How to make a PDF viewable only through an URL or a link?

[Former Community Member]

Hi

I'm a newbie to Adobe Lifecycle ES. My ultimate aim to use this suite is to make my pdf viewable only through an URL or a weblink. The system must not allow the user to view the PDF without the particular URL. Is it possible to acheive this through Adobe Lifecycle ES? Please do reply as i'm in an urgency to finish my task.

Thakns in advance

[Hodmi]

I'm not 100% sure that I understand what you are trying to do but if a user has the file URL then they can download it to their local machine without opening the file (using a browser or the OS).  When the user tries to open the file then they will need to be authorized. You can set it so they can't open the document off line.

[Former Community Member]

If you are trying to control access to the actual URL where the Rights Managed PDF you would need to set up a way to authenticate users to allow them access ot the URL.  This would be done on the web\app server, not using Rights Management ES.

You would use Rights Management ES to apply a policy to the PDF itself.  A policy controls who can view (open) the document, and once the user authenticates to the RM server to open the document, RM controls the permissions that that user has for the document (i.e. can the PDF be printed, can content be copied etc...)  RM cannot be used to control who can download a PDF form a URL.  Policies can also control if the user must be online and connected to the RM server to open the PDF, or you can allow "Offline" access for a set period of time where the user does not need a connection to view the PDF, however the user still needs to be authenticated to view the document offline.

Regards

Steve