Unlocking PDF Ebooks

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Benji49

Benji49

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Feb 6, 2008
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Adobe provides a method of locking PDF files so they can't be sometimes printed, changed or otherwise altered in any form.

You can buy PDF-cracking software but if you have a Mac you can do it for free.

Open up sherlock, type in colorsync. Open up the colorsync application and use that to open up the PDF file. Colorsync breaks the lock.

This is an old printer's trick. If you work in prepress long enough, you encounter a situation where a customer has a PDF file that needs to be printed but the graphic designer is unable to provide the code (because the graphic designer went off and died somewhere).
 
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Have not verified that this works (but I will soon enough). How awesome of you to post it for us. There has been about 100 times I've needed this in the past. Graphic artists are a PITA for locking PDF files.

Does this unlock the PDF and allow you to save, print & edit? Like I can de-protect it on my mac then save the PDF file with no pw protection and open it in illustrator or whatever.

$rep ++ ;
 
Oh yeah, it works. Hey, do you know how many times a customer has walked into an offset printer with a 100,000 impression order and a locked PDF file because the graphic designer up and died or is just being a jerk?

Gees, this is an old hack. If I get rep for this (thanks by the way) I should comb the archives of my blog and post some more stuff.
 
And the way to get around that is to convert all text to outlines, so that the reader is no longer looking at text... Sure you can OCR it, but it adds that extra layer.

I find that the best way to look ebooks down is to actually write them in a REAL book making program, like InDesign, and then use the serious security options that Adobe actually provides in its professional software.
 
Go to the pirate bay and search for pdf unlocking software.

There are some there with serials that work great.

Just don't be dumb and download an infected file. Always read comments first and always scan before opening. ;)
 
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