Hi. I'm using Acrobat 5.01 in Mac Panther(10.3.8.). the file I created was destined for the web, but I realized it was too large (198mb) so I proceeded to redistill it.

Oops. I was able to export the postscript file, but of course, it exported with security settings/encryption, so I could not distill it.

I had done a "Save As" of the PDF, and it showed up in the folder, no problem. The file was still open, so I went into the Security dialog to remove the Master Password, did so, and just as I closed the dialog box and went to "Save As" again, Acrobat crashed. I sent Apple a bug report.

No problem (I thought), I'd just reopen it from the saved copy in the folder and remove the password again.

PROBLEM: It was not in the folder. It was not in the trash. None of the saved versions (all the same name) were there. I ran Norton Systemworks and Data Rescue to try to find the lost file, searching by name, content, etc. It is simply gone. This has never happened before, since Acrobat 1.0 and Mac System 6.0 -- but now I am left with only the Postscript file -- while will not distill because it is encrypted. I opened the .ps file in Word, searched fo rthe password string, but to no avail.

My question, and I pray someone can help me, is: Is there any way at all to distill a .ps file that was made from an encrypted pdf? I've ordered Acrobat Standard 7.0 but don't have it yet. I can take the several days I originally spent created, linking to the web, etc., in this document (with well over 500 discrete links to the web, and almost 1000 links internally, plus annotations, etc.) -- but I would like to avoid that.

I am sorry this is so long -- I couldn't find a similar happenstance in any of the previous posts.
Thanks A MILLION if there is anyone out there who knows a way to open this encrypted .ps.