VB.NET 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. VB.NET

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 New Chilkat.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
    Debug.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


Dim json As New Chilkat.JsonObject
Dim jsonOut As New Chilkat.JsonObject
success = pdf.Protection("getInfo",json,jsonOut)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If

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

success = pdf.Protection("removeEncryption",json,jsonOut)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If

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

success = pdf.WriteFile("qa_output/minutes_unprotected.pdf")
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


'  The result is an ordinary PDF that opens without a password.
Dim reader As New Chilkat.Pdf
Dim info As New Chilkat.JsonObject
success = reader.PreLoadCheck("qa_output/minutes_unprotected.pdf",info)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(reader.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.WriteLine("encrypted: " & info.BoolOf("encrypted"))
success = reader.LoadFile("qa_output/minutes_unprotected.pdf")
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(reader.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.WriteLine("pages: " & reader.NumPages)

'  Sample output:

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