security

Not All PDF Tools Are Alike: Why All-About-PDF Is Built for Real Power Users

Not all PDF tools are created equal. While most handle simple tasks like converting or merging files, All-About-PDF is built for real power users—offering automation, DRM protection, batch processing, Watch Folders, advanced splitting, content search, and more. When your PDF needs go beyond the basics, All-About-PDF is the tool that stands out.

Watch Out: PDFs Can Be Phishing Traps Too

For years, PDFs have been seen as one of the safest and most convenient ways to share documents — invoices, reports, contracts, you name it. But that same trust is now being weaponized.

At All-About-PDF, we’ve always emphasised secure document handling and offline control. Recent discoveries, like the MatrixPDF toolkit highlighted by BleepingComputer, show why professional, privacy-first tools matter more than ever. Attackers are now using PDFs themselves as phishing and malware lures.

What’s Going On?

Researchers at Varonis discovered the MatrixPDF toolkit being sold on underground forums. It lets cyber-criminals upload legitimate PDFs and inject them with malicious functionality — fake “Secure Document” overlays, blurred previews, or “Click to Unlock” buttons that secretly redirect users to phishing pages.

Because these files don’t contain obvious malware signatures, they often slip past antivirus and email scanners. Once a user clicks, the malicious payload activates — usually leading to credential theft or drive-by downloads.


Why This Matters

Attackers are adapting because PDFs enjoy near-universal trust. A few reasons this threat is particularly effective:

  • They look legitimate. Many use branding, logos, and fonts that mirror real organisations.

  • They bypass filters. No executable = low suspicion.

  • They exploit urgency. “Your invoice is ready,” “Document requires verification,” etc.

  • They work anywhere. Whether you open on desktop, tablet, or phone — you’re a target.

How to Protect Yourself

1. Treat Unexpected PDFs Like Suspicious Links

If you didn’t request it, don’t open it right away. Verify the sender through another channel.

Hover over buttons or hyperlinks in PDFs when possible — phishing links often hide behind familiar-looking text.

2. Use Trusted and Secure PDF Software

Choose software that respects your privacy and runs locally. Tools like All-About-PDF and PDFe Reader never upload your documents to third-party servers and don’t inject hidden scripts or tracking elements.

Disable JavaScript in your PDF viewer if you don’t need it, and avoid opening PDFs in your browser unless necessary.

3. Be Extra Careful with “Free” Online PDF Tools

Free online converters, unlockers, or editors often feel convenient — but they can also be traps.

Here’s why:

  • You’re uploading your documents to an unknown server that could store or resell your data.

  • Some shady sites inject tracking code or malicious content back into your file.

  • Others impersonate legitimate brands to collect login credentials or payment info.

Stick with reputable, offline solutions or services with transparent privacy policies. When in doubt, keep sensitive files off the cloud entirely.

4. Keep Everything Updated

Patch your PDF readers, browsers, and operating systems regularly. Vulnerabilities in outdated software are a favourite entry point for attackers.

5. Educate, Filter, and Verify

For teams and organisations, implement email filtering that scans PDFs for embedded scripts or suspicious links.

And remember: awareness is the best line of defence. Train your staff (and yourself) to pause before clicking any “secure document” prompts.

Final Thoughts

The idea that “PDFs are safe” no longer holds true. Attackers are turning familiar formats into Trojan horses.

By using secure offline tools, avoiding too-good-to-be-true “free” sites, and staying vigilant about unexpected attachments, you can dramatically reduce your exposure.

At All-About-PDF, our mission is to make working with PDFs powerful, productive, and private — without putting your data at risk.

Stay safe, stay updated, and treat every file like a potential entry point until proven otherwise.

Just Launched: DRM Protection of PDF Files in Your Browser - For Free

We’re excited to announce a powerful new feature at PDFEReader.com: you can now create PDFe files directly from your browser — no downloads, no subscriptions, no fuss.

