Unprotect protected PDF files
Jul 05, '02 11:23:12AM
Contributed by: dexedrine
Various versions of Adobe Acrobat support Security settings that allow the publisher of material to disable certain features such as allowing the printing or editing of a document.
Well, it seems that OS X's built-in PDF generation capabilities can be used to bypass these features and effectively create "unprotected" PDF documents. Here's how:
- Open the document with Acrobat Reader (although Preview should work just as well).
- Choose Print and select "Save file as a PDF" from the Print Dialog's Output Options. Be sure you save the file somewhere else unless you want to overwrite the original. OS X will then generate an unprotected PDF.
Caveats:- The output process will be very slow. System speed probably plays a role here.
- The new, unprotected PDF will be massive in comparison to the original! OS X's PDF generation doesn't support compression of any type. For ex: I took a 2.4 meg protected PDF document that I made and after unprotecting it via this method, it was 14.4 megs in size.
[Editor's note: I've actually used this trick a couple times myself to print reference documents that publishers decided I should not be able to print (why have a PDF manual if you're not allowed to print it??). With OS X's ability to create PDF's on the fly, I'm not sure there are any options for publishers that wish to offer protected PDF's -- any thoughts, anyone?]
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Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20020705112312417