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LV_95778744-Participant
4-Participant
October 23, 2025
Question

Securing a PDF with master password BUT allowing commenting in Arbortext

  • October 23, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 357 views

Hi Arbortext Community,
I'm trying to secure PDF documents with an appcf file using the security element, but I want the user to be able to comment on the PDF. The issue is that, somehow even setting noAnnots="no", I keep having the Comment Creation as Not Allowed in the PDF protection menu.

Does someone know how to solve this?

 

Here my appcf file XML:

 

 

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!--Arbortext, Inc., 1988-2023, v.4002--><!DOCTYPE APPConfig PUBLIC "-//Arbortext//DTD APPConfig 1.0//EN" "appconfig/appconfig.dtd"><APPConfig version="1.0" xmlns="http://www.arbortext.com/namespace/APP/APPPrinterConfig"><Print><PageConfig bleedAreaBottom="4mm" bleedAreaLeft="4mm" bleedAreaRight="4mm" bleedAreaTop="4mm" bleedString="" cuttingGuideOffset="1mm" cuttingGuideSize="9mm" cuttingGuides="inherit" registrationMarks="inherit"/><PDFPrinter><OutputRange endPage="-1" startPage="1"/><PDFMode color="document" defaultLanguage="" fastWebView="no"/><Compatibility layers="yes" tagging="inherit"><PDF level="1.7"></PDF></Compatibility><ColorProfile defaultCMYK="" defaultGray="" defaultRGB=""/><Images epsDPI="600" linked="original"/><Compression compressText="yes"><MonochromeImages downsampleDPI="300" downsampleMode="off" downsampleThreshold="450" type="ccitt4"/><GrayscaleImages downsampleDPI="150" downsampleMode="off" downsampleThreshold="225" quality="med" type="auto"/><ColorImages downsampleDPI="150" downsampleMode="off" downsampleThreshold="225" quality="med" type="auto"/></Compression><Fonts subsetPercent="100" subsetting="yes"/><Open bindingLtR="yes" displayTitle="yes" interface="showAll" magnification="default" openOnPage="1" pageLayout="singlePage" show="useNone" window="fitWindow"/><Security masterPassword="master-test" noAccessible="no" noAnnots="no" noAssemble="yes" noCopy="no" noForms="yes" noHiresPrint="no" noModify="yes" noPrint="no"/><DocumentProperties></DocumentProperties></PDFPrinter></Print><Format><Passes compareMode="stability" maximum="6" minimum="2"/></Format><DocumentProperties></DocumentProperties></APPConfig>

2 replies

V
24-Ruby III
VladimirN24-Ruby III
24-Ruby III
October 23, 2025

Try using: noModify="no"

    L
    LV_95778744-ParticipantAuthor
    4-Participant
    October 24, 2025

    But the user shouldn't be allow to modify without a password.

    L
    LV_95778744-ParticipantAuthor
    4-Participant
    November 21, 2025

    We were unable to solve this issue.

    The goal is to forbid modifications but allow commenting.

    Based on PTC documentation, this should be the relevant appcf configuration:

     

    <Security masterPassword="xxx" noAnnots="no" noModify="yes" ...... />

     

    However from our testing, the resulting pdf does not allow comments.

    Perhaps noModify=yes overrides noAnnots=no because comments are considered modifications?
    We are using Arbortext with Styler 8.2.2.0.

    Thanks

     

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