B4X Requires Chilkat v11.7.0+

Remove the Password and Encryption from a PDF

See more PDF Protection Examples

Demonstrates the removeEncryption operation, which saves the PDF with no encryption at all: no password, no restrictions. It needs owner rights, so the PDF is loaded with its owner password. As with every Protection operation, the change is applied when the file is written. B4X

Dim success As Boolean = False

'  This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
'  See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

'  The PDF used in this example is available at encrypted_user_password.pdf

Dim pdf As ChilkatPdf
pdf.Initialize("pdf")

'  Removing the encryption needs owner rights: load with the owner password.
pdf.OwnerPassword = "owner-secret"
success = pdf.LoadFile("qa_data/pdf/encrypted_user_password.pdf")
If success = False Then
    Log(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If


Dim json As ChilkatJsonObject
json.Initialize
Dim jsonOut As ChilkatJsonObject
jsonOut.Initialize
success = pdf.Protection("getInfo", json, jsonOut)
If success = False Then
    Log(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

Log("encrypted, as loaded: " & jsonOut.BoolOf("loaded.encrypted"))
Log("algorithm: " & jsonOut.StringOf("loaded.algorithm"))

success = pdf.Protection("removeEncryption", json, jsonOut)
If success = False Then
    Log(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

Log("will be saved encrypted: " & jsonOut.BoolOf("pending.encrypted"))

success = pdf.WriteFile("qa_output/minutes_unprotected.pdf")
If success = False Then
    Log(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If


'  The result is an ordinary PDF that opens without a password.
Dim reader As ChilkatPdf
reader.Initialize("reader")
Dim info As ChilkatJsonObject
info.Initialize
success = reader.PreLoadCheck("qa_output/minutes_unprotected.pdf", info)
If success = False Then
    Log(reader.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

Log("encrypted: " & info.BoolOf("encrypted"))
success = reader.LoadFile("qa_output/minutes_unprotected.pdf")
If success = False Then
    Log(reader.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

Log("pages: " & reader.NumPages)

'  Sample output:

'  encrypted, as loaded: True
'  algorithm: rc4-128
'  will be saved encrypted: False
'  encrypted: False
'  pages: 1