Hi, I’m new to Scrivener, but I really love what I’m seeing so far! I’m still trying the software out, but I like it so much I’ve already plugged it in my blog. (So of course I’m going to buy it, it sure beats copywrite!)
Anyways, I’m trying to import a PDF of an ebook I purchased online. The PDF has a password on it, and I think this may be causing Scriv to freeze up and eventually to crash on me. I imported other PDFs without issues. I guess maybe passworded PDFs were not a case that was considered, or maybe it’s deliberate?
I tried to get around this by trying to “print my PDF” to another PDF which doesn’t have a password on it. Unfortunately that didn’t work so well. The reason I’m set on importing this PDF is that it outlines some great techniques for writing and outlines, and that’s why I bought the eBook, right?
So I’m looking for either a work around (I am a software engineering major so I should be able to think of this… ack!) or maybe a confirmation that passworded PDFs cannot be imported/try something else.
It’s a very nasty solution, but I got around a similar problem with a protected PDF (it would not let me print the PDF, and my brother wanted a hard copy) by using the screen-capture tool Grab-It.
I had to grab each page individually, save them as TIFFs, convert them to PDFs, and then use PDFmerge to get them back into a single PDF. It takes a bit of work, but if you cannot get it working any other way, you could do a similar thing to get an unprotected PDF into Scrivener.
Hopefully the PDF isn’t as long as the 47 pages my brother wanted! Although if it is an e-book, it may be worse.
Unless Keith or someone else has a better idea though, it at least provides one option.
Thanks for all the quick replies. I will look into the suggested work arounds.
This is for Keith: The following in the Console.app’s output:
2007-08-09 12:06:54.823 Scrivener[769] *** Illegal NSTableView data source (<SCRSearchResultsController: 0x15d266f0>[object class: SCRBinderDocument, number of selected objects: 0]). Must implement numberOfRowsInTableView: and tableView:objectValueForTableColumn:row:
2007-08-09 12:07:07.291 Scrivener[769] *** Illegal NSTableView data source (<SCRSearchResultsController: 0x1737b4b0>[object class: SCRBinderDocument, number of selected objects: 0]). Must implement numberOfRowsInTableView: and tableView:objectValueForTableColumn:row:
2007-08-09 12:07:15.073 Scrivener[769] *** Canceling drag because exception ‘NSInvalidArgumentException’ (reason ‘*** -[NSCFString appendString:]: nil argument’) was raised during a dragging session
/XRefStm encountered but not yet supported.
/XRefStm encountered but not yet supported.
Aug 9 12:10:06 nathalie-lussiers-computer crashdump[771]: Scrivener crashed
Aug 9 12:10:07 nathalie-lussiers-computer crashdump[771]: crash report written to: /Users/bright/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Scrivener.crash.log
I’ve attached the log of the crash.
Again thanks everyone! I will report back on my work arounds, and if you need any more info about the crash just let me know! Scrivener.crash.log.zip (5.34 KB)
Thanks for the welcome Vic, I’m glad to have joined the ranks of the Scriveners officially today. All of my projects have been imported and now I’m having fun organizing everything and finally writing new material!
Thanks for the compliment too! Always appreciated.
I just wanted to report that I managed to get a copy of the PDF in an unlocked state. My boyfriend did some magic on the file and now the password has been removed. He used some Chinese Windows software, so I don’t really know what he used.
But thanks everyone! I really appreciate your replies! Now it’s time to enjoy the benefits of Scrivener!
(So of course I’m going to buy it, it sure beats copywrite!)