What’s a PDFe file? It’s our proprietary, DRM-protected format that gives you greater control over how your documents are accessed and used. Whether you’re sharing reports, course materials, or private documents, this feature helps you protect your content and set an expiry date so the file automatically becomes inaccessible after a certain period.

🔐 What You Can Now Do WITH PDFe FILES

  • Protect your PDFs with DRM instantly

  • Set expiry dates so files stop working after a chosen date

  • Prevent unauthorized sharing and copying

  • Prevent unauthorized printing of your documents

  • Set geographic access controls to your intellectual property

Why This Matters

Traditional PDFs offer limited control once shared. Anyone with the file can copy it, forward it, or store it forever. But with PDFe files, you stay in control. This is especially useful for:

  • Educators sharing time-limited course content

  • Businesses distributing sensitive documents

  • Freelancers or creators delivering paid work

  • Anyone who wants to secure their intellectual property


Get Started in Seconds

  1. Go to https://pdfereader.com

  2. Select the PDFe Creator tab

  3. Upload your PDF

  4. Set an expiry date

  5. Provide the expiry message

  6. Download your new PDFe file — ready to go!


Try It Out — And Let Us Know What You Think

We built this with privacy, simplicity, and accessibility in mind. No logins, no tracking — just powerful tools to help you take control of your PDFs.

Give it a go, and drop us a message with your feedback. We’re just getting started.

👉 Create your first PDFe file now

The Hidden Danger of Free Online PDF Converters: Why Local Processing is the Safer Choice

We’ve all been there. You’re in a rush, you need to convert a PDF to Word or Excel, and a quick Google search brings up dozens of “free PDF conversion” websites. Sounds convenient, right? Just upload your file, click a button, and you’re done. But what many people don’t realize is that this convenience can come with a hidden cost—your security.

The Problem with Uploading Your PDFs Online

When you upload a document to a free conversion site, you’re handing over control. You don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes. Is the site just converting your document—or is it harvesting data? Even worse, some of these sites might be quietly preparing a malware-laced download in the background.

Once you click that final “Download” button, you could be bringing more than just your converted file onto your computer. You might unknowingly install malicious software—keyloggers, spyware, or trojans—that compromises your system, steals personal information, or opens backdoors for cybercriminals.

Frustrated woman in front of her computer which has been hacked

It’s Not Just Paranoia—It’s Happening

Cybersecurity experts have long warned about “free tool” websites that serve as traps. Some of them use aggressive pop-ups and fake buttons to trick users into downloading dangerous files. Others are even more subtle, slipping malicious code into the download without raising any red flags. And let’s not forget: any sensitive information in your PDF—like invoices, contracts, or personal data—is now on someone else’s server. That’s a privacy nightmare waiting to happen.

A Smarter, Safer Alternative: Local PDF Tools

That’s exactly why we built All-About-PDF. Unlike browser-based converters, All-About-PDF processes your documents entirely on your computer. No uploading. No cloud servers. No risk of man-in-the-middle attacks. Just fast, powerful PDF tools that work offline and keep your data where it belongs—on your machine.

With All-About-PDF, you can:

  • Convert PDFs to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more

  • Merge, split, or password-protect your files

  • Compress and optimize PDFs without sending them anywhere

  • Add password and DRM protection to your PDF files

It’s not just about functionality. It’s about trust. We believe your documents should never leave your computer unless you decide to send them. It is for this reason that we engineered our web-based PDFe Reader to use Web Assembly technology to ensure that all processing happens locally on your computer.

Bottom Line

Free online converters might seem like a quick fix, but they can open the door to security breaches and data loss. If you’re serious about protecting your information, choose tools that respect your privacy and work locally. Convenience is great—but peace of mind is better.

