How to Remove Password Protection from PDF

Elise Williams

2022-05-17 09:15:46 • Filed to: How-To-Windows • Proven solutions

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For file security, it's common for PDF files to be protected by passwords. If PDF files are password-protected, you can prevent them from being opened, edited, and printed without the proper authorization. However, when you don't need the passwords anymore, you can remove password protection from PDF if you've already known the password. In this article, we'll cover six efficient solutions for how to remove password protection from PDF. Among these methods, Wondershare PDFelement - PDF Editor is the most recommended tool to do this because it can help you do the task quickly and easily. Please note that it is illegal to remove the open password without the correct authorization.

Part 1. Remove Security from PDF with PDFelement

The PDF password remover tool - PDFelement has a powerful, yet intuitive interface that makes the process of removing security from PDF simple. It is compatible with Windows, Mac, iOS，and Android systems. Moreover, the good thing is that with PDFelement, it doesn't take many steps to remove a password from a PDF file, in the rare and frustrating circumstances that you forget the password.

Step 1: Load a Password Protected PDF

Launch PDFelement, then drag and drop a PDF file in the program window to open it. Or click "Open files" to select the PDF you want to open. If the PDF file is protected with an open password, you'll need to enter the open password before the file is opened.

Step 2: Begin to Remove Password Protection

If the PDF file is protected with a permission password, click the "Enable Editing" button on the notification bar to get the editing permission. Then, in the pop-up window, enter the password and click the "OK" button.

Step 3: Remove Password Protection

Now go to the "Protect" tab, and click on the "Set Password" button. You can deselect the "Open Password" and "Permission Password" checkboxes to remove password restrictions from your PDF document. After that click the "Save" button. If you want to edit PDF documents, you can also do this with PDFelement, including the text, image, comment, pages, or forms, etc.

Part 2. How to Remove Password from PDF File with PDF Password Remover

In rare instances, you need to remove a password from PDF files because you don't have access to the correct password. So you can do this using PDF Password Remover. It is one of the best methods to remove passwords from PDF files because it removes protections and restrictions on editing, printing, and copying. Here is the PDF password remover free download.

Step 1: Import PDF Files

You can import up to 200 PDF files at a time! To import the PDF files, click the icon in the middle of the interface. If you want to upload files in batches, you can click the folder icon and import all files within the folder. You can also drag and drop the files to import the encrypted ones.

Step 2: Remove PDF Password

There are two things to note here: when no lock icon appears on the PDF item bar, the PDF is protected from editing, copying, and printing only. Click the "Start" button to remove these restrictions. On the other hand, if a lock icon appears, then the PDF has an open password, which prevents the file from being opened. You'll need to enter the password first to unlock the PDF file before you click on the "Start" button.

Part 3. How to Remove Password from PDF Online

If you do not have a program installed to remove passwords from PDF documents, Google Chrome is an excellent alternative to remove password protection from a PDF file. Besides Google Chrome, you can also access other online PDF unlockers to remove security form PDF

Step 1. Open a PDF with Password in Google Chrome

Make sure you install the latest version of Google Chrome. Then drag and drop the password-protected PDF into the Chrome tab to open it.

Step 2. Delete Password from PDF

Use the "Print" option in Chrome to print the password-protected PDF file to a PDF. This is the most important step when you are trying to learn how to remove a password from PDF files without software.

Step 3. Save the PDF without Password

You can save the PDF file without password protection using the "Save" button，and then you will find this newly saved PDF file in your local drive.

Part 4. Remove Password from PDF using Adobe Reader

Adobe Acrobat Pro also supports the ability to remove password protection from Adobe PDFs. Here are the two required steps.

Step 1: Open a PDF in Adobe

Install Adobe Acrobat Pro and open your password-protected PDF file in the program. Go to "File" > "Properties," or you can click "Permission Details" in the left panel.

Step 2: Delete Password from PDF

In the "Security" tab, select "No Security" in the "Security Method" drop-down menu to remove the password. Then you can save the PDF without password protection.

Part 5. How to Remove Password Protection from PDF

Google Drive can also help you remove passwords from PDF files. Here is a step-by-step guide for you.

Step 1: Upload PDF in Google Drive

Upload the password-protected PDF to your Google Drive account.

Step 2: Remove Password from PDF Document

Right-click the PDF file to choose the "Open With" > "Google Docs" option.

Step 3: Resave PDF Document

After opening the file in Google Docs, you can click the "File" > "Download" > "PDF document (.PDF)" button to resave it on your computer. Then the newly saved PDF file does not have password protection. However, when the PDF file is opened by Google Docs, the layout of your file may be changed, so the best tool for you to remove password protection from PDF is still PDFelement.

Part 6. Remove Password Security from PDF with HiPDF

HiPDF is an online tool that can help you remove security from PDF online as well. Let's check out the easy steps as below:

Step 1: Upload PDF in HiPDF

Go to the HiPDF - Online PDF Password Remover page to upload your PDF file.

Step 2: Enter the Password

Enter the correct password of your PDF document on the page, and then click the "Unlock" button. After that, it will remove the password from the file.

Step 3: Download PDF Document

Finally, you can click the "Download" button to download and save the new PDF file without a password in your local drive, or you can choose to share the PDF document directly.

Part 7. FAQs - Remove PDF Password Protection

How to Remove Unknown Password from PDF?

If you don't know the password, you can't open an encrypted PDF file and thus you can't remove the unknown password from PDF with PDF editors like Wondershare PDFelement, Adobe Acrobat, or online tools like iLovePDF or Smallpdf. 

To remove unknown password from PDFs, you can try some PDF password remover programs that claim they can remove protections from PDF without a password. However, there is no guarantee that these programs can work. 

How to Remove Password from PDF on Mac?

To remove PDF password on Mac, you can use Preview on Mac. Open the password-protected PDF document with Preview, then enter the password. Now click "File" > "Save as" to save the document in PDF format without password. Learn more about remove password from PDF on Mac.

Free Download or Buy PDFelement right now!

Free Download or Buy PDFelement right now!

Buy PDFelement right now!

Buy PDFelement right now!

Elise Williams

chief Editor