r/BitchEatingCrafters • u/Sad_Hovercraft_7092 • 2d ago
Sewing Stop password protecting pattern instructions!
Looking at you well-known indie sewing company with popular patterns. I get protecting your IP but if I’m spending $27 on your pattern then another $18 to have it printed - I want to have your instructions on my iPad, delete the first 15 pages of cutting layouts and write all my adjustments on the pattern because you know for that price I’m making it multiple times and hacking parts and reminding future me what shortcuts I took.
And thanks, but your tip to print the instructions is not useful because who owns a printer anymore and I don’t want to invest more in a pattern I haven’t even made yet.
Edit to add - based on the comments I girded my loins and went back through the ‘print to pdf’ options I’d already tried and this time Google drive came up a winner. Why this didn’t work previously is a mystery. Why I also need to go through this faff is also a mystery. But thank you for listening.
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u/r4chie 2d ago
Prefacing this with: I agree. Having it password protected after you buy it is insane. You own that copy now. At the very least purchasing the pattern should come WITH the password so you can make whatever edits you want.
A workaround for protected PDFs that I have learned is this: save the file to a cloud based service, like Google Docs or one drive. Open the drive in a browser. Open the file and view in a browser, hit print, then print to pdf, and then download that generated PDF and that can usually circumvent a password protection. Or, drag the downloaded pdf to be viewed in a browser, like chrome or Firefox, then hit print, and then print to PDF. That sometimes works but the first method has worked for me on more advanced protections.
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u/Sad_Hovercraft_7092 2d ago
Google drive work. Thanks! I’m sure I’ve tried it before but I won’t bother questioning it, I’ll just get on with writing notes to future me on the pattern.
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u/r4chie 1d ago
I’m so glad! I work in immigration and the govt locks their PDFs as well, but then they have fields that require responses that are not formatted correctly and there’s no way to just add text because it’s locked. I’ve learned every trick in the book so I can just edit forms and combine multiple documents together lol
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u/Sad_Hovercraft_7092 2d ago
I’ll dust off a one drive account and give it a go, it hasn't worked through any other program I’ve tried, including those I use to put purchased books on my non-kobo reader. Infuriating. 😶🌫️
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u/kittymarch 2d ago
Ebooks have a higher level of encryption than just a password.
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u/Sad_Hovercraft_7092 2d ago
Which is why I thought that program would help get around the password! I’m not trying to steal anything here, just use what I paid for in the way I want to.
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u/kittymarch 1d ago
I suppose I should have said higher and different. One is a locked door. The other is scrambled unless you have the right glasses.
I get wanting to stop sharing files of the patterns. But blocking your customer from actually using the pattern they paid for guarantees this sort of jailbreaking.
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u/AddWittyName 15h ago
Yup. Guarantees this sort of jailbreaking and makes it even more likely that people will figure "well, this was such a pain to get to work that I'll save [non-tech-inclined friend/family member] the hassle and just pass them a copy on the sly". The less a business respects their customers, the less likely your average customer is to respect the business enough to not share files in return, and all that.
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u/misneachfarm 2d ago
Can you not print to PDF? That's what I do with cross stitch patterns that do this. Download and open using the password, then print to PDF, voila, then just use that PDF copy and never have to put the password in again. Not sure if sewing patterns are different.
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u/Sad_Hovercraft_7092 2d ago
No - this company has a read only password, which they won’t share - so it’s not needed to open but is needed for all the obvious methods like this which is why I am frustrated.
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u/Picachu50000 1d ago
They sold it and they wont let you save it, download, or print it? IMO if buying is not owning, then piracy isnt stealing 👀 (Within reason, i disagree with giving someone elses stuff away for free or profiting off it)
[Windows Shift S] should be an easy way to screenshot the bits you want and just paste it into your own goodle doc. Itll be just a jpeg, but it would work for printing. (Some companies block this and blackout the screenshot, but not all). Hopefully it helps :)
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u/Teagana999 1d ago
I did that for a lab manual in a university course once. An online course during COVID.
I paid $20 for the stupid lab manual, written by the school, and got a DRM-protected file I could only open in Adobe Digital Editions. Which is bs on so many levels. It's an essential course resource produced by the school, they should only be charging for the cost to print it. But I paid for the stupid pdf that should have been free.
I needed a paper version, though, to be able to read and understand and answer the questions. So I screenshotted every single page in that 60-page file, pasted it into word, and printed it. Then I sent it to a few classmates, too.
It was probably a waste of time but I was fueled by rage. I had a crunchy file but it was mine and I didn't have to mess around in adobe for the rest of the term.
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u/FlamingoKitchen7720 2d ago
This also sucks on sewing patterns I want to have printed on A0 paper but just the layer that is my size. I can't save as with the stupid password on it.
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u/Sad_Hovercraft_7092 2d ago
Also THIS. I’m lucky that I have a fabric store nearby that seems to manage to do this for me but the big store printers sometimes won’t even accept the file.
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u/lordheart 1d ago
My professor did that to his slides. He taught computer science students….
Other commenters have already pointed out that the password is only as good as the software that respects it.
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u/LaurenPBurka Joyless Bitch Coalition 2d ago
Trivia note: there is nothing inherent in a PDF that forces a PDF reader to pay attention to password protection. Just find a PDF reader that ignores it. No, I don't know off the top of my head where you get one, but a little poking around should do it.
You may have a tough time finding one for an iPad, but if you can find one for a desktop, you can save off a non password protected copy.
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u/Deep_Ad1959 1d ago
print to pdf gets you an editable file but it flattens the layers, so the size layers you'd want to isolate before an A0 print are gone with it. qpdf --decrypt keeps them. the permission flag was always advisory anyway, it only works because your reader chose to respect it.
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u/grammardeficiency 1d ago
I didn't even know that was a thing. The library has printers, though. Please use your library resources people.
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u/Sad_Hovercraft_7092 1d ago
My point is that I shouldn‘t have to, digital instructions are my preference. Why should I be required to waste the time and resources on printing when I’ve bought what I want?
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u/grammardeficiency 1d ago
That's fine too. I was more just addressing the fact that, should you desire hard copies, there are printers available to you. But if that's not what you're going for, then nvm.
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u/danthpop 18h ago
Only caveat here is not all libraries have an A0 printer. You can print a bunch of A4/US letter sized pages and tape them together but that's not always workable, in which case I think opting for a specialist printing company is fine.
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u/Sad_Hovercraft_7092 8h ago
Libraries where I live don’t have A0 printers, and I honestly don’t mind paying for the printing, it’s just the cost of sewing, but the instructions broke me. 😆
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u/SashaCraftss 1d ago
just Google “unlock pdf”, there are some services that do that in 1 sec for free!
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