Top Skills To Master To Become a PDF Black Belt

In today's digital age, the mastery of PDFs goes far beyond simply viewing or printing documents. PDFs have become ubiquitous for sharing, storing, and collaborating on information across various industries and professions. To harness the power of PDFs and become a true "PDF Black Belt," one must acquire a diverse skill set that goes beyond the basics. In this blog post, we'll explore the top skills essential for anyone looking to navigate the world of PDFs with finesse and precision. From advanced editing and security techniques to efficient organization and automation tricks, these skills will empower you to work with PDFs more effectively and unlock their full potential to streamline your professional and personal tasks. So, let's embark on a journey to PDF mastery and discover the skills that will make you a true PDF expert.

Merge PDF Documents

Merging PDF files is an invaluable capability that simplifies the management and distribution of digital documents. This functionality streamlines the process of combining multiple PDFs into a single, cohesive file, making it easier to organize and present information. Whether you're a professional compiling a comprehensive report, a student assembling research papers, or simply looking to merge various receipts or invoices, the ability to merge PDFs enhances efficiency and organization. It reduces clutter, eliminates the need for multiple attachments or downloads, and ensures that all relevant content is conveniently accessible in one document. Furthermore, merging PDFs preserves the original formatting and layout, ensuring that the integrity of the information remains intact. In an increasingly digital world, the convenience and practicality of merging PDF files are indispensable for anyone dealing with document management and distribution.

Split PDF Documents

Being able to split a PDF is a highly valuable function that offers flexibility and precision in managing digital documents. This capability allows users to divide a large PDF file into smaller, more manageable segments, tailoring the content to specific needs. Whether you're extracting individual chapters from an e-book, isolating specific pages for reference, or separating confidential information from a larger document, PDF splitting simplifies the task. It also aids in reducing file size for easier sharing and faster loading times, particularly when dealing with email attachments or online uploads. Moreover, PDF splitting maintains the original document's formatting and quality, ensuring that the divided segments retain their visual and textual integrity. This versatile feature enhances productivity, simplifies document organization, and empowers users to extract and manipulate PDF content precisely, making it a crucial tool for many professional and personal tasks.

Watermark PDF documents

Watermarking PDF files is a crucial practice with multifaceted benefits. It acts as a digital signature, indicating a document's source, status, or ownership, bolstering its credibility and authenticity. This is particularly valuable for businesses, content creators, and legal professionals who need to protect their intellectual property or establish the validity of documents. Watermarking also enhances security by deterring unauthorized distribution and plagiarism, as the presence of a watermark reminds recipients of the document's confidential or sensitive nature. Furthermore, watermarking can be used for branding purposes, reinforcing an organization's identity by adding logos or trademarks to documents. In summary, watermarking PDF files combines elements of security, authenticity, and branding, making it a versatile tool with applications in various domains where document integrity and identity are of utmost importance.

Redact Documents

The ability to redact PDF documents is indispensable in safeguarding sensitive information and ensuring privacy in the digital age. Redaction involves the selective removal or obscuring of specific content, such as personal data, confidential details, or privileged information, from a PDF file. This process is vital for individuals and organizations seeking to share documents while protecting sensitive data, complying with privacy regulations, or maintaining legal confidentiality. By redacting sensitive information, PDFs can be securely shared without compromising privacy or confidentiality. This capability is especially crucial in sectors like law, healthcare, finance, and government, where strict privacy and compliance standards are upheld. Redaction not only safeguards sensitive data but also preserves the overall integrity and usability of the document, making it an essential tool for responsible and secure digital document management.

PROTECT AND SECURE YOUR PDF FILES

The ability to secure PDF files with both a password and Digital Rights Management (DRM) is paramount for safeguarding valuable content in today's digital landscape. Password protection adds an initial layer of defense by limiting access to authorized users who possess the correct password, ensuring that confidential documents remain protected from unauthorized access. On the other hand, DRM goes a step further by granting content owners the ability to control and restrict what recipients can do with the PDF file, including preventing copying, printing, or sharing. This comprehensive approach to security ensures that sensitive information, proprietary content, or intellectual property remains under tight control, safeguarding against piracy, unauthorized distribution, and data breaches. Combining password protection and DRM fortifies PDF files against many potential threats, making it a critical solution for businesses, content creators, and organizations prioritizing document security and digital asset protection.

