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Unlock a PDF.

Take the password off a PDF you can open, or lift the restrictions that stop it printing and copying. The text stays text — nothing is flattened into a picture. It runs in your browser, so the file never leaves your device.

Drop a PDF hereor click to choose one — it opens inside this tab and is never uploaded

The engine is qpdf, compiled to WebAssembly and running on your own machine. Your file and your password never leave the browser — you can turn off your internet after this page loads and it still works.

Need the opposite?Put a password on a PDF, with AES-256 encryption.Protect a PDF →

How to remove a password from a PDF

  1. Open your PDFDrag it onto the page or choose it from your computer. It opens inside the tab and is never uploaded.
  2. See what kind of lock it hasA file with only printing and copying restrictions is unlocked straight away. One that asks for a password to open needs that password from you.
  3. Remove the protectionThe file is rewritten without its encryption. Every page, all the text and every form field come through unchanged.
  4. Download itThe unlocked PDF saves to your device, the same size and quality as the one you started with.

The thinking behind it

We wrote the guides first and built the tool because we kept needing it.

Guide · 6 minHow to sign a PDF without uploading it anywhereThe documents that need signing are exactly the ones you shouldn't hand to a free converter site. Every way to sign one locally, on every platform.List · 6 minPaid tools you can replace with a browser tabA short list of jobs that no longer need an install, a licence or an upload, and the cases where paying is still the right answer.

Questions

Do I need the password?

To open a PDF that asks for one, yes. This isn't a cracker — it removes a password you already have, and there is no setting anywhere here that guesses one. The common case needs nothing at all, though: a PDF that opens fine but won't let you print or copy has only an owner password on it, and those restrictions come off without any password.

Is my file uploaded?

No. The engine is qpdf compiled to WebAssembly, running inside your own browser. Your file and your password never reach a server, ours or anyone's. You can turn your internet off after the page loads and it still works.

Will the text still be selectable afterwards?

Yes. The file is rewritten properly, not re-photographed. Text stays text, vectors stay vectors, form fields stay fillable, the page count is identical and the file size barely moves. Tools that render each page to an image and staple them back together lose all of that — this doesn't.

What's the difference between an open password and restrictions?

A PDF can carry two passwords. The user password is the one a reader is prompted for before the file will open at all. The owner password sets what you're allowed to do once it's open — print, copy text, edit, fill in forms. A file can have restrictions with no open password, which is why so many PDFs open instantly but refuse to print.

Why won't it accept my password?

Almost always a typo, a keyboard layout, or a leading or trailing space copied in along with it. The password is case-sensitive. If it's the owner password rather than the open password, you don't need it — open the file here and the restrictions come off on their own.

Is it legal to do this?

Removing protection from your own documents, or ones you're entitled to use, is ordinary work — recovering your own bank statement, printing a contract you were sent, editing a form you're meant to fill in. Stripping protection from something you have no right to isn't, and no tool changes that.

Does it work on a scanned PDF?

Yes, and it stays a scan — the images are copied through untouched at their original resolution. There's no OCR here, so a scan comes out as the same scan, just without the password.

How big a file can it handle?

Up to about 100 MB, which is the practical ceiling for holding a file in a browser tab. Past that, split it first.