unlocking a pdf that is secure

[koe]

Is there any way to get into a pdf that has been security enabled?
I am being asked to revise a workbook that no one has the files to any longer. The only file is a pdf which has security to not allow any copying of the text. Of course, nobody remembers the password. I really need to copy the text so I don't have to re-type the whole book!

[AdobeAce]

Having played with Acrobats quite a bit over the years, from my experience, I've never been able to get around a secure document. If the security is just set up to prevent changes, you can't even OPEN it to edit it in Illustrator. It won't open in Photoshop and you can't Place it in an InDesign layout.

If you find a solution, please post it.

Thanks and good luck!

Ace

[Paul C]

Just a guess but how about rasterizing it and using the OCR feature in Acrobat Pro? Lame but it just might work.

peace

[Lukas Engqvist]

Some documents are secured to edit but not for printing.
I have ONCE got myself out of the situation you describe by printing to postscript (document security allowed printing but not editing) then distilling the PS file…not neat not without risk but worth a try :)

[eugenetyson]

I found this before http://www.guapdf.com/

It did remove the passwords, but it also removed text, well the demo version did. I'm not sure how well it works, I have my reservations, but you could try it yourself.

http://www.crackpdf.com/?gclid=CIPinY-n2YwCFRtTEAodUTR6GA

http://www.verypdf.com/?gclid=CMiP9L-n2YwCFTJbQgodlQPDLQ
http://smartpdfconverter.com/?gclid=CNWij7en2YwCFTJbQgodlQPDLQ

http://www.software.ebandwagon.co.uk/RetrivePDF.html?src=ggl-26&gclid=CPGUmamn2YwCFQJLQwodWlDDKQ

I have NOT tested any of these so I don't know if they work or not?

Perhaps backup the PDF before you start messing with it's head.

[jetmuzer]

freeware PDF utility for OS X
http://www.iconus.ch/fabien/pdflab/
apart from the version of Preview in earlier versions of OS X and ColorSync, earlier versions of ghostscript eg v7 of AFPL ghostscript ignored the don't print command as well. Success is dependent on how the security is implemented in the PDF - if they are encrypted PDF there's probably not much you can do without shelling out for software, although PDFlab is reputed to work but I've never tried it