Remove PDF password
Remove a password from a PDF, once you provide the password itself.
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Your files stay in this browser. Nothing is uploaded.
About Unlock
Unlock PDF strips the password and every permission restriction from a file you can already open, leaving the pages themselves untouched. To remove a PDF password this way you supply the password yourself; either the open password or the admin password gets past the prompt.
Reach for it when a document you own or are authorised to use keeps asking for a password on every open, or blocks printing and copying you have every right to do. It removes protection you can already get past; it does not guess or crack a password you do not know.
How it works
- Add one or more protected PDFs.
- If a file has an open password, enter it in the Password field on the file chip and wait for "Password OK". A wrong entry shows "Wrong password", and Unlock PDF stays unavailable until every file that needs a password has one that works.
- Click Unlock PDF.
- Download the result. It opens without a password and has no permission restrictions. The name is unchanged, and a batch of files arrives as one ZIP.
Two kinds of PDF protection, and what Unlock does with each
A PDF can be protected in two separate ways, and they behave differently here.
- An open password. The file asks for a password before it shows anything. Its file chip says "This file needs a password". Type the password, wait for "Password OK", and the Unlock PDF button becomes available.
- Restrictions only. The file opens freely, but printing, copying or editing is flagged as not allowed. No password field appears and Unlock PDF is available straight away, because the file was never locked against opening.
- Both together. Enter the open password. The admin password is accepted at the prompt as well.
What comes out, and what does not change
The encryption section is deleted from the file, not just ignored, so the result opens in any PDF reader with no prompt and no restrictions. Pages, text and images are carried over as they were. The file is saved again as a whole, so its size and internal structure can differ from the original even though the pages look the same.
The restrictions-only case needs no password because of how PDF protection works: a file with no open password can be read by anyone, and its permission flags are a request to the reader, not a lock. That is also why Protect calls its permission checkboxes advisory.
Unlock never guesses. It tries the one password you typed, and for a file with no open password it tries an empty one. If the password is wrong, nothing is produced. If you have forgotten a password, the ways forward are the person who set it, an earlier unprotected copy, or the program the file was made in.
A worked example
A statement arrives from a supplier as a PDF that asks for a password every time, and you keep a copy in your own archive. Add the file, type the password from the covering email into the chip, and wait for "Password OK". Click Unlock PDF and download. The copy has the same name as the original and opens with no prompt. Open it in a second reader to check before you delete anything, and keep the original if you might need the protected version later.
When to use a different tool
To add a password rather than remove one, use Protect. To make form fields, signatures and annotations part of the page, use Flatten. Its Flatten only form fields mode refuses a file that carries restrictions but no open password, so clear that file here first and flatten the result.
Frequently asked questions
No. Unlock removes protection from a file you can already open; it does not crack or guess an open password you do not know.
That depends on your right to the document and on the law where you are, which this page cannot judge. The tool only works on a file you can already open with its password, or one that opens freely, and it assumes you are entitled to change the file, such as your own paperwork or a document your employer gave you to edit.
Yes. A PDF can be restricted with only an admin (owner) password, which lets anyone open it but blocks actions like printing or copying. Unlock removes those restrictions without needing a password in that case.
Yes. The encryption dictionary is removed entirely, not just ignored, so the result opens in any PDF reader with no password and no restrictions.
No. Only the password and permission flags are removed; the pages, text and images are carried over as they were. The file is saved again from scratch, so its byte size can differ from the original.
The file chip shows "Wrong password" and the Unlock PDF button stays unavailable, so nothing is unlocked until the correct password is supplied. You can keep typing until it reads "Password OK".
Yes. Add multiple protected PDFs, enter a password on any file chip that needs one, and each file is unlocked on its own. They come back together in a ZIP.
Yes. Both the password check on the file chip and the unlock itself accept the admin (owner) password as well as the open password. You only need one of them.
No. Checking the password and stripping the encryption both happen on your own machine, inside this tab. Nothing about the document leaves it, and neither does what you type in the password box. Fetching the page itself is the only thing here that touches the network.
At least one file needs an open password and its chip does not yet say "Password OK". Type the right password on that chip, or remove the file, and the button becomes available.
Related tools
This tool ran entirely in your browser and nothing was uploaded. Your Recent files list keeps a copy of local files under 5 MB until you clear it. How your files are handled.