How to Remove a Password from a PDF

Two Types of PDF Password — and Why It Matters

Before trying any method, it helps to understand that PDF files can have two completely different kinds of password protection, and they behave very differently.

The first is an open password (also called a user password). This locks the file completely — you cannot open or read it at all without entering the correct password. If you have forgotten this password, recovering access is genuinely difficult and in most cases not possible without specialised software.

The second is an owner password (also called a permissions password or restrictions password). This does not prevent you from opening the file — you can read it freely. What it does is restrict what you can do with it: printing may be disabled, copying text may be blocked, or editing may be prevented. Many people encounter this type without realising it is technically a password protection at all.

Removing an Owner Password (Restrictions)

Owner passwords — the kind that restrict printing, copying, or editing — are the most commonly encountered type and the most straightforward to remove, provided you are the legitimate owner of the document.

Method 1: Print to PDF

The simplest method that works on any operating system requires no tools at all. Open the restricted PDF in any PDF viewer (Chrome, Edge, Preview on Mac, Adobe Reader), then print it using a PDF printer rather than a physical printer.

• 1
  Open the PDF in your browser (Chrome or Edge work well for this) or in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• 2
  Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) to open the print dialog.
• 3
  Set the destination/printer to "Save as PDF" (built into Chrome and Edge) or "Microsoft Print to PDF" on Windows.
• 4
  Click Save. The new PDF is a fresh file with no password restrictions applied.

This works because your PDF viewer renders each page visually and the print-to-PDF process captures those rendered pages as a clean new file. Ownership restrictions do not carry over. Note that this method produces a slightly larger file — you can always compress the resulting PDF afterwards to bring the size back down.

Method 2: Adobe Acrobat (if you have it)

If you have Adobe Acrobat (not just Reader), open the file, go to File → Properties → Security, change the Security Method to No Security, enter the owner password when prompted, and save. This is the cleanest method as it preserves the original file quality exactly.

Method 3: Mac Preview

On a Mac, open the restricted PDF in Preview, go to File → Export as PDF, and save it under a new name. Preview strips the restriction layer when re-exporting. This is the equivalent of the print-to-PDF method but slightly more direct.

Removing an Open Password (When You Know It)

If the PDF requires a password to open and you know that password, removing it permanently is straightforward — you just need to unlock it once and save a new copy without the protection.

• 1
  Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat (not Reader — you need the full version). Enter the password when prompted.
• 2
  Go to File → Properties → Security tab. Under Security Method, select No Security.
• 3
  Save the file. The saved version will open freely without any password.

If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, the print-to-PDF method described above also works here — open the PDF in Chrome or Edge (it will prompt for the password), enter it once, then print to PDF. The exported copy will have no password at all.

What If You Have Forgotten the Password?

This is where things get genuinely harder. If you cannot open the PDF because you have forgotten the open password, there is no simple workaround. PDF encryption is real encryption — the content is mathematically locked and there is no backdoor.

Your practical options are limited to trying passwords you might have used (many people use a small set of recurring passwords), checking whether the password was saved in your browser or password manager, or contacting whoever sent you the file to ask for the password or an unlocked version.

Specialised password recovery software exists, but it works by trying large numbers of possible passwords, not by bypassing the encryption. For short or simple passwords this can sometimes work; for long, complex passwords it is not practical.

Comparison of Methods at a Glance

After Removing the Password: Useful Next Steps

Once you have an unlocked PDF, you may find it is larger than expected — particularly if you used the print-to-PDF method, which re-renders each page. You can compress the PDF to reduce its file size without any visible quality difference for screen use.

If you only needed to unlock the file to extract certain pages, you can also split the PDF to pull out just the pages you need, or merge it with other documents into a single combined file. And if you need to share the final document with someone who prefers a Word file, you can always convert it — though for that direction (PDF to Word) you would need a dedicated tool, as Convixy's converters currently work from Office formats into PDF.

For most everyday situations — a restricted invoice, a locked report, a protected form — the print-to-PDF method solves the problem in under a minute with no software required. It is one of those genuinely useful browser tricks that more people should know about.