Those have different purposes. Word/Excel documents are meant to be editable so that anybody who opens the file is able to add to it, etc. A PDF is effectively the opposite. A PDF is generally meant to be an immutable document that looks the same in any program that you use to open the file.
I mean, fucking with a PDF isn’t exactly arcane knowledge, even after it’s been signed. It’s just cumbersome and tedious and requires counterintuitive actions like pressing Ctrl+P instead of Ctrl+S.
If their purpose is to be secure, they’re shit at their job.
The purpose of a PDF is not security, obfuscation, etc. If you NEED to manipulate a PDF, then sure, it is technically possible to do so. But it takes knowledge and effort to do so. As you say, it’s cumbersome, tedious, and counterintuitive. The primary purpose of a PDF is to be a read-only document that looks the same regardless of the screen resolution, the fonts that are installed, etc. On the other hand, Word/Excel documents are designed to be as simple as possible for anybody to edit as needed at any point, with the downside of being affected by things like screen size, fonts installed, etc.
Those have different purposes. Word/Excel documents are meant to be editable so that anybody who opens the file is able to add to it, etc. A PDF is effectively the opposite. A PDF is generally meant to be an immutable document that looks the same in any program that you use to open the file.
I mean, fucking with a PDF isn’t exactly arcane knowledge, even after it’s been signed. It’s just cumbersome and tedious and requires counterintuitive actions like pressing Ctrl+P instead of Ctrl+S.
If their purpose is to be secure, they’re shit at their job.
The purpose of a PDF is not security, obfuscation, etc. If you NEED to manipulate a PDF, then sure, it is technically possible to do so. But it takes knowledge and effort to do so. As you say, it’s cumbersome, tedious, and counterintuitive. The primary purpose of a PDF is to be a read-only document that looks the same regardless of the screen resolution, the fonts that are installed, etc. On the other hand, Word/Excel documents are designed to be as simple as possible for anybody to edit as needed at any point, with the downside of being affected by things like screen size, fonts installed, etc.