Can I fill in an encypted PDF with iTextSharp?

Question

I have a fillable, saveable PDF file that has an owner password (that I don't have access to). I can fill it out in Adobe reader, export the FDF file, modify the FDF file, and then import it.

Then I tried to do it with iText(Sharp). I can't create a PdfStamper from my PdfReader because I didn't provide the owner password to the reader. Is there any way to do this programmatically or must I recreate the document? Even using FdfReader requires a PdfStamper. Am I missing anything? Anything legal that is - I'm pretty sure I could hack the document, but I can't. Ironically, recreating it would probably be ok.

Answer 1

Unless someone else chimes in, I'll assume the answer is "No"

I wound up regenerating the PDF in an unencrypted form.

Answer 2

[I found this question several months after it was posted and I'm posting this solution now for anyone who comes across this question in a search.]

I was in the exact same situation: my customer had a PDF with fillable fields that I needed to programmatically access. Unfortunately the PDF was password protected and they didn't have the password so I found couldn't work with their file.

What I discovered was that iTextSharp version 4.0.4 (and later) enforces password restrictions, earlier versions did not. Check out this iText mailing list archive thread, and the response from Paulo Soares (one of the iTextSharp developers).

So I downloaded version 4.0.3 and sure enough it worked. In my case I didn't even have to change my code to use this older version.

You can download 4.0.3 (and all other versions) at SourceForge.

Answer 3

Hello i downloaded itextsharp's latest version 5.0.2 anfd tried running the code without any change. i got an exception "Bad password exception PdfReader not opened with owner password" at the line below

stamper = New iTextSharp.text.pdf.PdfStamper(reader, New System.IO.FileStream(outputFile, IO.FileMode.Create))

i am the owner i know the password i have to use it in coding

wat to do ?