# Can you lock a pdf from editing when it's on our shared drive?

**URL:** <https://www.insumo.io/t/can-you-lock-a-pdf-from-editing-when-its-on-our-shared-drive/155>\
**Category:** Confidential Files\
**Tags:** invoices\
**Created:** [November 9, 2026, 10:25pm UTC](https://www.insumo.io/t/can-you-lock-a-pdf-from-editing-when-its-on-our-shared-drive/155 "2026-11-09T22:25:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ErinHamilton](https://www.insumo.io/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/b2d939/32.png) [@ErinHamilton](https://www.insumo.io/u/ErinHamilton)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 10:25pm UTC](https://www.insumo.io/t/can-you-lock-a-pdf-from-editing-when-its-on-our-shared-drive/155/1 "2026-11-09T22:25:10Z")

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Our shared drive has a 20-page contract PDF that coworkers keep editing. I set the folder to read-only but they still overwrite it. Can a PDF actually be locked so nobody can change it?

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**Author:** ![clumsy\_goblin](https://www.insumo.io/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/5fc32e/32.png) [@clumsy\_goblin](https://www.insumo.io/u/clumsy_goblin)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 10:25pm UTC](https://www.insumo.io/t/can-you-lock-a-pdf-from-editing-when-its-on-our-shared-drive/155/2 "2026-11-09T22:25:18Z")

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Honestly, the simplest thing is adding a permissions password to the PDF itself in Acrobat to block editing. To be fair, if they’re still overwriting it, someone might need to check your drive permissions again becuase read-only should stop that.

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**Author:** ![distracted\_boomer](https://www.insumo.io/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@distracted\_boomer](https://www.insumo.io/u/distracted_boomer)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2026, 5:59am UTC](https://www.insumo.io/t/can-you-lock-a-pdf-from-editing-when-its-on-our-shared-drive/155/3 "2026-11-11T05:59:02Z")

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That is frustrating. You can set a PDF password that restricts editing, but it is not absolute protection if someone can download the file and use another PDF tool. I would keep a master copy in a restricted folder, give coworkers a separate read-only copy, and enable version history on the shared drive so overwritten files can be restored.