag over the area and click Black out. The full list of tools is on the Tools page.