Type the password once and save a copy that opens without it. Runs on your device.
To remove the password from a PDF you have the password for, add the file, type the password and press Unlock PDF. You get a copy, named after your file with -unlocked added, that opens without asking for anything. The tool opens the file with your password, then saves the same pages without the encryption. Nothing is redrawn: text stays text and the page count does not change. A 3-page PDF with an open password comes out as the same 3 pages with no password. The copy is reopened without a password before it is offered, and it is only saved if it opens and has the same number of pages.
A PDF can ask for a password to open it, called the open or user password. It can also carry rules about printing, copying and editing, set with an owner password, and such a file may open with no password at all. When this tool finds a file like that, it hides the password box, says that no password is needed and offers Remove restrictions. The unlocked copy no longer carries the rules. Use that only on files you are entitled to change, such as your own documents.
It does not crack, guess or search for passwords, and it cannot open a file if you do not know the password. A wrong password gets a plain message and you can try again. A PDF that has no encryption is named as such, since there is nothing to remove. Some encryption variants are not read, in which case the message says so and suggests opening the file in a reader that has the password and saving a copy. A digital signature on the original no longer validates once the file is rewritten, and an old file may come out with a different internal layout.
The encryption kinds covered are AES-256, AES-128 and the older RC4 with 40 or 128 bit keys, which are the encryption handlers this tool can read. The password is used once, in a background worker in this tab. It is not stored, logged, put in the address bar or sent to analytics, and the box is cleared when the unlocked copy is ready.
The PDF is read and decrypted by code running in this tab. There is no upload step and no server that receives your file or your password. The page counts visits with Google Analytics, using rough size groups such as 1 to 10 MB, never a file name, a password or any text from the document. A PDF over 200 MB asks you to confirm before it loads, because a very large file can run out of memory on a phone. If the job takes longer than two minutes it is stopped, and Cancel stops it at once.
Add the PDF, type the password you use to open it and press Unlock PDF. Download the copy, which is named like report-unlocked.pdf and opens without a password. The pages are the same: a 3-page file stays 3 pages.
No. It does not guess or crack passwords, and it has no list to try. You need the password. If you have lost it, ask whoever made the file, or look for an unprotected copy.
Some PDFs open freely but carry rules about printing or copying. The tool then offers Remove restrictions instead of a password box. A PDF with neither a password nor rules is named as having no password, and there is nothing to remove.
Check capital letters, the keyboard layout and spaces at the ends. An AES-256 file reads at most 127 bytes of the password, and older files 32 Latin-1 characters. If the password has accented letters, the file may have been protected on a system that stored them differently.
The pages are copied as they are, but the file is written again, so it may differ inside from the original. A digital signature on the original no longer validates on the copy. Keep the original if the signature matters.
No. The PDF is processed in your browser and not uploaded, and the password stays in the box in this tab. It is not saved, logged or sent to analytics. The page counts visits with Google Analytics using rough size groups such as 1 to 10 MB.