How do I add bookmarks to a watermarked secured PDF eBook?

I have purchased a few PDF eBooks (RPG rulebooks) and they come with a set of bookmarks, but with such "technical" books, I would really like to be able to add new bookmarks for easy reference. (Normal PDF bookmarks would be best, because I'd like to use them on my tablet as well.)

However, these PDF files are secured ("watermarked" it said) and I cannot edit anything about them. The PDF security info that Adobe reader gives looks like this:

Security: Password Security
All contents of the document are encrypted ...
Document Restrictions Summary:
  Printing: Allowed
  ...
  Content Copying: Allowed
  ...
  Commenting: Not allowed
  ...

Anything I can do?

Note that while it says "Password Security" I myself don't have any password for this file, I just open it with a PDF reader and can then read it just fine.

_{Note: Personally, I don't care whether the document is still secured afterwards or whether doing anything is "legal" in anyone's opinion or some random jurisdiction. I payed good money for that document, I don't plan on sharing it, I just want some post-it notes in my tablet ready rulebooks ;-) .}

Martin

Posted 2012-08-17T18:43:50.413

Reputation: 2 055

Answers

Not sure if a password remover can help.

http://securityxploded.com/instant-pdf-password-remover.php

OR, metadata remover may help with many things: http://www.becyhome.de/download_eng.htm

For BeCy (MetaEdit and PDFAsm), you need additional other programs so please read full info before trying to use it for the first time.

C2940680

Posted 2012-08-17T18:43:50.413

Reputation: 775

The Inst.PDF.Pass.Remover does look a wee bit shady, but at least this is something I can try out in a locked down isolated VM. – Martin – 2012-08-19T11:26:15.680

Ohh .. the instant PDF Passwd Remover doesn't help, as you need to know the password of the file to remove it. Which I don't. I can happily read and view that watermarked file without any problem. I assume that password is just part of the encryption security and of course I wasn't told any. :-/ – Martin – 2012-08-21T18:50:15.400

The challenge with the secure files is just that, they are secure.

I didn't have time today to test this, so I am not sure if this will work on secure PDFs, but JPdfBookmarks is freeware which helps you add bookmarks to existing PDF files.

Also, here is an article explaining how to do it - How to add bookmarks to a PDF document (using free software)

CharlieRB

Posted 2012-08-17T18:43:50.413

Reputation: 21 303

I tried jPdfBookmarks and doesn't operate on these files. – Martin – 2012-08-19T19:25:26.593