Is there a way to save users to save documents on the local computer?

Question

If users view documents on my website (for example, a pdf file representing some confidential information), is there anyway I can prevent them from saving the document locally?

Answer 1

Once the user has uploaded your PDF (to the browser), they can do something with it. They can save it elsewhere on the hard drive. Even if you somehow disabled this, anyone can intercept network traffic with a third-party application and save the PDF in this way.

It is best to use a digital rights management tool so that the user cannot distribute the PDF file, even if he downloads it. For example, FileOpen or Adobe Content Server. As you can see, such tools can (technically) prevent printing, force expiration, etc.

Please note that this is most useful for users who might accidentally download or distribute data. Malicious users can circumvent these restrictions, for example. Bypassing the printing restrictions by taking a screenshot of each page and printing it.

Answer 2

In a word - no.

Once you send data to your browser, they can do what they want with them.

You can use the Flash Component or Java Applet to make it harder to save information, but they can still take a screenshot of the browser and save it locally.

The only practical approach is to ensure that only trusted users can access information (which you probably already do).

Answer 3

It is very difficult. For one thing, the most effective thing I can think of is to deploy a Java applet that displays information, loading it at runtime

But this still does not stop users from taking screenshots and saving them.

Answer 4

A relatively simple way to prevent an accident from happening is to hide the toolbars and menus when opening a document. See this question / answer on the Adobe forum. Of course, a user can get around this if they know how a certain user can get around all the restrictions that you place in the document, if they have rights to view it.

Answer 5

If this bothers you, you should not provide access to confidential data, or at least not in a downloadable format.

Answer 6

If on a production network, I suggest you implement Active Directory, if you have not already done so. When running Active Directory, you can easily configure the default user profile path by having this path on the file server. Thus, by default, all applications will be saved in this path instead of the local hard drive. Hope this helps.

Answer 7

Not a decision, but a joke. A few years ago, a friend of mine collected a lot of confidential inside information into a Word document and watermarked the pages “FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY” and blocked it.

A few days later she received a phone call from a sales manager.

"How do you unlock a Word document?"

"Why?"

"I want to remove the watermark so that I can pass it to the client ..."

Head → Table - Thump!

This is a difficult problem.