Unlock PDF
Take the password off a PDF so it opens without one, or lift the restrictions that stop you copying and printing. A restriction comes off with no password at all; a password you have to know, because this removes protection rather than breaking it. Everything happens on your device.
Drop a password-protected or restricted PDF here
Your file and your password both stay on this device.
How to remove a password from a PDF
- Press “Choose a PDF file”, or drop the locked PDF onto the box above. It is checked straight away.
- If it needs a password to open, type it in and press “Remove password”. If it only blocks copying or printing, press “Remove the restrictions”; no password is needed.
- Press “Download unlocked PDF”.
What Unlock PDF does
Two jobs that look like one. Taking the password off a PDF you can already open, so you stop typing it every time: a bank statement, a payslip, an insurance document that arrives encrypted by default. And lifting the restrictions on a PDF that opens for anybody but refuses to let you copy or print, which needs no password at all.
What it does
- Tells you which of the two you have before asking for anything, by trying to open the file rather than guessing from the encryption entry
- Lifts copying, printing and editing restrictions with no password, because an owner password is not one you are meant to have
- Removes a real password when you supply it, and hands back a copy that opens normally
- Keeps the pages, text, images, links and form fields exactly as they were
- Leaves your original file untouched: you get a second copy, not a replacement
What it does not do
- Open a PDF whose password you do not know; this decrypts, it does not crack, and nothing honest could
- Get past a reader or a work device that demands its own password to open documents
- Decide whether you are allowed to remove the protection; the file never reaches us, so that judgement is yours
- Repair a PDF that is damaged rather than encrypted
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Need to send this to someone?
Our sister site QRSansar hosts a document and gives you a short link and a QR code for it. That is handy for WhatsApp, a slide, a poster or a printed handout, and it avoids attachment size limits entirely. You can swap the file later and the link and QR code keep working.
Worth being clear about the difference: that is a hosting service, so your file is uploaded to it. Everything on PDFsansar stays on your device; sharing is the one job that cannot.
Share a document on QRSansar →Other tools
All free, and all run in this tab without uploading anything.
Unlock PDF: common questions
My PDF opens fine but won't let me copy the text. Do I need a password?
No, and this is the most common thing people bring here. A PDF like that has an owner password, not an opening one: the file is readable by anybody, and the encryption is carrying a note asking readers to disable copying, printing or editing. Readers that obey it are being polite; the text is sitting in the file either way. Drop it in and the button says Remove the restrictions, with no password field at all, because there is nothing to ask you for.
I only want the words out. Is there a shorter way?
Yes. PDF to text reads a restricted file directly, so if all you need is the text to paste somewhere, you can skip the unlocking step entirely. Unlock the file when you need the file itself to behave: to print it, to edit it, or to put it through another tool that refuses encrypted input.
Can this open a PDF when I do not know the password?
No, and nothing honest can. This removes a password you already have. It is for the case where you know it, you are tired of typing it, and you want a copy that opens normally. Cracking an AES-256 PDF is not a matter of waiting longer; it is not feasible. If a site promises otherwise, be careful about what you upload to it.
It says my PDF has no password, but it asks for one when I open it.
Then something else is asking. The most common cause is a reader or a work device that requires a password to open documents from certain sources, rather than the file itself being encrypted. This tool reads the PDF's own encryption entry and then tries to open the file, so if it says there is nothing to remove, there genuinely is nothing in the file.
Is removing the password legal?
That depends on the document and where you are, and it is your call rather than ours. Taking the password off a statement your own bank sent you is an ordinary thing to do. Removing protection from somebody else's document, or one you are contractually bound to keep protected, is not. We cannot tell the difference (the file never reaches us), so the judgement is yours.
Does unlocking change the file?
Only the encryption comes off. Pages, text, images, links and form fields come through exactly as they were, and your original file is untouched on disk. You get a second copy that opens without a password. If the PDF also restricted printing or copying, those restrictions go with the encryption, because that is where they were stored.