Monitoring PDF usage: Track PDF files, monitor & log document use

Tracking PDF document use always sounds like a really neat idea.  Monitoring PDF use should tell you who opened or printed a document, when it was, and where they did it.  At least in theory.

Why Track PDF documents?

There are normally three reasons for wanting to track PDF files:

1. Marketing analysis – which are the most popular PDF documents in terms of how often they are read rather than just numbers sold.  If you are monitoring PDF use then you can see if a document is opened lots of times by the same person.
2. Authorized use – did someone unauthorized try to open a document, or an authorized person open it from a ‘strange’ location.  So when you have a question about document distribution you can track PDF files and see where they went.
3. Compliance – management standards such as ISO9000 have a requirement that documents have not simply been produced and distributed.  By tracking PDFs it assists you to demonstrate full compliance with standards and regulation.

How to implement PDF Tracking

To track PDF usage you have two choices for how you do it.  You could be using either a

1. page server, handing individual pages down to a client
2. reporting server that relays from the client when a document is opened (and maybe when it closes, but most likely not).

So the first thing to understand is when tracking PDF documents you are forcing recipients to always be online.  Because the monitoring PDF technology needs to ‘phone home’ to tell you what is happening.

For a business proposition this could be a disaster.  Many people need offline access to documents, but a PDF tracker cannot see that.  So monitoring PDF ebooks and magazines may not be such a good idea.

Tracking PDF documents and privacy issues

Privacy is becoming a bigger issue.  In many countries you must register what it is that you intend to collect if it relates to personal information – and in the EU the opinion is that anything linking a person to an IP address is personal data.  You also have to register what you will use the data for, and ask the consumer for their informed consent to monitoring.  So you may have to set up a raft of policies and procedures before you can track PDF use.

This does not apply to business users, but it may be a fine point.  Plenty of institutions, such as banks, do not, as a matter of policy, allow PDF tracking of documents used internally.  Some PDF tracker products cannot be used in those environments.

And where is the PDF document that is being tracked?  Some theories say you can track PDF documents by IP address, but that doesn’t mean much if you are seeing an ISP with thousands of customers.  Also, PDF tracking by email address may not mean so much if it’s not a company email address since many people use freemail accounts to avoid identification.

Tracking PDF documents and identifying users

Finally, in PDF monitoring, who is the recipient?

On a home PC or a laptop it is whoever is using it.  You don’t ever know who is actually sitting in front of the screen (although that might be an interesting and expensive research project).  People are generally completely relaxed about letting others use their computers, so you may not be monitoring what you think.

The Safeguard Secure PDF Reader (used to open protected PDF files and monitor PDF prints and views) locks protected documents to authorized devices and additionally controls the locations from where they can be viewed (e.g. the office only).  By using the secure PDF Reader you can therefore help limit who can potentially view your documents.  Safeguard Secure PDF Reader checks document access rights and controls in real-time so you can instantly revoke access if you feel that your PDF files are being misused.