Unlock a password-protected file

Decrypt a password-protected file so BriefTech can process it.

To get a password-protected file into BriefTech, remove its protection outside the app first:

1. Open the file with its password, in a PDF reader or the app that created it.
2. Remove the protection:

   • PDF — save or print it to a new, unprotected PDF, or clear the password in the document's security settings.
   • Word, Excel or PowerPoint — open it with the password and save a copy with the encryption removed.
   • ZIP archive — extract the contents with the password, then upload the extracted files.
3. Upload the unprotected copy to BriefTech.

This applies only to a file that cannot be opened at all: BriefTech does not ask you for a document password, so such a file stops with an error and is flagged as Password Protected in the view. A file that is merely restricted — a PDF that opens without a password but blocks printing or copying, or a Word file marked read-only — is not affected and processes normally.

Retrying will not help. Retry All and Retry Selected in the Exceptions view re-run the file from the beginning, exactly as it was uploaded — the protection is still there and no password is supplied on retry, so it stops again at the same point. (Skip PDF Conversion does not appear for these files; it only applies to files that failed during PDF conversion, not at the password check.) Replacing the file with an unprotected copy is the only fix.

See Document processing and errors.

If you leave the file protected

The file stays in the matter but is never converted. If you build a court bundle that includes it, BriefTech warns you first — listing it under Password-protected, with a note that a placeholder page will appear in its place — and, if you continue, inserts a single placeholder page, labelled with the file name and reading "This document is password-protected and could not be included."

The unprotected copy you upload in its place processes like any other upload.

Related

The document lifecycle: from upload to ready

What happens to a file between upload and the moment it can be used.

Reprocess a failed document

Re-run a document through the processing pipeline after it failed.

Background Jobs

Status indicators, columns, and row actions in the Background Jobs dialog.

Extract files from a ZIP or email attachment

Unpack the contents of a ZIP archive or email's attachments into separate documents in your matter.

Document processing and errors

Processing stages, what OCR reads, and the document error reasons.