Chat with Your PDF

The capacity to summarize PDFs using AI technology represents a transformative advancement in information management and comprehension. AI-powered PDF summarization can distill large volumes of text into concise, coherent, and easily digestible summaries. This capability is invaluable in today's data-rich world, where individuals and organizations grapple with information overload. AI-driven summarization not only saves time but also enhances decision-making by providing quick insights into the key points and essential details within complex documents. It aids in efficiently extracting relevant information from lengthy reports, research papers, legal documents, and more. Furthermore, it democratizes access to information by making it more accessible to individuals with varying levels of expertise. AI-driven PDF summarization thus empowers users to navigate the ever-expanding sea of data, facilitating better-informed decisions, improved research and enhanced productivity across diverse fields and sectors.

Convert PDF to other formats

The ability to convert PDF documents into other formats, such as Microsoft Word or Excel, is an essential tool for enhancing document versatility and accessibility. PDFs are a universal format known for preserving content integrity and layout, but they can be challenging to edit or extract data from. Converting PDFs to Word or Excel formats simplifies the process of editing, repurposing, and analyzing the information contained within these documents. This functionality is particularly valuable for professionals and researchers who need to work with the content in a more dynamic manner. It saves time by eliminating the need to manually retype data and allows for easy integration of PDF content into reports, presentations, or databases. Whether for updating contracts, extracting tables for analysis, or repurposing research findings, the ability to convert PDFs empowers users to make the most of their digital documents, enhancing productivity and efficiency in various fields and industries.

In conclusion, mastering the art of PDF management is not just a luxury but a necessity in today's fast-paced digital world. From editing and annotation to encryption and batch processing, having the right set of skills will make you a PDF black belt, capable of handling any challenge that comes your way. All-About-PDF offers an all-in-one solution that encompasses all the top skills we've discussed. With its user-friendly interface, robust features, and advanced capabilities, it empowers you to manage PDFs like a pro. So why settle for less when you can have the best? Equip yourself with our cutting-edge software and take the first step toward becoming a PDF master today!

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How To Restrict PDF Documents By Email Address(es)

If you would like to prevent unauthorized users from reading your sensitive documents, one way of achieving that is by specifying the email addresses of the people allowed to access your PDF documents. 

To restrict access to a PDF to specific email addresses, follow the steps below:

  1. Open All-About-PDF from the Windows Start menu

  2. Click on the “Apply DRM” button from the Home screen.

  3. The DRM Protection screen will open.

  4. Select the PDF file or folder containing the files you would like to protect. You can also use wild cards to process multiple PDF files.

  5. Expand the “Allow Access By selected Email Addresses” section and check the box to "Lock PDF to the following Email Addresses."

  6. Use the + button to add a list of allowed email addresses.

  7. Configure any other DRM options, such as expiry date or device locking. When Email Address Locking is used together with Device Locking, it is configured as devices per email addresses i.e. each specified email address can open the document on the configured numbers of allowed devices.

  8. Click the “Apply DRM” button to protect the document

You can now share the resulting PDFe files without worrying about prying eyes.

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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.

DOWNLOAD NOW

PDF Reader Biz (Foxit) Breached

From the Infosecurity Magazine:

Foxit has detected that unauthorized access to some of its data systems has taken place, including access to its ‘My Account’ user account data. This means that data you have entered on our website when signing up for our services has likely been accessed by hackers,

Compromised information could include user names, email addresses, their company names, phone numbers, passwords and IP addresses.

This is just another reason we at All-About-PDF do not require our users to create accounts just to use our software. We simply do not wish to be responsible for holding your personal information if we cannot guarantee that we can keep it secure.