Unlock PDF

To remove the password from a PDF, add the file to the box above, type its password and press the Unlock button. You get back a copy with no password, which opens, prints and edits like any normal PDF. It takes a few seconds.

Use it to unlock password protected PDF files that you own. This unlock PDF tool is for PDFs you own or are allowed to open, such as your own bank statement, e-Aadhaar, e-PAN, salary slip or insurance policy, or a file a colleague sent along with its password. You always need the password. The unlock PDF tool does not guess, crack or bypass passwords.

To remove password from PDF files, you must know the password. That is the rule for every tool that respects PDF security, and it is how this one works. A PDF with a password to open is encrypted: its pages are scrambled, and only the right password turns them back into readable text and images.

There are two kinds of PDF password. The password to open, also called the user password, stops anyone from reading the file. The permissions password, also called the owner password, lets the file open but blocks things like printing, copying text or editing. This tool accepts either one. Type the password you were given, and the saved copy has no password and no restrictions.

Most banks send e-statements as locked PDFs. The lock protects your account details if the email reaches the wrong person. To remove password from bank statement PDF files, you need the password your bank set for you.

Each bank uses its own pattern. It is often a part of your name together with your date of birth, your customer ID or a part of your account number, in a fixed order. The exact pattern is written in the email or SMS that came with the statement, and usually on the bank's website as well. We do not list bank formats here, because they differ from bank to bank and they change over time.

Once you know it, add the statement, type the password and press the Unlock button. You get a copy that opens without a password, so you can upload it to a loan app, a visa form or your accountant's portal, or print it. Credit card statements work the same way. Many upload forms reject locked files, so this is the usual fix.

Keep the unlocked copy safe, because it now opens for anyone who has it. If you need to email it, you can put your own password back on with Protect PDF.

The e-Aadhaar you download from the UIDAI website is a locked PDF. Its password follows a documented format: the first 4 letters of your name in capital letters, followed by your year of birth. For example, someone named Ramesh Kumar who was born in 1990 types RAME1990.

For an Aadhaar PDF password remove, open the Forgot the format? card in the tool and tap Show Aadhaar, e-PAN and bank statement help. Type your name as it appears on Aadhaar and your birth year. The tool builds the password, and a Use button puts it into the password box for you. Then press the Unlock button.

The e-PAN PDF uses your date of birth as the password, written as DDMMYYYY. Someone born on 5 August 1990 types 05081990, with no spaces or slashes.

Some PDFs open fine but will not print, or print only in low quality. Whoever made the file set a permissions password that blocks printing. When the tool sees a file like this, it shows the label Opens, but restricted.

To unlock PDF for printing, type the permissions password you were given and press the Unlock button. The saved copy has no restrictions, so it prints at full quality from any app and on any printer. If the file also has a password to open, you can enter that one instead.

If you do not have the permissions password, ask the person who made the PDF for a printable copy. Unlock PDF here does not remove restrictions without the password.

A restricted PDF may block copying text, adding comments, filling in forms or changing pages. You see greyed-out menus, or an editor that says the document is secured.

To unlock PDF for editing, add the file, enter its password and press the Unlock button. The copy you download has no permission limits. You can then copy text, Sign PDF, Fill PDF Forms, rotate or reorder pages, or turn it into a Word file with PDF to Word.

Unlocking removes the lock and nothing else. If a page is a scanned picture of text, it is still a picture after unlocking, so the words cannot be selected until they are converted.

This page works in Safari and Chrome on a phone, so you do not need an app. To remove PDF password on iPhone, open this page in Safari, tap Select PDF files and pick the PDF from the Files app. Type the password, tap the Unlock button, then tap Download PDF. Safari saves the file to the Downloads folder in Files.

On Android the steps are the same in Chrome. The unlocked file goes to your Downloads folder, and you can share it from there by email, chat or any other app.

If the PDF came as an email attachment, save it to Files first, or on Android to your Downloads folder, and then choose it from this page. You can add several files from your phone at once, up to 20.

