How-To: You don't need Distiller or another utility to turn an image into a PDF that has password protection and limits on who can open it.Not only can you save documents and images created in Photoshop as PDFs, but you can use Photoshop to set document security options for a resulting PDF.
This means that you can predetermine who can access the document and who can make changes to it—without having to launch Acrobat Distiller.
Photoshop does not offer the same degree of control or number of options that Distiller does when saving a file as a PDF, but most of the options in Distiller are important only when you're working with a complete document that includes arranged text and images.
As always, it's best to work on a copy of your original image. Just in case something goes wrong.
First, you have to save the image as a PDF. Crop and scale the image to the final size you want the PDF version to be. Then, set the image's resolution, as Photoshop doesn't allow you to adjust this during the save process. (This is one area where Distiller has it over Photoshop.)
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If you're planning to send the final PDF via e-mail to friends, you can keep the resolution and file size down by setting the image resolution to 72ppi; alternately, if the PDF will be used in print, you'll want to keep the resolution high.
Use the Save As command in the Save menu. In the dialog that appears, name the file and select Photoshop PDF from the Format pop-up menu. You can also use this dialog to select various options, such as alpha channels, layers, color profiles and more. If you don't expect recipients to open and work with the image in Photoshop, you can uncheck the layers option and alpha channels options to reduce file size.
Click the Save button. A PDF Options dialog appears in which you can choose various encoding options. The .zip format is lossless, while JPEG is lossy. However, JPEG offers a compression factor of up to 100, while .zip won't reduce file size by more than a factor of two. Other options include saving transparency and including vector data for images that include type.
To assign security settings to the resulting PDF, check the PDF Security option and then click the Security Settings button. This opens the PDF Security dialog, in which you can set who can open and who can makes changes to the document.
To restrict access to the document, click the Password Required to Open Document option and enter a password. This means that whoever has the password can open the file, make changes to it, and use it as they would any other file.
To allow someone to make changes to the password and other permissions for the document, select the Password Required to Change Permission and Passwords option and enter a password.
Depending on what level of encryption you select, 40-bit or 128-bit, Photoshop offers different granularities of restrictions on the file's use. At the 40-bit level, you can allow or prohibit users printing, changing, copying content or commenting on the document. At the 128-bit level, you can set finer levels of restrictions to document changes, such as allowing users to fill in form fields only or general editing, or allowing only low-resolution printing.
Once you are done selecting your options, click OK. The file will be saved to your chosen location with the chosen name.
