Unlock PDF
Remove the password from a PDF you can already open, so you can merge, split or edit it. Files are deleted from our server automatically within the hour.
The password you type to open the file.
Related tools
All PDF tools →This tool needs our server to process your file. It is sent over an encrypted connection, stored only while it is being processed, and deleted automatically within 60 minutes. We never read the contents or keep a copy.
About the Unlock PDF
Remove the password from a PDF you can already open, producing an ordinary unencrypted file. This is the step that has to come first before an encrypted document can be merged, split, rotated or compressed — those tools have to read the pages, and an encrypted file gives them nothing to read.
To be completely clear about what this does: it needs the password. It does not break, guess or recover anything. If you supply the wrong password the tool refuses, and if you have lost it there is nothing here that can help — that is exactly what makes PDF encryption worth using in the first place. This is for the everyday case where you know the password perfectly well and are tired of typing it into a document only you ever open.
There is a second case that needs no password at all. Some PDFs are not encrypted but carry permission restrictions — they open freely and then refuse to print or allow text to be copied. Those restrictions are removed by leaving the password box empty, because there is no password involved to begin with. Bank statements and utility bills are commonly delivered this way.
Because decryption needs a program no browser ships, this runs on our server. Your file travels over an encrypted connection and is deleted automatically within the hour along with the result. Your password is passed to the decryption program through a locked-down temporary file so it never appears in the server's process list, and it is never logged or stored.
How to use the Unlock PDF
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Add your PDF
Drop the file onto the box or click to choose it. You can unlock several at once if they all share the same password.
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Enter the password
Type the password you normally use to open the document. Leave it empty if the file opens without one but will not let you print or copy.
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Unlock
Press Remove password. If the password is wrong the tool says so plainly rather than producing a broken file.
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Download
Download the unencrypted result within the hour, after which it is deleted from our server automatically.
Frequently asked questions
Can this open a PDF whose password I have lost?
No. It needs the correct password and refuses without it. There is no recovery, no guessing and no back door — a tool that removed encryption without the password would simply be a tool for reading other people's documents. If you have lost the password to a file you own, the encryption is doing exactly what it was chosen to do.
The PDF opens fine but will not let me print. What do I enter?
Nothing — leave the password box empty. That file is not encrypted; it carries permission restrictions instead, which is a different thing. Those are removed without any password at all. Bank statements and utility bills are very often delivered this way.
Do you store or log my password?
No. It is held in memory for the length of the job and passed to the decryption program through a temporary file readable only by the server process, specifically so it does not appear in the process list where other accounts could see it. It is never written to the database, never logged and never kept after the job finishes.
What happens to my file after I upload it?
It is sent over an encrypted connection, written to a temporary directory outside the web root under a random name, decrypted, and deleted automatically within the hour along with the result — whether or not you download it. We do not store your IP address or the original filename.
Is it legal to remove a password from a PDF?
That depends entirely on the document and where you are. Removing protection from a file you own, or have been given the password to and permission to use, is ordinarily fine. Circumventing protection on a document you have no right to is not, and may be an offence regardless of how easy it is. You are responsible for having the right to do this to a given file.
Will unlocking change the document itself?
No. The pages, text, images, fonts and layout come through exactly as they were — only the encryption layer is removed. The file size usually changes slightly because encrypted content compresses differently, but nothing about the visible document is altered.