Many people use a print trick to remove PDF password in Chrome. Open the PDF in Chrome, type the password, press Ctrl+P, choose Save as PDF as the printer and save. The new file has no password. Microsoft Edge has the same option, and on a Mac you can do the same from the Print window in Preview.

The trick only works when printing is allowed. It fails when the PDF blocks printing, and because the copy is printed again, bookmarks and fillable form fields are usually lost. It also handles one file at a time.

Unlock PDF on this page works differently. It removes the encryption itself, without printing, so the pages, links, bookmarks and form fields stay as they were. It also works on many files at once.

You do not need to install anything. Unlock PDF runs in your web browser on Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook, iPhone and Android. To unlock PDF free without software, open this page, add the file and type the password. There is no sign-up and no watermark, and it costs nothing.

Paid desktop programs can also remove a password you know, but they cost money or need an account. A browser tool is enough for this job, because the hard part, knowing the password, is already yours.

To keep the service quick for everyone there is a fair-use limit. If you send a lot of files in a short time, the tool asks you to wait a minute and try again.

If you have a year of bank statements or a folder of payslips, you can unlock multiple PDF files in one go. Add up to 20 PDFs at a time, each up to 100 MB. Each file is checked and labelled, and files that are not locked are skipped.

When all files share one password, which is common for statements from the same bank, leave Same password for every PDF ticked and type it once. When they differ, untick it, and a small password box appears next to each file in the list.

Press the Unlock button and a progress bar shows how many files are done. You can stop part way. When it finishes, Download all (ZIP) saves every unlocked file in one ZIP, or you can save each file on its own. If one password is wrong, only that file shows an error, and the others are still unlocked.

After that, you can Merge PDF to join the statements into one file, or Compress PDF to make them small enough for an upload form.

It will not crack, guess or bypass a password. There is no password list, no brute force and no hidden trick. If the password is wrong, the file stays locked and you see the message: That password did not open this PDF.

It will not remove print or edit restrictions without the password. A file that opens but blocks printing or editing still needs its permissions password, or its password to open.

It cannot recover a forgotten password. Nobody, including us, can do that for you. We do not store passwords, so there is nothing to look up later.

Please use it only for PDFs you own or are allowed to open. Removing protection from someone else's document without permission may break the law or an agreement.

The first check happens in your browser. To unlock PDF files safely, the tool first reads the PDF on your device to see whether it is locked, restricted or not locked at all, before anything is sent.

Unlocking runs on our server with qpdf, a well-known open-source PDF tool. The PDF and the password travel over an encrypted HTTPS connection. As soon as the unlocked file is sent back to you, the PDF and the password are deleted from the server. Nothing is kept, and the password is not saved in your browser either.

The unlocked copy on your device opens for anyone who gets it. Store it somewhere private, and delete copies you no longer need. To lock it again with a new password, use Protect PDF.

A locked PDF is encrypted, usually with AES or, in older files, RC4. The password, together with data stored inside the file, gives the key that decrypts the pages. Rules about printing, copying and editing are kept in the same encryption settings.

When you press the button, the PDF and the password are sent to our server. qpdf opens the file with your password and writes a new copy with the encryption removed. The text, images, fonts, links and bookmarks are copied as they are, so nothing is re-drawn or compressed, and the print and edit rules go away with the encryption.

If the password is not accepted, no copy is made, and you see a message next to that file in the list.

Copy the password from the email or SMS when you can, instead of typing it. Most mistakes are a capital letter, a missing zero in a date, or a space at the end.

For statements from one bank, add them all and keep Same password for every PDF ticked. One password, one click, one ZIP.

Keep the original locked file until you have checked the unlocked copy. Open the new file once to make sure it is the right document.

If you share an unlocked statement or ID, send it only to people who need it, and delete old copies from your downloads.

Once the PDF is unlocked, every other tool works on it. Merge PDF joins several statements or documents into one file. Split PDF takes out only the pages you need. Compress PDF makes the file smaller for upload forms with a size limit.

Need to change the content? PDF to Word turns it into an editable document. Sign PDF adds your signature, and Fill PDF Forms lets you type into form fields. When you are done, Protect PDF puts a new password of your choice on the file.