Adobe password.

[Loose rivets]

A master file carrying a huge amount of text data was/is in a pdf file. After years I tried to open it and it's asking me for a password.

I have no recollection of Adobe having a password mechanism, and if it did, I didn't use it, of that I'm sure.

Anything I can do? I do have the data in a more simplistic form, but I've a feeling the pdf would have been the most up to date offering.

[G0ULI]

Try opening the file with the password, "password". If that doesn't work, could it be the file name that was used as the password?

Failing that, try typing a single space as the password.

Now there are a few utility programs thrown up by a Google search that claim to unlock password protected .pdf files, so you can resave them without the password protection. If you decide to go down this root, I recommend downloading one or more of these utilities to a gash computer that you don't care about. Virus scan the downloads. Copy the protected file over and unlock it.

Carefully virus scan the new unlocked file before loading it back onto your working computer. There is malware out there that is capable of hitching a ride inside .pdf files. You can't be too careful with this sort of untested stuff from unknown sources.

For absolute paranoia, save the retrieved file as plain text amd reimport it into your editor of choice for reformatting if the information in the file is the only thing of real importance.

[Loose rivets]

Thanks GOULI, so far not the answer. So frustrating. It's taken me several years to be in a place where I can start writing again (Mind, not house) and this hits me in the first minutes.

I know I haven't set a password and it worked perfectly for a couple of years. The net generally seems to show this is being experienced by others*. This file labelled simply, BIG, is my entire book in one file. I have others with each chapter in its own file, and another called Numbers, where the pages are numbered. Other files have name of me and the book top right corner for submission etc., etc. Only this pdf has the 230,000 words in one lump.

It was astonishing how hard it was to simply paste the chapters together. So simple in Word Perfect, but oddly entwined with other things in Word.

Word had features I couldn't be without, but the difficulty with simple things like numbering pages seemed bizarre after WP. A powerful tool once under control.

*One poster mentioned erasing: homediretcory/library/preferences/com.adobe.reader.plist and all will be well. Of course, I can't find that file.

Tomorrow's another day.

[noughtsnones]

I don't recognise the password problem you describe, but when I've had odd behaviour (with pdf / Adobe Acrobat Reader) I try 'Sumatra PDF Reader (http://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/free-pdf-reader.html)' for preference or W10 'Reader'.

0'n'1

[G0ULI]

There is a wiki page that lists a dozen ways to access encrypted .pdf files. Seach for "unlocking locked pdf files wiki". Something in that list must work.

[vulcanised]

Try opening it with Foxit Reader.

[Biggles78]

Hi Loose, didn't I read you were playing around with Windows 10 at some stage? Was this PDF on the machine you were installing Windows 10 on? If yes, then I found this on Mr Google and thought it may interest you. https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1930519 If you know someone with a Windows 10 installation then try opening your PDF file in Edge. If it opens then try saving it as a different name and without a password.


Do you know if you have Shadow Copy enabled? If you do then you may be able to recover a previous version that hasn't has the password applied.


Finally and I am sure you have heard this before, always save a backup of your files on some storage media so you do not have just the single copy on your machine. If it is something important to me, I keep FOUR copies on different media but them I am a paranoid child of unmarried parents. :ooh:

[Loose rivets]

Yes, it's the entire novel and is on phones, backup discs in the US and the UK and even my GPS has a copy. I'm registered with the Library of Congress and even chant evil spells to deter plagiarizers, but I just want computers to stop playing nasty tricks on me.

I guess it must be encrypted and there is just a chance a lifelong pal asked for his copy to be on pdf, and I protected it as it was the entire book before going public. Then, I copied the locked pdf and perhaps kicked out the open one.

If so, I've only myself to blame though the end of my time in Texas I was in a rather numbed state so having blamed Adobe and computers it's probably my fault. Usually is.:uhoh:

I did fire up my Vista machine and it had a copy of Adobe X on it, and I was still asked for the password so it might be the file first became locked at the moment of trying to open it. Could be either a new or old problem that had never been picked up. Anyway, I'll look at some of the programs above. .

[Loose rivets]

EDGE "couldn't open pdf - something's keeping it from opening".

Just seen my pal's reply and he can't remember the password. The book didn't grip him and sadly nor did it grip his son - my only Godson - and a world class fast reader, super genius, smarty-pants - but no cigar for this author. I'll have to write one about sex in mathematics and naked people in mainframes. I think he'd enjoy those.

However, one of our new ppruners is going through it at the correct pace and I think, at last finding some of its hidden depths. Finding them of course is only a first step..

[dazdaz1]

Maybe this adobe link might help....
https://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/327448.html

[Loose rivets]

Oooo . . . the world's really coming to an end. I called the American number fully expecting the friendly support I'd grown used to there. After 101 menus, it told me they didn't support that product. Well, it is free, so I guess that's reasonable, but it's as though they've got my file and won't release their grip on it. As always with me, I don't like to be beaten so I'd love to look in that file.

Of course, I'm intending to put a month or so's work into an edit so it's not the end of the world really, but I always wonder - could there be a master stroke or two in that file that I've failed to carry over to the other backups? Maybe I'll never know.

I'll go to the support site, but it's no replacement for a soothing female voice that quite frequently likes my British accent, so spends extra time helping me. Hah, I often visualize their disappointment in seeing the reality. But American support sites are something I miss a great deal.


Daz, when I looked at the link, it's written in furrin, so didn't get far with that. :uhoh: Will persevere.

[WeeJeem]

Try opening it with Foxit Reader.

That would be my first suggestion, too - open the file with Foxit, then "print" it from Foxit using CutePDF.

[Loose rivets]

Things just get sillier. I now can't download Fox Reader.

Well, not just that, it could well be Google now as loads of times when the little blue circle is spinning - to the point of timing out - I noticed 'Transferring files FROM Google in the bottom left of my screen. Not happy about that.

Download dot com. Is that okay? I know they've been around years but I normally want to see the maker's name in the site. Oh, and Download suggested turning off my Addblocker. Very nicely, just a gentle prick of one's conscience in fact.

[MarcK]

Adobe Acrobat has always (well, from 1995) had a password mechanism. The very earliest can be cracked with 3rd party software. The latest, not so much. I'm afraid you are out of luck.