What's the best way to allow outside people access to a PDF file for a limited time?

[The Mavo]

I need to share a couple documents securely with some people who are not (yet) affiliated with my company. However, I don't want them to have my intellectual property on their systems after they don't need access to it.

Therefore, I was wondering what the best ways are to share these (PDF) documents with them for just a few days, and then eliminate that access when they no longer need it.

So far, the closest I've come is to save the files to my Creative Cloud account and provide a public link to the folder but without allowing the files to be downloadable. However, even with the downloadable option switched off, I notice that users can still copy/save previews of each page to their local computers as images (rather like screenshots of each page). It's just a matter of dragging the image from the browser and dropping it onto one's desktop. Is there a way to prevent that? Or is there an altogether different approach I should try.

Please advise. Thanks.

[Test Screen Name]

People will suggest lots of simple ways like JavaScript but these have no real value in protection. You would need DRM (Digital Rights Management) and a healthy 5-6 figure budget for it.

[The Mavo]

Thanks, Test. I figured Digital Rights Management would be the best solution, but I don't have such a system in place yet. Nor can I currently afford that (hopefully in the future, heh heh). Guess the best I can do is right now is just use Creative Cloud storage and not make it downloadable. Oh, and copyright the documents in advance.

[try67]

To be able to view a PDF document it must first be downloaded.

[The Mavo]

I found that if a link to a PDF document in Creative Cloud is made available it can be viewed in a browser, even without granting the ability to download the file. Same goes for images, videos, etc.

[Test Screen Name]

That just means there isn't a download button. Someone who knows what they are doing can still download anything in seconds. There is NO PROTECTION from download, it's very important not to fool yourself into thinking your creations cannot be copied, but instead to work in the world where it can and will be copied.