Unlock PDF

Unlock a PDF: enter the password you were given and get a copy that opens without one

Unlocking a PDF means making a copy of a password-protected file with the encryption taken out. Enter one password and this tool tries it on every PDF in the list (up to 20), then makes a copy of each file it fits. If the password is a permissions password, the copy has no print or copy limits either. If it is an open password, the copy opens without a password but keeps whatever limits the author set. Each copy is reopened straight away, and the save button appears only after every page has opened without a password.

As an example, [Unlock the samples] opens a made-up payslip (1 page, AES-256, no limits) and a made-up card statement (2 pages, AES-128, copying and editing blocked) with the password 900101. The payslip loses all its encryption. The statement loses only its open password, and the limits on copying, editing, comments and forms stay. The "Limits once open" column shows the difference between the two results. The PDFs and the password are not sent to a server; they are processed only in the browser you are using.

When you need to unlock a PDF

• Filing monthly statements in one place: bank and card statements, payslips and insurance notices often arrive as PDFs locked with a password chosen by the sender. If typing it every time you open one is a chore, put several months protected by the same password in together and unlock them in one go.
• Using another PDF tool: tools that merge, split or compress PDFs often refuse locked files. Roberin's PDF Splitter and PDF Compressor also refuse files with an open password or editing limits, so unlock the file first and use the copy.
• Submitting to a site that rejects encrypted files: some upload forms and document portals cannot open an encrypted attachment. If you can't share the password separately, send an unlocked copy.
• Dropping only the prompt: if you don't need to lift print or copy limits and only want to stop typing the password, the open password is enough. You get a copy that opens directly and keeps the limits.

How to use it

1. Drop the locked PDFs on the workspace or press [Choose PDFs]. You can add several at once, and each file is labelled right away with its kind of lock (whether it asks for a password on opening, or only has limits).
2. Type the password exactly as you received it. The eye button lets you see what you typed.
3. Press [Unlock]. The files are processed from the top of the list. For each row, the "Open password" and "Limits once open" columns change to match the result, and page 1, reopened without a password, appears on the left.
4. If some files are marked as needing attention, enter another password and press [Unlock] again. Files that are already unlocked are skipped.
5. Press [Save] on a row, or [Download all as ZIP] when there is more than one result. Each copy is named after the original with -unlocked.pdf added, and the originals on your device are not changed.

Which password unlocks what

A PDF can have two passwords. The open password (also called the user password) is the one asked for when you open the file. The permissions password (the owner password) controls what a reader may do, such as printing, copying and editing. The PDF specification (ISO 32000-1, 7.6.3.1) says a file opens with either one, but a person who opens it with the permissions password gets full access, including changing the passwords and permissions, while a person who opens it with the open password can do only what the file's permissions allow. This tool follows the same split.

A copy that keeps its limits is the file with only the open password cleared, locked again with AES-256. The tool checks that the limits written into the copy match the original before it offers the file. The permissions password used for the new lock is a random 256-bit value that is never stored, so nobody can lift the limits on that copy; if you need them lifted, go back to the original and its permissions password. One limit is not counted at all: extracting text for screen readers. The qpdf manual explains that the PDF specification tells reading software to ignore this limit and always allow it, and that qpdf does not use the flag with AES-256. A file whose only limit is this one is therefore fully unlocked with the open password.

Print and copy limits need the permissions password

A print block or a no-copy setting is something the author chose on purpose. The manual for qpdf, the engine this tool uses, says its decrypt option is not intended for bypassing copyright restrictions or other restrictions placed on files by their producers. The law points the same way. Article 11 of the WIPO Copyright Treaty requires the countries that join it to give adequate legal protection against circumventing effective technological measures that authors use to protect their works. If a document is a protected work and its limits were set by the rights holder, the law of your country may apply. This tool therefore removes limits only when the permissions password is correct.

If limits are in your way, work through this list.

• Check what is actually blocked: the "Limits once open" column lists each blocked item. A file where only "High-quality printing" is blocked can still be printed at lower quality.
• Ask the author: the surest route is to ask whoever sent the document for the permissions password or an unrestricted copy.
• If you made the document, save it again from the source: exporting to PDF again from Word, Pages, Excel or your design program gives you a file without limits.

When the password is right but the file won't open

Most password errors come from a small difference in how it was typed. This tool uses the password exactly as entered, without trimming spaces or changing letters. Instead, when a password fails, it points out the usual causes on that file's row.

