Ruby 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. Ruby

require 'chilkat'

success = 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

pdf = Chilkat::CkPdf.new()

#  Removing the encryption needs owner rights: load with the owner password.
pdf.put_OwnerPassword("owner-secret")
success = pdf.LoadFile("qa_data/pdf/encrypted_user_password.pdf")
if (success == false)
    print pdf.lastErrorText() + "\n";
    exit
end

json = Chilkat::CkJsonObject.new()
jsonOut = Chilkat::CkJsonObject.new()
success = pdf.Protection("getInfo",json,jsonOut)
if (success == false)
    print pdf.lastErrorText() + "\n";
    exit
end

print "encrypted, as loaded: " + jsonOut.BoolOf("loaded.encrypted").to_s() + "\n";
print "algorithm: " + jsonOut.stringOf("loaded.algorithm") + "\n";

success = pdf.Protection("removeEncryption",json,jsonOut)
if (success == false)
    print pdf.lastErrorText() + "\n";
    exit
end

print "will be saved encrypted: " + jsonOut.BoolOf("pending.encrypted").to_s() + "\n";

success = pdf.WriteFile("qa_output/minutes_unprotected.pdf")
if (success == false)
    print pdf.lastErrorText() + "\n";
    exit
end

#  The result is an ordinary PDF that opens without a password.
reader = Chilkat::CkPdf.new()
info = Chilkat::CkJsonObject.new()
success = reader.PreLoadCheck("qa_output/minutes_unprotected.pdf",info)
if (success == false)
    print reader.lastErrorText() + "\n";
    exit
end

print "encrypted: " + info.BoolOf("encrypted").to_s() + "\n";
success = reader.LoadFile("qa_output/minutes_unprotected.pdf")
if (success == false)
    print reader.lastErrorText() + "\n";
    exit
end

print "pages: " + reader.get_NumPages().to_s() + "\n";

#  Sample output:

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