Unlock Protected PDF – Select, Edit, Print – Best Ways
The standard PDF security allows passwords at two levels.
‘user password’ – password for opening the pdf file.
‘owner password’ – for restricting printing; copying text, decrypting graphics, adding or modifying text notes, fields
There are times, when the owner forgets or have lost the actual password. In these cases, where has valid legal reason, follow the below methods. Please respect copyright laws and stay away from legal issues by unlocking unauthorized files.
Commercial Solution : Advanced PDF Password Recovery from ElcomSoft and PDF Password Remover from Very PDF are best commercial products. But, we are here to talk about free ways.
PDFCrack is a GNU/Linux open source (GPL) PDF password cracker for recovering owner and user passwords. PDFCrack is command line driven tool. PDFCrack version 0.8 is the latest version that has been ported to Win32 platform, and has been tested to work PDF version 1.6 from Adobe Acrobat version 7.0 with 128-bit AES encryption support.
- Download Linux source version.
- Download Windows pdfcrack-0.8-win32.zip.
If you are just looking to bypass ‘owner password’ for printing. Below are the various working ways.
Method 1: With Ghostscript and GSView.
- Download and install Ghostscript, an interpreter for the PostScript language and for PDF.
- Download and install GSView, a graphical interface for Ghostscript.
- Run ‘Start -> All Programs -> Ghostgum -> GSView’ to open and print/copy any security locked PDF files.
- You can also save an unprotected version of the file. In GSView click "File -> Convert -> OK" and save it under a new name (unprotected.pdf).
Method 2.a : Using Online Service FreeMyPDF to Remove Restrictions
FreeMyPDF is a online servive that lets you strip passwords and other restrictions from the file. Go to http://freemypdf.com/ and browse to upload the file you want to fix. It should be noted however that the process only works for files you are able to view—files which you need a password to even view can’t be unprotected by FreeMyPDF.
Method 2.b : Using Online Service Ensode.net/pdf.jsf
- Goto http://www.ensode.net/pdf-crack.jsf
- Accept the terms and upload the protected file and Submit.
- A new window will open up and prompt to save pdf-crack.jsf
- Rename the file from jsf to pdf (pdf-crack.pdf)
- Now you can open the file to print or anything
Method 3 : Use of Screen grabber software.
This method involves capturing the document as a picture, which can later be printed. Free Screen capturing software tool like Snipping Tool ( Vista free Screen Capture Utility) or SnagIt , which support auto-scroll to capture multiple pages of the document automatically. Also try Free Bug Shooting, Gadwin PrintScreen 4.3
Method 4: Freeware PDF Unlocker
Freeware PDF Unlocker allowing users to remove password and restrictions on any PDF file that you can read. The utility is very simple to use, simply drag and drop the file to remove restrictions. You do not need to know the "owner" password for this to work. Download Freeware PDF Unlocker
Method 5: pdfFactory and Zan image printer
Download pdfFactory. Print to pdffactory. When the print preview comes up, save as pdf.
Otherway, Go to http://www.zan1011.com/ and download the Zan image printer. This is an opensource driver. In the config, choose printer redirect and then hook off your prefered pdf writer. It even works with adobe writer. Your result is a “graphical” pdf file with no restrictions and you can run OCR if necessary. In some cases though Adobe Acrobat Reader might refuse to print to MDI or PS printer, saying “The printer is not allowed for secure printing. Do you want to change your choice ?”.
Printer port redirection tool such as RedMon can help.
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August 27th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Hey there. I had a colleague who had just such a file. Someone created a very large PDF then left the company. He protected it this way, but it belongs to the company. Method 1: With Ghostscript and GSView worked for me like a charm. Thanks again.
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:10 am
gui
August 5th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Great, if I wanna remove the restrictions, I’ll convert the PDF to Word using AnyBizSoft. But it must be legally of course.
http://www.anypdftools.com/pdf-to-word.html#163
But cracking the user password, which prevends people from opening the PDF, I really have no idea.
October 9th, 2009 at 2:50 am
Before , I was confronted with the PDF password problem. Finally , my friend Fiona recommend the PDF password unlocker .It helps me access my password protected pdf. http://www.password-unlocker.com/
October 19th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
PDF is a security file format that protects the content from editing. You can edit it with PDF editor or convert it to ms word document. nemo PDF converter is capable of converting PDF to ms word documents
If you don’t know the password of protected PDF documents, you can only recover the unknown password with the help of the third part utility . Here, PDF password unlocker is highly recommended. with this PDF password recovery tool, you can remove PDF passwords with great ease
October 19th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
PDF Password Unlocker is to crack the password of encrypted Acrobat PDF document for you to easily access and edit password-protected PDF documents. It not only helps to unlock the file, but also removes editing, printing and copying password restrictions. It is easy to use while with powerful attack functions. It provides three types of password attack, brute-force attack, brute-force attack with mask, and dictionary attack. You can use either of the attack for your situation to effectively crack the password in a time as short as possible.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:28 am
I have downloaded the PDF Password Recovery 5.0. It can remove the “owner” password in just seconds! http://www.recoverlostpassword.com/products/pdfpasswordrecovery.html
February 8th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Excellent. Method 1: With Ghostscript and GSView. Thanks.
March 28th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
PDF authors often restrict their files using PDF security features preventing users from copying, editing or printing the contents, and like every other protection this can also be easily bypassed, there exist several methods to crack or unlock PDF files,but if you are looking for a simple and fast way to just bypass the restrictions of the PDF file,Advanced PDF Password Remover 5.0 by Advanced pdf converter will be the best option.
http://www.advancedpdfconverter.com/products/pdfpasswordremover.html
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:28 am
These days,remove pdf password is very easy as there are many tools available.PDF Password Recovery can help you remove the password instantly.
http://sn.im/wzwna
November 14th, 2010 at 10:31 pm
I have downloaded Advanced PDF Password Remover 5.0 to try , quite good.
February 24th, 2011 at 4:53 am
Method 2.b : Using Online Service Ensode.net/pdf.jsf
works like a charm. Awesome post.
Thanks a lot websiee!!
April 12th, 2011 at 9:30 am
thanks for this article.it is useful.
February 5th, 2012 at 5:27 am