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:

  1. Open the document with Acrobat Reader (although Preview should work just as well).

  2. 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:[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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