document security

Introducing All-About-Docs

We built All-About-PDF to provide a one-stop solution for your PDF processing needs. Thanks to your feedback, what started as a simple app with just six functions, has now grown to include features such as powerful batch Find/Replace function, Text Redaction, PDF Expiry, Watch Folders, Cloud Sync, and more.

One of the most impactful features we added to All-About-PDF was the ability to protect PDF documents with our proprietary DRM technology. This DRM technology, the PDFe format, allows you to control who, when, and from where a user can access your document. We have continued to expand our DRM features and recently added the popular All-About-PDF Cloud Sync that enables you to modify DRM parameters even after sharing your files.

As we collected feedback over the last year, it became evident that one missing piece from our offering was a central location from which users could manage and share documents securely.

We are glad to inform you that we have launched a brand-new service, All-About-Docs (https://allaboutdocs.io), that allows you to do just that and more!

Document sharing with All-About-Docs revolves around the clever concept of Variants; a Variant is a unique link to a document that has security parameters such as email and password restrictions, expiry dates, and geolocation restrictions. Once you have shared a Variant, updating everyone with the latest file is as simple as uploading the newest version to the service. In addition to that, you can also view a graphical timeline showing you detailed document access analytics.


With All-About-Docs, you can say goodbye to sharing your treasured documents as email attachments because, as you know, once you hit Send on that email, you are no longer in control of what happens to it.  

Creating an All-About-Docs account is free and does not require a credit card. As an All-About-PDF user, we are offering you a free upgrade to Premium Edition when you subscribe to the Standard Edition of All-About-Docs. 


Head on over to https://allaboutdocs.io to get started.

Introducing All-About-PDF Cloud Sync

This week saw the release of All-About-PDF Build 2004, and one of the significant features of this release is the long-awaited All-About-PDF Cloud Sync. 


What is All-About-PDF Cloud Sync?

ladies fingers at a keyboard with cloud symbol

Put simply, All-About-PDF Cloud Sync is our platform that allows you to modify the DRM settings of your PDFe documents even after the file has been shared/distributed. 

Let's look at an example; say you have a PDFe file with a specific expiry date and, has a list of emails that are permitted to view the file's contents. The file is then distributed to your clients.  

With All-About-PDF Cloud Sync, you can modify the document's DRM settings such as, expiry date or list of allowed emails by simply editing the original PDFe file. All-About-PDF will synchronize all your local changes to our cloud and automatically apply them to all the distributed copies of the document. 

An owner password and cloud sync allow you to edit PDFe files

An owner password and cloud sync allow you to edit PDFe files even after they have been shared

To get started with All-About-PDF Cloud Sync, follow the steps below:

  1. If you haven't already, download and install the latest version of All-About-PDF from here

  2. Open All-About-PDF and then click on the Apply DRM button.

  3. As usual, select the PDF that you would like to protect.

  4. You can specify the Output folder if you want to save the PDFe file to a different location from the original file.

  5. Check the box to "Use All-About-PDF Cloud to validate DRM properties."

  6. The app will prompt you to provide an Owner password if your goal is to edit the PDFe file later.

  7. Provide a secure Owner password.

  8. You may now edit the rest of the DRM settings such as Expiry Date, Allowed Emails, Sharing Controls, etc.

  9. Click on the Apply DRM button to generate the secure PDFe file.

With the PDFe file generated, you can now distribute it to your clients and users with the peace of mind that not only is your intellectual property protected, you can also modify access to the file at any given moment. 

Let's see how this works.

To edit the PDFe file, filter Windows file picker to show PDFe files

To edit the PDFe file, filter Windows file picker to show PDFe files

  1. First, open All-About-PDF and click on Apply DRM button.

  2. Click the File Browser button to select your existing PDFe file. Be sure to change the filter from PDF to PDFe, as shown below.

  3. All-About-PDF will prompt you for your Owner password; no one can edit your PDFe file without it.

  4. You can now edit the DRM settings as usual and click the Apply DRM button to save the changes. The DRM settings on your local computer are immediately uploaded to the All-About-PDF Cloud and synchronized with all the distributed versions of the document.

All-About-PDF Cloud Sync feature is compelling as it allows you to remotely extend or shorten a document's expiry date, modify the list of permitted email addresses to access the document, or even revoke all access to the document.

Download All-About-PDF today to see how All-About-PDF Cloud Sync can benefit you and your organization.

Limit How Many Times a PDF File Can Be Printed

When you protect a PDF document with our DRM technology, printing is also disabled by default. There are, however, some instances when you would like to allow the document end-user to print some copies of the file.

Follow the steps below to achieve this using All-About-PDF's (digital rights management) DRM technology.

If you haven't already, make sure you are using the latest version of All-About-PDF from our website as well as the latest PDFe Reader (at least build 1072).

Open All-About-PDF from the Windows Start menu and then hit the "Apply DRM" button.

Applying DRM protection to a PDF

On the screen that opens, select the PDF document that you would like to protect with DRM and then, If desired, set the document's expiry date by expanding the "Set your PDF to expire" section.

Setting an expiry date on a PDF using DRM technology

Under the "Allow Printing of PDF files" section, you can check the "Allow printing of protected file" checkbox and then specify how many times your end-user is allowed to print the file.

Hit the "Apply DRM" button to protect your file; the resulting DRM protected file is saved in the same location as the PDF file with a ".pdfe" extension.

All-About-PDF’s DRM technology automatically prevents the documents from being printed to PDF and document printers as well as prevents screen capture of the document.