Identify 3 Solutions to Extract Text From Secured PDF Files

extract text from protected pdf

If you received the secured PDF, you can open it and view its contents. But you will be unable to extract text from secured PDF. Usually, people add security in PDF files so that data gets secured from any unauthorized access. Locked PDF file ensures the security of the content by protecting it with the password. This feature is used by many companies an even by the individual also to protect their content for various reasons. But, sometimes it becomes difficult to copy text from secured PDF document. So, this blog describes the best solution to resolve the problem.

Why Do Users want to Copy Text From Secured PDF?

There are many reasons due to which users want to extract text from protected files. Let us understand it more clearly by some queries:

 

“I received an email containing PDF file as an attachment. This file opens easily but, I found that it does not allow me to copy or perform any modifications. However, I have given a task to copy data from PDF file and use it for making reports. So, how can I do this can anyone provide me the best method to extract text from secured PDF file?”

“Found the problem when I had to copy text from secured PDF file. I need to paste the data into a presentation on urgent basis. But, the problem is I could not extract the content. I searched online for this problem and found that the file is secured. It does not give rights to copy the data. Can anyone suggest how to copy text from secured PDF file?”

Manually Extract Text From Secured PDF Files

Adobe Reader provides the functionality to extract text from protected PDF. For this user have to follow some useful steps:

  • Open the Adobe Reader and the secured PDF file
  • Click on the Tools menu in Adobe Reader 8 or 9 and Edit menu in Adobe Reader X
  • Choose the Zoom option >> Snapshot Tool in Adobe Reader 8 or 9. Or click on the Take a Snapshot option in Adobe Reader X
  • After this, the user has to copy text from secured PDF
  • Click the translucent “+” icon & choose the text that needs to be copied
  • Drag the mouse to select the text area
  • Release the mouse to take a snapshot of the content
  • Now, open a Word document file to copy text from PDF
  • Finally, press the Ctrl+V keys to paste data into the DOC file.

Use Google Chrome to Extract Text From Protected PDF

  • Drag the PDF file to Google Chrome browser
  • If the file has user level password then enter it otherwise proceed to next step
  • Select the ‘Print’ option
  • The print screen will open
  • Click on Change option and hit the button Save as PDF
  • Select the destination folder and save the file by clicking Save button
  • Then, Right-click the unlocked file
  • Now, click on Properties
  • Hit the Security tab
  • Then, you will find all PDF restrictions are removed.

Note: The above manual approach is performed on single PDF file. If the user wants to extract text from protected PDF in batch. Then, these solutions won’t work. Therefore, it is recommended to use the third-party solution.

Professional Software to Extract Text From Secured PDF

PDF Restrictions removal tool is the ultimate solution to extract text from protected PDF file. This software also enables the user to copy, edit and print the protected PDF files. Moreover, the self-descriptive user interface, even novice user can use it. Some of the highlighted features of the tool are described below:

  • Remove security from multiple PDF files at a time-consuming
  • Owner level restrictions are removed by the tool such as copy, print, edit & extract
  • Shows permission status in Before & After column
  • Keep data intact & maintains original formatting
  • Save the output PDF at any desired location
  • Tool supports all Windows operating systems 10, 8.1, 8, 7, etc.

Conclusion

To protect the data privacy and content integrity of a PDF document, people usually apply security for a PDF file to make it protected. But, sometimes it is needed to remove security from PDF files so that it can be easily copied, print, edit or extract. So this blog article clearly describes two manual and one automated approach. Those help users to remove security and allows them to extract text from secured PDF. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages. Users can select as per their requirement.