How to Remove a Password from a PDF File

This article will assess the tools needed to quickly remove passwords from PDF files. Before we tell you how to remove passwords, please be aware that this article is only meant to help you access PDF files more easily. If you are having trouble removing a password from your PDF file, make sure you already know what it is. Please follow our tutorial below to learn more about removing passwords from PDF files.

Remove Password Protection using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC

Adobe Acrobat is one of the more popular tools available on the market for PDF files. With Adobe Acrobat DC, you can view, edit and even create new PDF files. This program is compatible with Mac, Windows, and Android devices. Files can be accessed on all platforms. Adobe Acrobat has impressive features for designing PDF documents and outputting them in their final, polished form. In addition to the numerous editing tools it possesses, Adobe Reader is highly efficient and can quickly erase passwords from PDF files.

Adobe Reader is a software program that can remove passwords from PDF files. This makes it a rare find as no other tool is on the market like Adobe Acrobat. Let's see how we can remove PDF passwords using Adobe Acrobat.

Steps

Step 1

Open the password-protected PDF file in Adobe Acrobat by entering the correct password.

Password for PDF

Password-protected PDF

Step 2

Go to the Tools option from the main menu. Go to the Protect & Standardize section and select the Protect option.

Protect Option

Step 3

From the Advanced Options, select the "Remove Security" option. A confirmation box will open. Click the "OK" button to remove security.

Advanced Options

Remove Security

Security has now been successfully removed. You can now use this PDF without a password.

Remove a PDF password using Google Chrome

Google Chrome is a modern web browser. It can be used as a PDF viewer, and you can use it to remove passwords from PDF files. Firstly, you need to install Google Chrome on your device. Let's see how we can draw a password from a PDF file.

Steps

Open your PDF document in Google Chrome by dragging the PDF file and dropping it into Google Chrome. You will need to enter the password to open the protected PDF file.

Open PDF

Open PDF in Chrome

The PDF file will now open. Next, click on the Printer option on the right side of the top bar or click the Ctrl+P shortcut to open the printing dialog box.

Select the "Microsoft Print to PDF" option from the Print Dialog box and click on the "Print" button.

Print PDF

After clicking on the "Print" button, the "Save Print Output as" dialog will open. Enter the name of the newly unlocked PDF file and click on the "Save" button. It will save a new PDF file without a password.

Save Print

Using Google Chrome is the easiest way to remove passwords from password-protected PDF files.

Unlock a PDF file on macOS

You can unlock PDF files without external software if you are a Mac user. macOS has a native build PDF software named "Preview." It is a complete PDF package for Mac users. Preview is a great app installed with your Mac by default. It can do many cool things with PDF documents, so give it a try! Removing password protection from PDFs on macOS is quick and easy. Here's how to do it:

Steps

Open the password-protected PDF file in the Preview app. You will need to enter a password to open the file.

Click on "File" from the menu bar and select "Export as PDF" from the dropdown list.

• (File -> Export as PDF)
• Enter the name of the new PDF file and hit the "Save" button.

The PDF document you just saved is not password-protected. That means you can use it as much as necessary without reentering the password each time.

Online tools to remove passwords from PDF files

There are many tools available on the internet that can help you to unlock PDF files. You can use these tools to open PDF files without any hassle.

Smallpdf

Smallpdf is an online web-based PDF tool. It allows you to view, print, and save PDF files without the need for Adobe Acrobat. Smallpdf runs on a browser and is compatible with all major browsers. Smallpdf has a free browser extension for Chrome and Firefox. To use it, you need to download it from the Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons Store. Once installed, it will automatically start working for any PDF file that you open in your browser without any additional steps required on your part. Once you've uploaded your PDF file, Smallpdf will automatically unlock it. All you need to do is enter your password, and you're ready to go. Once the process is complete, you'll be able to save the PDF on your computer, Dropbox, or Google Drive.

Smallpdf

Unlock PDF

Soda PDF

Soda PDF is a powerful online tool that has many benefits. Soda PDF is available for free and allows you to create, convert, edit and share PDFs. Soda PDF can be used in many ways. It can convert scanned documents to PDFs, edit the text in the PDF document, add annotations, and do many other things. It can also be used to share files with colleagues. This is especially useful for remote workers who need to collaborate on projects with their team members or clients. All you need to do after uploading your PDF file is enter your password. Soda PDF will then automatically unlock it. Once you're done, you can download the PDF by saving it on your computer.

Soda PDF

Unlock

ILovePDF

ILovePDF is a free PDF tool that offers multiple free operations for managing PDF files. It allows you to convert your PDF into other formats like doc, TXT, JPG, PNG, and more. It also has an online PDF unlocker that will enable you to unlock your PDF file without cost. You need to upload your protected PDF file on the ILovePDF website and enter the password. It will open the PDF automatically. After opening, you will be able to download the unlocked PDF file directly onto your computer.

