Latex=>PDF Rights management

Question

Im currently writing my bachelor thesis with latex and using TexnicCenter. I want to be able to send my generated pdf file to people and they should be able to write comments. It seems like commenting is not allowed by default, how do I change this?

I am using straight to PDF with pdflatex and acrobat reader 9 to read and comment on the files

Answer 1

I have honestly no idea, but I would definitely first have a look at the LaTeX Web Companion. There a whole section about generating PDF from LaTeX, including esoterica such as forms.

Answer 2

Strange... I just finished my master thesis, using TexnicCenter and the MikTeX distribution, and comments worked just fine. What build profile do you use? Straight to PDF with pdflatex, or via the PS->PDF route? You might want to try the pdflatex method.

(EDIT): ah, we used Acrobat Pro for commenting, so that's why it did work in our case... Thanks rsg!

Answer 3

I think your problem is that acrobat reader doesn't allow commenting on documents not produced by abode approved products, which I don't think pdflatex would be.

You should look at the free PDF-XChange Viewer which allows you to comment and annotate the text. Its a portable windows app (download), so doesn't need to be installed on your (or the reviewers) machines.

Answer 4

In order to comment using the free Adobe Reader application, the document needs to be signed with a cryptographic key only available from Adobe's commercial (non-free, for-pay) software suites. Likewise, if one is using Adobe Acrobat (not the free Reader) to view a PDF document, commenting may be activated -- or so I hear. The idea here is that it takes some piece of commercial Adobe software in the scenario -- be it producer or consumer -- to make commenting possible.

There are other free PDF producer and consumer applications that allow some form of annotation, but none of them are equivalent to the "native" form offered by Adobe's products.

Answer 5

You can download the 30 day trial of Acrobat Professional 9, and enable the user rights required on the pdf so that they can comment using Acrobat Reader.