How to "unlock" a secured PDF file
February 24th, 2009
This is article describes how to "unlock" a secured PDF file, and gain full access to print it, modify it, and copy selected portions of text from it, without paying anything to buy any of this (so called) "pdf cracking software".
You are going to need the help of the Evince Document Viewer that comes with Ubuntu Linux. If you are already using Ubuntu Linux, good for you! If you are not using it, you can ask a friend of yours with Ubuntu installed to help you. Otherwise, you can dive in deep water and try the Live CD that will do the job for you (no installation required).
A "secured" PDF file will look like this if you open it in Adobe Reader:
Boot in your Ubuntu Linux (or boot from the Live CD if you don't want Ubuntu Linux installed). Open your locked PDF from Ubuntu using the standard document viewer, Evince. From the menu go to File → Print... From the printers list select Print to File:
Enter the output filename and make sure that you have selected PDF as Output Format. Click Print and you will get a verbatim copy of the original file, only this time it will be free of any restrictions. This is one more practical example that demonstrates how Ubuntu Linux can significantly improve your life...
You are going to need the help of the Evince Document Viewer that comes with Ubuntu Linux. If you are already using Ubuntu Linux, good for you! If you are not using it, you can ask a friend of yours with Ubuntu installed to help you. Otherwise, you can dive in deep water and try the Live CD that will do the job for you (no installation required).
A "secured" PDF file will look like this if you open it in Adobe Reader:
Boot in your Ubuntu Linux (or boot from the Live CD if you don't want Ubuntu Linux installed). Open your locked PDF from Ubuntu using the standard document viewer, Evince. From the menu go to File → Print... From the printers list select Print to File:
Enter the output filename and make sure that you have selected PDF as Output Format. Click Print and you will get a verbatim copy of the original file, only this time it will be free of any restrictions. This is one more practical example that demonstrates how Ubuntu Linux can significantly improve your life...
March 7th, 2009 at 5:56 pm Hello,
I have a problem with this procedure. I have original secured .pdf document in which I can choose TEXT and so it seems that this PDF was made directly from text. BUT, when I print this document to file in Evince I get PDF, where I CANNOT choose text and cannot do OCR on it, because the quality (so it says) is too low. And OCR option isn't really good option, because I have text in Slovenian language, which I would like to copy directly from .pdf. What do you think about this?
The file is located here: http://www.sistory.si/publikacije/pdf/biografika/Primorski_slovenski_biografski_leksikon_13.pdf
Btw, great tip :)
March 7th, 2009 at 7:37 pm Yea, I tried it myself and I see what you mean.
Well, this specific PDF looks like an exceptional case, because it seems to contain scanned text and digital text at the same time (and that's why you're able to select text in the original), but this additional information seems to be trimmed in the pdf-printing process. I tried with both Evince in Ubuntu and BullZip in Windows and both created a PDF with non-selectable text.
Sorry but I have no idea what you should do in this case :-(
March 7th, 2009 at 8:24 pm Thanks for the effort,
greetz from Slovenia. :)
April 30th, 2009 at 2:43 am Works OK but you lose the index information :(
May 27th, 2009 at 1:46 am My wife came to me with a PDF that she couldn't print. Since I am Linux Freax I didn't want waste money buying some Windows tools. I just googled around and ... boom ... I found this article.
Thanks, within few minutes I managed to print the file.
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:06 am In case you don't have Ubuntu ... just use http://www.pdfunlock.com to unlock the file!
October 15th, 2009 at 11:31 am I heard that evince is about to release a windows version, too.
This method works great, but the output is usually much larger in file size, and there seems no way to handle it.
Ωραίο site, well done Γιάννη.
March 29th, 2010 at 6:33 am 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
April 28th, 2010 at 4:24 am pdf password recovery 5.0
April 28th, 2010 at 4:27 am http://sn.im/vu1a3
May 27th, 2010 at 11:31 am I found this PDF Password Recovery is very useful.
http://sn.im/wtptw
June 6th, 2010 at 2:21 am OMG u rock my world! this worked PERFECTLY!!!!!
August 9th, 2010 at 9:15 pm Thanks, I also found this to be a great tip and time saver.
August 16th, 2010 at 12:13 am Great! I owe you one. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with the world. :)
August 27th, 2010 at 5:40 pm Excelente! Me funcionó en ubuntu 10.04