ILovePDF

Unlock PDF

IronPDF: A C# Library for PDF operations

IronPDF Official Site is the perfect tool for PDF-related tasks using the C# or VB.NET languages. IronPDF offers developers methods to render PDF documents into images, extract text and content from a PDF, make searchable PDF files, search specific items or act as an annotation inspector for your PDF files. IronPDF is not like ordinary PDF viewers. It does not make your PDF content viewable — it enables you to read and scan through annotations, fill in forms and use the extracted data in your .NET application right out of the box.

You can use the IronPDF Free Trial to check all the capabilities of IronPDF according to your own needs. There is also well-written IronPDF Documentation to make sure you can easily understand it. IronPDF also offers to unlock your protected PDF files. Unlocking protected PDF files is very easy using IronPDF's built-in functions such as RemovePasswordsAndEncryption(). Additionally, encryption and metadata can also be addressed under the same settings. Write the following lines of code to unlock your PDF file in a C# or VB.NET application:

// PM> Install-Package IronPdf
//Open an Encrypted File, alternatively create a new PDF from HTML

PdfDocument pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile("encrypted.pdf", "password");

//Edit file metadata

pdf.MetaData.Author = "Satoshi Nakamoto";
pdf.MetaData.Keywords = "SEO, Friendly";
pdf.MetaData.ModifiedDate = DateTime.Now;

//Edit file security settings
//The following code makes a PDF read-only and will disallow copy & paste and printing

pdf.SecuritySettings.RemovePasswordsAndEncryption();
pdf.SecuritySettings.MakePdfDocumentReadOnly("secret-key");
pdf.SecuritySettings.AllowUserAnnotations = false;
pdf.SecuritySettings.AllowUserCopyPasteContent = false;
pdf.SecuritySettings.AllowUserFormData = false;
pdf.SecuritySettings.AllowUserPrinting = IronPdf.Security.PdfPrintSecurity.FullPrintRights;

//Change or set the document encryption password

pdf.SecuritySettings.OwnerPassword = "top-secret"; // password to edit the PDF
pdf.SecuritySettings.UserPassword = "sharable";  // password to open the PDF
pdf.SaveAs("secured.pdf");

// PM> Install-Package IronPdf
//Open an Encrypted File, alternatively create a new PDF from HTML

PdfDocument pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile("encrypted.pdf", "password");

//Edit file metadata

pdf.MetaData.Author = "Satoshi Nakamoto";
pdf.MetaData.Keywords = "SEO, Friendly";
pdf.MetaData.ModifiedDate = DateTime.Now;

//Edit file security settings
//The following code makes a PDF read-only and will disallow copy & paste and printing

pdf.SecuritySettings.RemovePasswordsAndEncryption();
pdf.SecuritySettings.MakePdfDocumentReadOnly("secret-key");
pdf.SecuritySettings.AllowUserAnnotations = false;
pdf.SecuritySettings.AllowUserCopyPasteContent = false;
pdf.SecuritySettings.AllowUserFormData = false;
pdf.SecuritySettings.AllowUserPrinting = IronPdf.Security.PdfPrintSecurity.FullPrintRights;

//Change or set the document encryption password

pdf.SecuritySettings.OwnerPassword = "top-secret"; // password to edit the PDF
pdf.SecuritySettings.UserPassword = "sharable";  // password to open the PDF
pdf.SaveAs("secured.pdf");

' PM> Install-Package IronPdf
'Open an Encrypted File, alternatively create a new PDF from HTML

Dim pdf As PdfDocument = PdfDocument.FromFile("encrypted.pdf", "password")

'Edit file metadata

pdf.MetaData.Author = "Satoshi Nakamoto"
pdf.MetaData.Keywords = "SEO, Friendly"
pdf.MetaData.ModifiedDate = DateTime.Now

'Edit file security settings
'The following code makes a PDF read-only and will disallow copy & paste and printing

pdf.SecuritySettings.RemovePasswordsAndEncryption()
pdf.SecuritySettings.MakePdfDocumentReadOnly("secret-key")
pdf.SecuritySettings.AllowUserAnnotations = False
pdf.SecuritySettings.AllowUserCopyPasteContent = False
pdf.SecuritySettings.AllowUserFormData = False
pdf.SecuritySettings.AllowUserPrinting = IronPdf.Security.PdfPrintSecurity.FullPrintRights

'Change or set the document encryption password

pdf.SecuritySettings.OwnerPassword = "top-secret" ' password to edit the PDF
pdf.SecuritySettings.UserPassword = "sharable" ' password to open the PDF
pdf.SaveAs("secured.pdf")