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Unlock PDF

Remove the password from a PDF you can already open.

Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded

Drop your PDF here

or click to browse · .pdf

This removes a password you already know from a document you can already open. It does not guess, crack or bypass anything — and it runs entirely in your browser, so neither the file nor the password is ever transmitted.

What to expect

  • You need the password. This decrypts with it; it cannot recover an unknown one.
  • The output is a normal, unencrypted PDF that any reader will open.
  • Print and copy restrictions are cleared along with the encryption.

Frequently asked questions

Can this open a PDF whose password I do not know?

No. It decrypts using the password you supply, which is a different thing from breaking the encryption. A PDF encrypted with AES-256 and a decent password cannot be opened without it — by this tool or any other. Anything claiming otherwise is either guessing common passwords or not doing what it says.

My PDF opens without a password but will not let me print or edit it. Will this help?

Yes, and this is the common case. Such a file is encrypted with an empty user password and a separate owner password that carries the restrictions. Leave the password field blank and unlock it — the restrictions come off with the encryption.

Is my password sent anywhere?

No. Decryption happens in WebAssembly inside this page, so the password is used locally to derive a key and never leaves your device. You can disconnect from the internet once the page has loaded and the tool still works.

Does unlocking change the document itself?

No. Pages, fonts, images and layout are carried across untouched — only the encryption layer is removed. Text stays selectable and quality is unchanged.

Is it legal to remove a password from a PDF?

Removing protection from your own documents, or ones you are authorised to use, is ordinary file management. Circumventing protection on material you have no right to access is not, and the rules vary by jurisdiction. Since this tool needs the correct password, it only works on documents you can already open.

Remove a PDF password without uploading the file

A password-protected PDF is usually protected for a reason — it is a payslip, a bank statement, a medical result or a contract. Which makes the usual advice for removing that password rather strange: upload the sensitive document, and the password that guards it, to a server belonging to a company you have never heard of.

This tool does not have that shape. The decryption engine is qpdf, compiled to WebAssembly and executed by your own browser. There is no upload step because there is no server to upload to.

Two kinds of locked PDF

It is worth knowing which one you have, because they behave differently.

A document with a user password will not open at all until you type it — your reader prompts you before showing a single page. To remove it here, enter that same password.

A document with only an owner password opens immediately but refuses to be printed, copied or edited. It is still encrypted, with an empty user password, which is why those restrictions cannot simply be toggled off in a reader. Leave the password field blank and unlock it; the file is decrypted and the restrictions go with it.

What this tool will not do

It will not recover a forgotten password. AES-256 with a reasonable password is not breakable by a web page, and a tool promising otherwise would be misrepresenting either the cryptography or what it does with your file. If you have genuinely lost the password to your own document, the realistic paths are recovering it from a password manager or asking whoever issued the file for another copy.

Related tools

To put a password on instead, use Protect PDF. Once a document is unlocked you can merge, split or compress it — operations that fail outright on an encrypted file.

Related tools

All pdf tools