Unlock PDF
Remove a password you know from a PDF.
Drop a password-protected PDF
You'll need the password that opens it · drag & drop, paste, or click to browse
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded or sent to a server.
This removes a password you already know — it does not crack, guess or bypass one. With the wrong password it simply fails. Only remove protection from documents you own or are entitled to unlock. Read our full disclaimer.
About this tool
Banks and payroll systems love sending statements locked with a password, and typing it in every single time you open last March's statement gets old — especially since the password is often something you'd rather not keep retyping in public. If you know the password, this removes it and gives you back an ordinary PDF. It's also what you need before merging or reorganising a protected file, since most PDF tools (including ours) can't read an encrypted document at all.
The usual reason
Bank statements often use a password built from your date of birth or part of your account number. Unlock the ones you want to keep, and you can file, search and merge them like any other document — without that string being in your typing history forever.
How to use
- 1Drop in the protected PDF.
- 2Type the password that currently opens it.
- 3Remove password and download.
- 4The downloaded copy opens normally — your original file is untouched.
Features
- Removes the open-password and any printing or copying restrictions along with it.
- Tells you up front whether the file is actually encrypted, so you're not guessing.
- Nothing is uploaded — the document and the password stay in your browser.
- Leaves the original file exactly as it was; you get a separate unlocked copy.
Frequently asked questions
Can this open a PDF whose password I've lost?
No. It uses the password you provide to decrypt the file — with the wrong one it fails outright, and there's no guessing or brute-forcing anywhere in it. That's a deliberate limit, not a missing feature: a tool that broke into documents on demand would mostly be used on documents that weren't the user's.
Is it legal to do this?
It depends entirely on whose document it is. Removing the password from your own bank statement is unremarkable; doing it to someone else's confidential file, or to defeat protection on commercial material, may well not be. You know which one you're doing.
It says the file isn't encrypted, but my reader won't let me print it.
Then it carries permission flags rather than an open-password — the document opens for anyone, but asks readers not to print or copy. Running it through here still strips those flags, since removing encryption removes the restrictions stored with it.
Why won't my other PDF tools open a protected file?
Most PDF libraries, ours included, can't read an encrypted document at all. That's why this tool tends to be the first step: unlock it here, then merge, split, watermark or extract text from the unlocked copy.
Does my password get sent anywhere?
No. Decryption happens in your browser via WebAssembly, so the password is used locally and then discarded when you leave the page. Nothing is transmitted, logged or stored.
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