How to remove a password you already have
- Confirm you may do this
This is for documents you own or have been given access to. Removing protection from someone else's document, or from material licensed on condition that it stays protected, is not what this is for.
- Enter the password
The one you use when opening the file normally.
- Unlock
The result opens with no password.
- Store the result carefully
It is now an unprotected copy of something that was protected for a reason.
Why this matters for exam and study documents
Some school portals encrypt every download with a shared code, which turns a revision session into a password-typing exercise. Unlocking your own copies once is reasonable; passing them on is a different question, and one for you rather than for us.
What is kept, what changes, and what this will not do
The difference between what a tool prevents and what it merely requests matters more here than anywhere else on the site, so each one states which it is.
Kept
- All content, page count, order and the text layer
Changed
- Encryption is removed
- Permission flags are cleared
Limits
- The password is mandatory. There is no recovery, cracking or guessing here.
- This will not remove digital rights management from a purchased ebook, which is a different mechanism entirely.
Questions and answers
I have forgotten the password. Can you help?
No, and neither can anything else. A PDF encrypted with AES is not opened by guessing. If it is your own document, look for the password where you stored it; if there is nowhere, the file is not recoverable.
Is it legal to remove a PDF password?
For a document you own or are authorised to use, generally yes. For material licensed on condition it stays protected, or for someone else's confidential file, no. You know which of those you have; we do not.
Can you remove DRM from an ebook?
No. DRM is a different system, tied to an account and a device, and circumventing it is unlawful in most jurisdictions. This tool handles standard PDF encryption only.
What if my PDF opens fine but will not let me print?
That is a permission flag rather than encryption. Running it through here rebuilds the file without the flag - and the result panel will tell you the file was never encrypted, which is useful to know.