• Keyboard layout: a US, UK or international layout puts symbols such as @, #, " and £ on different keys, so a password typed on a different layout can come out wrong. Check that the layout in use matches the one the password was set with. The tool also warns you if the password contains letters from another script, such as Hangul.
• Caps Lock: passwords are case-sensitive, so a password typed with Caps Lock on will fail. The hint under the password box changes when Caps Lock is on.
• Number pad: if the password has digits, check that Num Lock is on when you type them on the number pad. With it off, those keys move the cursor instead.
• A pasted space: a password copied from an email can bring a space along at the start or end. If a wrong password has one, the tool tells you.
• Length and symbols: if the password follows a pattern, such as a birth date, check whether it uses 6 or 8 digits and whether it has separators. Follow the sender's instructions exactly. Different documents from the same sender can follow different rules.
• Mixing up the two passwords: a file that opens without a password but blocks printing or copying can be unlocked only with its permissions password. If you enter an open password there, you will see "That permissions password doesn't match."
• Accented letters in older files: PDFs locked the older way (AES-128 or RC4) may store the password's letters in a different encoding. qpdf tries these encodings itself, so enter the password as you received it.

What changes in the unlocked copy, and what doesn't

What disappears is the encryption and, if you used the permissions password, the usage limits too. The number and order of pages, the text, images, bookmarks, links and document details such as title and author are kept. Because the encryption data is dropped and the file structure is rewritten, the size changes a little. The table shows the two files behind [Unlock the samples], measured with this tool's engine. A different size does not mean lower image quality or missing content.

A copy is checked twice before you get it. First, qpdf confirms that no encryption is left (for a copy that keeps its limits, that it opens without a password and the limits match the original), that there are no structure warnings, and that the page count matches. Then pdf.js opens the copy without a password, counts the pages again and draws page 1. The page 1 picture beside each row is that reopened copy.

Digitally signed PDFs are not unlocked

When a PDF is signed with a certificate, a digest of the file's bytes at the moment of signing is stored. The PDF specification (ISO 32000-1, 12.8.1) says that checking a signature means recalculating that value and comparing it, and a different value shows the document changed after signing. Removing the encryption and saving again changes the bytes, so the signature box may still appear on screen but the document can no longer be proven authentic. For that reason the tool makes no result for a PDF with a signature value, a document timestamp, a certification signature (DocMDP) or a usage-rights signature (UR3). A PDF that has only an empty signature field, or just a picture of a signature or stamp, is not digitally signed and can be unlocked.

Storing and sending the unlocked copy

• Anyone who has the file can open an unlocked copy. Don't leave a copy that holds personal data, such as a bank statement or payslip, on a shared computer or in a cloud folder many people use.
• Decide whether to keep the original or the copy, and delete the one you don't need.
• When you finish editing and need to send the file on, lock it again with a PDF password tool and give the password through a different channel from the file.

Limits and cautions

• There is no feature to find or guess a password. The password you enter is not stored, so it can't be looked up later.
• You can add up to 20 files at a time, up to 100 MB each and 500 MB in total, and a single file is stopped if it takes longer than 2 minutes.
• The browser build of qpdf 12.2.0 used here cannot rebuild a broken cross-reference table. If you see that the structure can't be read, open the file with its password in a PDF viewer, save it under a new name and try that copy.
• A copy that keeps its limits is still encrypted, so tools that reject locked PDFs (such as splitting or compressing) will not take it.
• The tool was tested in Chrome. On a phone, unlocking several large files may stop when the device runs out of memory.

Checked on The PDF specification, the qpdf manual and the treaty text were checked on 2026-10-21.

Sources

• 01ISO 32000-1:2008 Document management – Portable document format (Adobe public copy)7.6.3.1 what a person who opens the file with the permissions password or the open password may do, Table 22 permission bits, 12.8.1 byte-range digest of a digital signature
• 02qpdf manual – Running qpdf--decrypt is not meant for bypassing restrictions set by a file's producer, automatic fixes for password encoding, encryption options (--accessibility is always allowed by the specification and ignored for 256-bit). This tool uses a browser build of qpdf 12.2.0 (Apache-2.0 license)
• 03WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT)Article 11, obligations concerning technological measures
• 04pdf.js 3.11.174Used to reopen the copy without a password, count its pages and draw page 1 (Apache-2.0 license)

Frequently asked questions

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