No, they are not pdf's.  I could make them pdf's if that is the only way to do it, however, we typically make sure any pdf's going into Laserfiche are turned into tiffs.  

And for this new process, I instructed the users to send them to Laserfiche, then, when they need to upload them into a form, to drag them onto their desktop (after making sure they would save on the desktop as a tiff).

I will check into the link for removing the password security, however, will that make it so someone without a LF license can see them?  I am also still looking into other options, including having our only remaining person working onsite be the person to upload these invoices into the AP process we just recently created for off-site workers.