Unlock PDF

How it works

Choose the protected PDF. The site asks for its password in a dialog and, if it is correct, prepares an unprotected copy for you to download. You must know the password: the tool does not guess it or break the encryption.

It is useful to stop typing the password every time on your own documents, to archive them, or to use them with other tools. It also works when the PDF opens without a password but has restrictions (for example, it does not allow copying text or printing): the copy has none. Use it only on documents you have the right to unlock.

The password is typed in your browser and only used to open the file while you work: it is never saved or sent anywhere. The original is not modified.

What is not preserved, and limits

• The correct password is required. A forgotten password cannot be recovered: without it, the file will not open.
• The copy does not keep the protection: anyone who has the file can open it. If you want to protect it again, use “Protect PDF”.
• PDFs protected with a digital certificate instead of a password cannot be opened.
• A digital signature stops validating, because the copy is written out again in full.
• The content, bookmarks, metadata, forms, links and annotations are kept.
• Very large files (over roughly 100-150 MB in total, or with thousands of pages) may fail, especially on phones, because everything happens in your device's memory.