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Acrobat 9 Family of Products
External Content and Document Security
Security Feature User Guide
Changes in FDF Behavior 134
Figure 95 Enhanced security: Configuration dialog
9.1.2 Changes in FDF Behavior
FDF files are data exchange files. Like .acrobatsecurity files, they help you move certificate, server, and
other data from one machine to another. This data transfer usually involves some mechanism such as data
injection into a PDF form field, installing files, executing a script, and so on. These actions represent a
potential security risk, and in some environments that risk may be unacceptable. Enhanced Security
disables some FDF functionality unless those FDF files originate from a specifically privileged file, folder, or
server.
Table 17
lists the high level rules defining FDF behavior.
Tip:
If you need to configure your environment for enhanced security or need to troubleshoot
FDF workflows that may not be working as expected, see
“Enhanced Security” on page
132
.
Table 17 Rules for opening a PDF via FDF
Action
FDF
location
PDF
location
8.x behavior
9.x behavior
Opening a target PDF
local
local
PDF opens and no
authentication required.
Same.
Opening a target PDF
local
http server
PDF opens
User authorization required unless trusted via
enhanced security feature.
Opening a target PDF
https
server
http server
PDF opens and no
authentication required.
Same.
Opening a target PDF
https
server
local
Blocked
Http hosted FDFs cannot open local files.