Unlock PDF

To remove a password from a PDF, open the file in the unlocker above. If it needs a password to open, a box asks for it. Type the password, choose Unlock PDF, and a copy without the password downloads. Open that copy anywhere, or send it on, and nobody is asked for a password again. It works the same on a phone or tablet: tap to choose the file, type the password, and the copy lands in your downloads.

1. Choose a PDF or drop it on the unlocker. Files up to 50 MB open.
2. If it asks for a password, type it. The eye button shows what you typed, which helps with long ones.
3. If it only lists blocked actions, such as printing, choose Remove restrictions.
4. The copy downloads with “-unlocked” added to the name. The original stays as it was.

A PDF can carry two passwords. The open password, also called the user password, encrypts the whole file: no reader can show a page until it is typed. Bank statements, payslips and tax forms are often sent this way. Removing it needs that password.

The permissions password, also called the owner password, does something smaller. The file opens for anyone, but it asks PDF readers to block printing, copying text, editing, filling forms or changing pages. The unlocker reads which of those are blocked, lists them, and writes a copy without them. No password is needed for that step.

Most locked PDFs use the standard password security built into the PDF format, whether they come from Acrobat, Word's “Encrypt with password” option, Preview on a Mac, or a bank's statement system. The unlocker handles every strength of it in common use: the older 40-bit and 128-bit RC4, AES-128, and the AES-256 that current apps choose by default. A file locked with any of them opens with its password and saves as a plain copy.

Two kinds of protection are out of reach. Some companies lock documents to digital certificates instead of a password, so only people holding the right certificate can read them. Others use rights-management systems that check with a server each time the file opens. Neither has a password to type, so the unlocker reports that it cannot open the file. Ask the sender for an ordinary copy.

pdfly does not guess, crack or recover passwords. A file locked with an open password is encrypted, and only the password turns it back into pages. The quickest way in is to ask the sender. Banks, payroll services and tax offices usually explain the pattern in the email that came with the file, such as a date of birth followed by part of an account number.

A locked PDF is usually locked because it is private. The unlocker opens it inside your browser tab with MuPDF, a PDF engine compiled to run on the web page itself, so neither the file nor the password is sent to pdfly. The password lives only in the page while you use it, and it is gone when you open another file or close the tab. The unlocker is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license, and the link to its code sits at the bottom of the tool.

An unlocked PDF opens in every pdfly tool. To shrink it for an upload form or an email, use the PDF compressor. To change its text, edit the text in a PDF with the editor. To reorder, rotate, or delete pages, use the organizer, and to sign a PDF, use the signer.

The unlocker opens one PDF up to 50 MB. It needs the open password for a file that has one, and it never tries to find a password it was not given. A certificate-based digital signature in the original no longer validates in the unlocked copy. The unlocker does not add passwords. There is no account, and nothing is kept after you close the tab.