How to Download Protected PDF from Google Drive?

The owner of the file has the power to disable the download option for a shared file. This means you can only view the file as a preview in your browser or Google Drive app, but there will be no download button. Now, if you wish to download the View Only Protected PDF from Google Drive, you can implement a small JS Code in your browser to download the file.

Similarly, you can download view-only protected Google Drive Video and Google Docs using separate methods. But today, in this post, I will highlight how you can download PDF files without a download option.

It is interesting to note that Google Drive splits the PDF into separate images as a Blob, and when the download is requested, then it compiles the images together and gives you a PDF to download. Therefore it is not very easy to download the restricted PDF from Google Drive that does not have a download button. But you can use JS code in your Chromes Dev tool to download the file as a PDF with only a few clicks.

Steps to Download Restricted Google Drive PDF

Here are the Simple Steps to Download View Only Protected PDF from Google Drive Using Chrome Browser

1. Open the PDF file on your Chrome Browser.
2. Let the file load completely.
   
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
4. Now open Developer Console by pressing Ctrl + Shift + C for Windows or Cmd + Shift + C for Mac.
5. Click on Console Tab.
   
6. Now paste the JS code (Below) in the console and hit Enter.
   
7. Done! The PDF file will be downloaded.
   

JavaScript Code

(function () {
console.log("Loading script ...");

let script = document.createElement("script");
script.onload = function () {
const { jsPDF } = window.jspdf;

// Generate a PDF from images with "blob:" sources.
let pdf = null;
let imgElements = document.getElementsByTagName("img");
let validImgs = [];
let initPDF = true;

console.log("Scanning content ...");
for (let i = 0; i < imgElements.length; i++) {
let img = imgElements[i];

let checkURLString = "blob:https://drive.google.com/";
if (img.src.substring(0, checkURLString.length) !== checkURLString) {
continue;
}

// if (!/^blob:/.test(img.src)) {
// continue;
// }

validImgs.push(img);
}

console.log(`${validImgs.length} content found!`);
console.log("Generating PDF file ...");
for (let i = 0; i < validImgs.length; i++) {
let img = validImgs[i];
let canvasElement = document.createElement("canvas");
let con = canvasElement.getContext("2d");
canvasElement.width = img.naturalWidth;
canvasElement.height = img.naturalHeight;
con.drawImage(img, 0, 0, img.naturalWidth, img.naturalHeight);
let imgData = canvasElement.toDataURL();

let orientation;
if (img.naturalWidth > img.naturalHeight) {
//console.log("Landscape");
orientation = "l";
//ratio = img.naturalWidth/img.naturalHeight
} else {
//console.log("Portrait");
orientation = "p";
//ratio = img.naturalWidth/img.naturalHeight
}

let pageWidth = img.naturalWidth;
let pageHeight = img.naturalHeight;

if (initPDF) {
pdf = new jsPDF({
orientation: orientation,
unit: "px",
format: [pageWidth, pageHeight],
});
initPDF = false;
}

if (!initPDF) {
pdf.addImage(imgData, "PNG", 0, 0, pageWidth, pageHeight, "", "SLOW");
if (i !== validImgs.length - 1) {
pdf.addPage();
}
}

const percentages = Math.floor(((i + 1) / validImgs.length) * 100);
console.log(`Processing content ${percentages}%`);
}

// check if title contains .pdf in end of the title
let title = document.querySelector('meta[itemprop="name"]').content;
if (title.split(".").pop() !== "pdf") {
title = title + ".pdf";
}

// Download the generated PDF.
console.log("Downloading PDF file ...");
pdf.save(title, { returnPromise: true }).then(() => {
document.body.removeChild(script);
console.log("PDF downloaded!");
});
};

// Load the jsPDF library using the trusted URL.
let scriptURL = "https://unpkg.com/jspdf@latest/dist/jspdf.umd.min.js";
let trustedURL;
if (window.trustedTypes && trustedTypes.createPolicy) {
const policy = trustedTypes.createPolicy("myPolicy", {
createScriptURL: (input) => {
return input;
},
});
trustedURL = policy.createScriptURL(scriptURL);
} else {
trustedURL = scriptURL;
}

script.src = trustedURL;
document.body.appendChild(script);
})();

Alternative Method 1

The above JS method works for Simple PDF files, but if you wish to download Large PDF files with complex orientation in HD quality, then the simple JS code may not work that great, here you can try this advanced trick to save the download protected Google Drive PDF.

Use this method only if the above method does not give you desired PDf File

1. Download the Zip file and extract the content.
2. Open Method_1_Script.js.
3. Copy the JS Code.
   
4. Now open the PDF File.
5. Go to Dev Console and Paste the copied JS Code, and hit enter. (You can change the file name in the Scriptlet pdfDocumentName = "BytesBin_PDF";)
   
6. The script will self-scan all the pages and download PDF_DataFile.
   
7. Now copy and paste the DataFile in the Input folder of the Extracted Zip.
   
8. If you are using Windows, then navigate to the “Windows” folder and double click on “GeneratePDF.cmd” or if you are using Linux, then navigate to the “Linux” folder and execute “GeneratePDF”.
   
9. A successful message will be shown once the whole process completes.
10. A new output folder will be generated, navigate to the “Output” directory to check your created PDF.
11. Done! 😀

Alternative Method 2

Use This method if PDF with less than 20 pages

1. Open the URL of the protected view-only PDF File into your browser.
2. Open the script “Method_2_Script.js” and copy all the JS Code.
3. Open the browser web console.
4. Paste the copied script into the console and press enter.
5. The script will scan all the pages and after a few seconds, the browser will prompt you to save the PDF file.
6. Save the file and enjoy! 😀

Using Chrome Extension

You can use Screen Capture Chrome Extension to Capture a complete PDF File on the Website as a Screenshot and then download the screengrab as a PDF. Here’s how you can do it;

1. Add GoFullPage Chrome extension to your Chrome Browser.
   
2. Open Restricted PDF file.
3. Now click on the GoFullPage extension icon.
   
4. The extension will auto-scroll the webpage to capture everything on the screen as a screenshot. It may take time depending on the length of the PDF.
   
5. Once the process is completed, you can Download the screenshot as a PDF document.
   
6. To remove the extra dark border from the PDF, use an online tool like Crop PDF to trim the borders, apply changes and download the cropped PDF file.
   
7. If the PDF file is too large, then the extension will take two or more screenshots of the file. That you can further merge together using 3rd party online tools.

Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q)

Conclusion

With this simple guide above, you can Save the Download Protected Google Drive PDF File. The method best works for the Desktop browser.