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Java: Encrypt or Decrypt PDF Files

For PDF documents that contain confidential or sensitive information, you may want to password protect these documents to ensure that only the designated person can access the information. This article will demonstrate how to programmatically encrypt a PDF document and decrypt a password-protected document using Spire.PDF for Java.

Install Spire.PDF for Java

First of all, you're required to add the Spire.Pdf.jar file as a dependency in your Java program. The JAR file can be downloaded from this link. If you use Maven, you can easily import the JAR file in your application by adding the following code to your project's pom.xml file.

<repositories>
    <repository>
        <id>com.e-iceblue</id>
        <name>e-iceblue</name>
        <url>https://repo.e-iceblue.com/nexus/content/groups/public/</url>
    </repository>
</repositories>
<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>e-iceblue</groupId>
        <artifactId>spire.pdf</artifactId>
        <version>9.5.6</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Encrypt a PDF File with Password

There are two kinds of passwords for encrypting a PDF file - open password and permission password. The former is set to open the PDF file, while the latter is set to restrict printing, contents copying, commenting, etc. If a PDF file is secured with both types of passwords, it can be opened with either password.

The PdfDocument.getSecurity().encrypt(java.lang.String openPassword, java.lang.String permissionPassword, java.util.EnumSet<PdfPermissionsFlags> permissions, PdfEncryptionKeySize keySize) method offered by Spire.PDF for Java allows you to set both open password and permission password to encrypt PDF files. The detailed steps are as follows.

  • Create a PdfDocument instance.
  • Load a sample PDF file using PdfDocument.loadFromFile() method.
  • Set open password, permission password, encryption key size and permissions.
  • Encrypt the PDF file using PdfDocument.getSecurity().encrypt(java.lang.String openPassword, java.lang.String permissionPassword, java.util.EnumSet<PdfPermissionsFlags> permissions, PdfEncryptionKeySize keySize) method.
  • Save the result file using PdfDocument.saveToFile () method.
  • Java
import java.util.EnumSet;

import com.spire.pdf.PdfDocument;
import com.spire.pdf.security.PdfEncryptionKeySize;
import com.spire.pdf.security.PdfPermissionsFlags;

public class EncryptPDF {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        //Create a PdfDocument instance
        PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument();

        //Load a sample PDF file
        pdf.loadFromFile("E:\\Files\\sample.pdf");

        //Encrypt the file
        PdfEncryptionKeySize keySize = PdfEncryptionKeySize.Key_128_Bit;
        String openPassword = "e-iceblue";
        String permissionPassword = "test";
        EnumSet flags = EnumSet.of(PdfPermissionsFlags.Print, PdfPermissionsFlags.Fill_Fields);
        pdf.getSecurity().encrypt(openPassword, permissionPassword, flags, keySize);

        //Save and close
        pdf.saveToFile("Encrypt.pdf");
        pdf.close();

    }

}

Java: Encrypt or Decrypt PDF Files

Remove Password to Decrypt a PDF File

When you need to remove the password from a PDF file, you can set the open password and permission password to empty while calling the PdfDocument.getSecurity().encrypt(java.lang.String openPassword, java.lang.String permissionPassword, java.util.EnumSet<PdfPermissionsFlags> permissions, PdfEncryptionKeySize keySize, java.lang.String originalPermissionPassword) method. The detailed steps are as follows.

  • Create a PdfDocument object.
  • Load the encrypted PDF file with password using PdfDocument.loadFromFile(java.lang.String filename, java.lang.String password) method.
  • Decrypt the PDF file by setting the open password and permission password to empty using PdfDocument.getSecurity().encrypt(java.lang.String openPassword, java.lang.String permissionPassword, java.util.EnumSet<PdfPermissionsFlags> permissions, PdfEncryptionKeySize keySize, java.lang.String originalPermissionPassword) method.
  • Save the result file using PdfDocument.saveToFile() method.
  • Java
import com.spire.pdf.PdfDocument;
import com.spire.pdf.security.PdfEncryptionKeySize;
import com.spire.pdf.security.PdfPermissionsFlags;

public class DecryptPDF {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

        //Create a PdfDocument instance
        PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument();
        
        //Load the encrypted PDF file with password
        pdf.loadFromFile("Encrypt.pdf", "e-iceblue");

        //Decrypt the file
        pdf.getSecurity().encrypt("", "", PdfPermissionsFlags.getDefaultPermissions(), PdfEncryptionKeySize.Key_256_Bit, "test");

        //Save and close
        pdf.saveToFile("Decrypt.pdf");
        pdf.close();
    }
}

Java: Encrypt or Decrypt PDF Files

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