Unlock PDF — Remove a PDF Password

How to use it#

Drop the protected PDF onto the box above, or click it to choose one.
Type the password you use to open it, or its owner password if the panel says it opens freely.
Press Unlock the PDF.
Download the unlocked copy. The original is left as it was.

Why the password should stay on your machine#

Every tool here runs in your browser, and a password protected PDF is where that counts most. Removing the password takes both the file and the password that opens it, and the files people protect are the ones they least want to send anywhere: a payslip, a bank statement, a medical letter, a contract.

Nothing is uploaded here. The document is read into this page, the protection is removed by code running in the tab, and the result is handed straight back. The password never leaves the form field. The only thing the page fetches is that code, the first time you drop in a protected file, and the network panel shows nothing going the other way.

What comes out the other side#

You get a real copy of the document with the encryption removed. The text stays selectable and searchable, links still work, form fields are still fields, and the file size barely moves. Nothing is rasterised and nothing is re-compressed.

The other common way round a password, opening the file and printing it to a new PDF, can lose all of that. Depending on the printer settings, the result can be pages of flat images: no selectable text, no working links, and a much larger file.

Two kinds of password, and which one this needs#

A PDF can carry a password that stops it being opened at all, and a separate owner password that lets it open but restricts printing or copying. The open password is the one this tool usually asks for, because it decrypts the document, and taking it off takes any restrictions with it.

If the document opens without prompting you for anything, there is no open password on it, and the file panel says so as soon as you drop it in. Whatever is stopping you printing in that case is the second kind, and the box then asks for the owner password instead. With it, the limits come off. Without it they stay, deliberately: they are the author’s to lift, and the tool will not strip them on a guess.

You need the password#

This removes protection from a document you can already open, which is the everyday case: a statement your bank sends encrypted every month, a report that arrived with the password in a separate email, a file you protected yourself and now need to share with a colleague.

It does not guess, and it does not try passwords in turn. Without the right one the file stays exactly as it was, and the tool tells you the password was wrong.

Frequently asked questions#

Do I need the password to use this?

Yes. For a file that asks for one when you open it, that password is what decrypts the document. For a file that opens freely but will not print or copy, it is the owner password, the one that set those limits. There is no way round either, and nothing here attempts to find one. If you have forgotten the password to your own file, whoever sent it can usually send it again, and a document you protected yourself can often be produced afresh from whatever made it.

Is the document or the password uploaded?

Neither. The file is read into the page, and the code that removes the encryption runs in this tab. The password is only ever held in the form field on this page. The one request the page makes is to fetch that code the first time you use it, which you can confirm in your browser's network panel.

Does the text stay selectable?

Yes. This decrypts the document rather than redrawing it, so text stays text, links keep working, and form fields stay fillable. The file size stays close to what it was, because nothing is being rasterised or re-compressed on the way through.

It says my file is not protected. What now?

Then it carries no encryption, neither an open password nor limits on printing and copying, so there is nothing for this tool to remove. If it still will not open in another tool, it is more likely damaged than locked.

Can it remove printing and copying restrictions?

Only with the owner password, the one that set them. Drop the file in, the panel says it opens freely, and the box asks for that password instead. Without it the limits stay: they are the author’s decision, and this tool does not strip them from a document you were given to read. For an unrestricted copy, ask whoever made it. To put limits like these on a file of your own, use the PDF restriction tool.

My PDF says SECURED. What does that mean?

Some readers add SECURED to the title bar of any PDF with encryption, including one that opens freely but limits printing, copying, or editing. Drop it in here and the panel says which kind it is. If it asks for a password to open, that password unlocks it. If it opens freely, the limits come off only with the owner password that set them, so ask whoever made the file for that password or for a copy without the limits.

Why did it take a moment the first time?

The code that does the decrypting is a few hundred kilobytes to download, and it is fetched the first time you drop in a protected file rather than when the page loads, so that visitors to every other page do not pay for it. Your browser caches it afterwards, and the unlocking itself takes milliseconds.