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Do you want to open a PDF file but realize you've forgotten the password? Don't worry. There are many ways to decrypt your file. Some are commercial, and some are open-source. But how do you unlock your files on Linux? We have prepared a guide to PDF password removers for you. In this article, you will learn about password decryption and a few tools used for this purpose. So, without further ado, let's see what the best PDF password removers for Linux are.
PDF Password Removers – Explained
A PDF password remover is a software tool that removes password protection from a PDF document. As a result, the user can open, edit, and print the document without entering a password. There are two types of PDF passwords, the "Owner Password" and the "User Password".
The Owner Password restricts certain actions on the PDF document, such as editing and printing. A PDF password remover can remove this password so the user can perform these actions.
The User Password, also known as the "Open Password", is used to restrict access to the document entirely. A PDF password remover can remove this password so the user can open the document.
The software uses various algorithms and techniques to remove the password, such as brute-force and dictionary attacks. These attacks try different combinations of characters until the correct password is found.
Why Use a Password Remover
Password remover tools are very useful and easy to use. Depending on your operating system, you can find numerous password removers. We have listed several tools to help Linux users unlock their PDF files.
The benefits of using these decryption tools on Linux are manifold. Whether you've lost the password, forgotten it, or have any other reason, these utility tools will offer you the solutions for that and many other problems. Here are some additional benefits of using password decryption tools.
It's Simple and Easy
Whichever tool you decide to use, it is incredibly easy to get the hang of it. They require just a few easy steps, and your PDF document is ready to open. In addition, many password remover tools have a user-friendly interface and are straightforward. You need to learn a few commands at the beginning, and you're ready to go.
Added Functionalities
Other than its main purpose of unlocking your PDF files, many of these tools offer other functionalities that you might find useful. Beside decrypting, you can edit, convert, flatten the PDFs, and even change the metadata. Again, we suggest finding the best tool that would suit your needs.
Share Documents With Ease
These tools also help you easily share documents. Sharing a document allows multiple users to view and edit the document simultaneously. For example, you can send the document as an attachment in an email, upload it to a shared online storage service, or share a link for the document with others so they can access it.
How To Remove a Password Using PDFelement
Wondershare PDFelement - PDF Editor is a commercial PDF editing software developed by Wondershare. It allows you to create, edit, and convert PDF files. It also includes a variety of features, such as:
- Create and edit PDF forms;
- Add and edit text, images, and other elements;
- Annotate and comment on PDFs;
- OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to convert scanned PDFs into editable documents;
- Secure PDFs with password protection and redaction.
PDFelement also includes a password remover feature that removes password protection from a PDF file. You can use this feature to remove both user and owner passwords from PDF files.
The best part about PDFelement is that it is very convenient and easy to use. After going to the Wandershare website, click on a Free Download or Buy Now button, install it, and you are ready to go. It's easy to install and use.
After successfully installing PDFelement, you are ready to enjoy the full experience of PDF documents. As you will see, it offers many more functionalities than just unlocking your PDF files. It is a great tool that will make your life easier.
The easiest way to unlock your PDF document using PDFelement is to select the file you want to decrypt and click Open. Enter the password, click the Protect section and click on Set Password. It will open a pop-up window where you can uncheck the boxes and remove the password. Go to Files, then Save As, and you are done.
If you've forgotten or lost the password, don't worry. PDFelement offers a simple and fast solution. All you need to do is go to the Reset Password section and enter your email address. They'll help you recover your password in no time.
We strongly suggest giving PDFelement a try. It's convenient, easy to use, and has a modern and easily-accessible overlay. Moreover, it offers many functionalities, such as editing and reviewing PDF files across devices and platforms, in-app translation to multiple languages, converting contents, and many convenient view settings.
How To Remove a Password Using PDF Toolkit
PDF Toolkit (pdftk) is a command-line tool for working with PDF files on Linux and other Unix-like systems. It allows you to perform various operations on PDF files, such as merging, splitting, rotating, and encrypting/decrypting. It also allows you to fill in and flatten PDF forms and apply various data-related operations to PDF files, such as adding or removing metadata and extracting data from PDF forms.
Among other things, PDF Toolkit can be used to remove password protection from a PDF file. You can do that by using the command pdftk input.pdf input_pw old_password output output.pdf, where:
- pdfis the name of the PDF file that you want to remove the password from;
- input_pw is a command that tells PDF Toolkit that the next argument is the password;
- old_password is the current password of the PDF file;
- output is a command that tells PDF Toolkit to output the result to a new file;
- pdfis the new PDF file name that will be created without password protection.
Other than that, PDF Toolkit also offers options such as merging, splitting, and many more. It is free to use with an unlimited "free trial" period, but they also offer a paid service that will provide you with even more conveniences and functionalities.
Removing a Password Using Qpdf
Another popular tool is "qpdf", a command-line utility for manipulating PDF files. It is written in C++ and is available for various platforms, including Linux. Qpdf allows you to perform a wide range of operations on PDF files, such as:
- Encrypting and decrypting PDFs;
- Merging multiple PDF files into a single document;
- Splitting a single PDF into multiple files;
- Compressing and optimizing PDFs to reduce their file size;
- Rotating and cropping pages;
- Modifying the metadata associated with a PDF.
It is widely used by software developers, system administrators, and other power users to automate and automate PDF-related tasks. Qpdf can be used as a standalone command-line tool or as a library that can be integrated into other applications.
To remove the password protection from a PDF file using qpdf, you can use the following command: qpdf --password=old_password --decrypt input.pdf output.pdf
In this command, old_password is the current password of the PDF file, input.pdf is the name of the PDF file you want to remove the password from, and output.pdf is the name of the new PDF file that will be created without password protection.
Removing a Password Using Xpdf-utils
Xpdf is a set of open-source command-line tools for manipulating and viewing PDF files. The Xpdf utilities include converting PDF documents, providing information about them, extracting files, and more. These tools are commonly used for tasks such as batch processing of PDF files, extracting text and images, and manipulating PDF metadata.
You can use the pdftops command from the Xpdf utilities to remove the password from a PDF file. The syntax is as follows: pdftops -upw
Replace
Just as with Qpdf and PDFtk, once you've mastered the commands, unlocking PDF files in Linux is a very undemanding process that takes less than a minute.
Conclusion
PDF password removers, also known as PDF password cracking software, can remove or bypass password protection on a PDF file. These tools typically use various methods, such as dictionary attacks, brute-force attacks, and known exploits, to determine a PDF file's password.
What's the bottom line? We suggest using the PDF decryption tool that best suits all your needs, such as Wondershare's PDFelement. Other popular PDF password-removing tools include PDF Toolkit, Qpdf, Xpdf, and many more.