Administrator defaults and locked settings in PDF by Zaweba

Rolling a program out to a whole office raises a question that doesn't come up at home: how do you make sure everyone starts with sensible settings, and that a few important ones stay that way? PDF by Zaweba answers it with a single file. An administrator writes the defaults once, and every copy of the app on that PC follows them.

The defaults file

The file is called defaults.json. It goes in the Zaweba PDF folder inside ProgramData, or beside the program itself. ProgramData is the shared folder Windows keeps for settings that apply to everyone using a computer, which is why it is the natural home for it. Putting the file beside the program suits a copy run from a shared folder or a portable setup.

The file holds two things. The first is default values for preferences: the starting setting for any preference you choose to include. The second is a list of locked keys, the preferences that must not be changed.

Defaults and locks

A default is a starting point. If the administrator sets the units to millimetres, everyone starts with millimetres, but anyone can change their own copy to inches if they prefer. This is the gentle way to give an office a sensible setup without taking choices away.

A locked preference always takes the administrator's value. In Edit > Preferences it shows greyed out, so people can see what it is set to but can't change it. Locks are for settings where the organisation needs one answer for everyone, usually because of security or record keeping.

What an administrator might lock

The settings under Security and trust are the obvious candidates. How links to websites are handled, for instance, is something an organisation may want fixed, especially if staff open a lot of PDFs from outside. Autosave is another. Many offices want recovery copies on for everyone so that a crash never loses a morning's work.

Identity is better as a default than a lock, as each person's details differ. Display settings, page layouts and units are usually best left as defaults. People read differently and gain little from being forced into one view.

A good rule is to lock as little as possible. Each lock is a setting someone may one day have a good reason to change, and will have to ask about. Lock what matters for safety and consistency, and default the rest.

Rolling it out

Because it is a plain file in a known place, defaults.json fits whatever way an organisation already copies files onto its PCs. Test it on one machine first: put the file in place, open the app, and check Preferences to see that the defaults appear and the locked settings are greyed out.

Keep a copy of the file with your other deployment notes and a short comment on why each lock exists. Whoever looks after the PCs next will thank you.

For everyone else

If you are not an administrator and find a setting greyed out in Preferences, this is why. It isn't a fault in the app. Someone in your organisation has chosen that setting for everyone, and if you think it should be different, they are the person to ask.

For a free, offline PDF editor, having this kind of control is unusual. It means PDF by Zaweba can go onto every desk in an office with the confidence that it will behave the same way on each of them.