Enable enhanced security

Last updated on Jun 7, 2026

Learn how to turn on enhanced security in Adobe Acrobat to protect your system from potentially harmful PDF actions.

PDFs have evolved from static pages to dynamic documents featuring interactive forms, multimedia, and scripts. While these enhancements improve usability, they can also increase the risk of malicious actions from untrusted sources. Enhanced security helps mitigate this risk by blocking restricted actions from untrusted files while allowing trusted content to work normally.

Select Menu   (Windows) or File (macOS), and then select Preferences.

Select Security (Enhanced) from the Categories list.

Select Enable Enhanced Security in the Enhanced Security section.

(Optional—Windows only) Select Cross Domain Log File.
Acrobat logs cross‑domain access attempts to help with troubleshooting.

Select OK to apply the changes.

Once enabled, enhanced security restricts PDF access to external content, file system operations, and cross-domain communication unless you explicitly trust specific files, folders, or host domains.

Note

Enhanced security prevents PDFs from communicating across different host domains unless a server-based policy file explicitly permits the connection. When a PDF attempts cross-domain access, Acrobat automatically tries to load a policy file from the target domain.

Acrobat displays security warnings for restricted actions from untrusted sources, helping you decide to allow or block them.

Learn more about managing cross-domain access and policy files in the Acrobat Application Security Guide.