2

I want to convert my .ps file (which was created from an encrypted .pdf file) back to a .pdf format.

Using ps2pdf in ghostscript gives me the following message on my command prompt:

This PostScript file was created from an encrypted PDF file.
Redistilling encrypted PDF is not permitted. 
Error: /undefined in
--eexec-- Operand stack:    --nostringval--   --dict:89/200(L)--   quit Execution stack:    %interp_exit   .runexec2   --nostringval--  
--nostringval--   --nostringval--   2   %stopped_push   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   false   1   %stopped_push   1977   1   3   %oparray_pop   1976   1   3  
%oparray_pop   1960   1   3   %oparray_pop   1852   1   3  
%oparray_pop   --nostringval--   %errorexec_pop   .runexec2  
--nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   2   %stopped_push   --nostringval--   1843   2   3   %oparray_pop  
--nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval-- Dictionary stack:    --dict:1198/1684(ro)(G)--   --dict:1/20(G)--   --dict:89/200(L)--   --dict:1198/1684(ro)(G)-- 
Current allocation mode is local Last OS error: No such file or directory 

GPL Ghostscript 9.18: Unrecoverable
error, exit code 1

Is there anyway to convert my .ps file back to .pdf if I know the password of the original encrypted .pdf file from which the .ps file was created?

vidarlo
  • 21,954
  • 8
  • 58
  • 84
Kewal Shah
  • 1,034
  • 2
  • 13
  • 35
  • Have you tried passing the password on the ps2pdf commandline using the `-sOwnerPassword=xxxxx` option? – steeldriver Dec 31 '17 at 12:45
  • @steeldriver I tried using it, gives the same message as mentioned in the question. – Kewal Shah Dec 31 '17 at 18:00
  • Do you still have the original (encrypted) PDF document? I would restart with that and decrypt it in the process of conversion to PS. Then you shouldn't need to deal with encryption during the reconversion to PDF. – David Foerster Dec 31 '17 at 19:19
  • @DavidFoerster Yes I have the original PDF document but the problem is, I do not know how to do that! – Kewal Shah Jan 01 '18 at 04:02
  • @KewalShah: A [quick](https://www.google.com/search?q=ghostscript+decrypt+pdf) [search](https://www.google.com/search?q=ghostscript+convert+pdf+to+ps) revealed something like this: https://gist.github.com/davidfoerster/9c11bc43f896b7cbd6f9f3fc6f7d79a3. – David Foerster Jan 01 '18 at 11:23
  • @DavidFoerster thanks for the link, but could you please mention explicitly what should I write on my command line, I didn't understand from the script, the order and syntax in which I should write as I'm relatively new to Ubuntu. – Kewal Shah Jan 01 '18 at 11:42
  • 1
    For manual use replace the shell variables `$INPUT`, `$OUTPUT`, and `$PASSWORD` in the `gs` invocation in the last 5 lines with the respective strings. Examples are in the first 3 lines. Alternatively, save the file, edit the first 3 lines to your liking and execute the script. – David Foerster Jan 01 '18 at 12:06

2 Answers2

5

You can open the .ps file in a text editor of your choice, find the line Removing the following eleven lines is illegal, subject to the Digital Copyright Act of 1998. and remove the following eleven lines, starting with mark currentfile eexec and ending with cleartomark, save and run ps2pdf.

Radovan Garabík
  • 275
  • 2
  • 6
1

Why don't you use imagemagick? Try this:

convert myfile.ps myfile.pdf

Hope it helps you

Tim
  • 11
  • 1
  • 1
    While imagemagick does convert it to a .pdf format sucessfully, the images in the converted pdf are highly blurred, so it's not of any use to me. Thanks for the suggestion anyway. – Kewal Shah Dec 31 '17 at 18:06
  • So I think better you use photoshop?? by Wine. Sorry. – Tim Dec 31 '17 at 18:13
  • 1
    Adding `-density 300` fixed the blurriness issue for me. – Hypercube Nov 29 '18 at 18:59