Unlock a Secure PDF File

This article teaches you how to view or print a password-protected PDF file's contents. There are two types of secure PDFs: user-locked, which means you need a password to view the contents, and owner-locked, which means you need a password to copy, print, or otherwise modify the PDF's contents. While unlocking a user-locked PDF without the password is impossible without purchasing software, you can unlock an owner-locked PDF in a few ways.

Steps

Using Google Chrome

  1. Open Google Drive. If you aren't already logged into your Google account, you'll need to do so now with your Gmail address and password.
  2. Click and drag your PDF into Google Drive. You can also click New in the top right corner of the Google Drive Window, click File Upload, select your PDF, and click OK to upload it.
  3. Double-click your selected PDF. If it's a user-locked PDF, you'll need to enter a password and click Submit to view its contents.
  4. Hold down Ctrl and tap P. This will open the "Print" screen.
    • If the PDF is user-locked, you'll need to enter the password and then use the Print shortcut again.
  5. Click Change. This option should be beneath the "Destination" heading on the left side of your screen.
  6. Click Save as PDF. This option is under the "Local Options" heading in the "Select a Destination" window.
  7. Click the blue Save button. It's in the top left corner of this screen. Doing so should download the PDF to your computer as an unsecure file.
    • You may have to select a save location before your file properly downloads.
  8. Double-click your downloaded PDF.
  9. Click File. This is in the top left corner of the screen.
  10. Click Properties. It's about halfway down the File drop-down menu.
  11. Click the Security tab.
  12. Look at the "Security Method" line. It should say "No Security", thereby proving that your PDF is no longer locked.
    • This is at the top of the Properties window.

Using Adobe Acrobat (Known Password)

  1. Open the Adobe Acrobat program. This must be the "Pro" version, not the "Reader" version. Otherwise, you won't be able to remove the password.
  2. Click File. This option is in the top left corner of the screen.
    • Alternatively, if your PDF reader has a "Recently Viewed" tab, you can check there to see if the PDF you need is displayed.
  3. Click Open. If you elected to look for the PDF in the "Recently Viewed" section, skip this step.
  4. Double-click the PDF you wish to open. You may have to select a new directory (e.g., Desktop or Documents) first to locate the PDF in question.
  5. Click the padlock icon. It's on the left side of the screen beneath the "Home" tab.
    • If your PDF is user-locked, you'll need to enter the password here first.
  6. Click Permission Details. This is a link below the "Security Settings" heading.
  7. Click the Security Method box. It will say something like "Password Security".
  8. Select No Security. This should be an option in the drop-down menu that appears.
  9. Type in the PDF's password.
  10. Click OK twice. As long as your password was correct, your PDF will no longer have a password lock on it.

Using the PDFUnlock Site

  1. Open the PDFUnlock website. This site will remove the owner lock from PDF files that are 5 MB (or less) in size for free.
  2. Upload your secured PDF. You can do this by dragging the PDF into the PDFUnlock window and dropping it there, or you can select the My Computer option to open the PDF from your system.
    • If you select Dropbox or Google Drive, you will need to sign into your respective account in order to select the file you wish to convert.
  3. Click Unlock!. If your file is eligible for unlocking, PDFUnlock will do so and then automatically download the unlocked PDF to your computer.
    • If the PDF is also user-locked, you'll need to enter the password in PDFUnlock's provided field before you can click Unlock!.
  4. Open your unlocked PDF. You should now be able to edit the PDF's information.

Using Ghostscript and GSView

  1. Download Ghostscript and GSView. You'll need to download the most recent version of both (e.g., the top link on the page).
    • When downloading Ghostscript, make sure you click the link in the "AGPL" column (not the "Commercial License" one).
  2. Install both programs. You'll do this by double-clicking a setup file and then following the on-screen instructions.
    • You'll need to install Ghostscript first since the GSView program runs using Ghostscript's code.
    • When installing GSView, you have to click Setup at the top of the pop-up window.
  3. Open the GSView program.
  4. Click and drag the secure PDF into the GSView window. If your document is user-locked, GSView won't be able to access its information.
  5. Click File. This is in the top left corner of the screen.
  6. Click Convert. It's toward the bottom of the drop-down menu.
  7. Make sure pdfwrite is displayed in the "Device" window. If not, you'll need to select it from the drop-down menu here.
  8. Click 600dpi in the "Resolution" section. This is to the right of the "Device" section you were just in.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Type in a name. You can name your file anything, but you'll need to type ".pdf" at the end of whatever you name it.
  11. Click OK. Your selected PDF should now no longer have an owner-lock on it, meaning you can edit the information in it as you please.

Using the SysTools PDF Unlocker

  1. Open the PDF Unlocker website. PDF Unlocker offers a free trial, but the full version of the software isn't free.
  2. Click the green Download Now button. This is in the middle of the page. After clicking this, the PDF Unlocker setup file should begin downloading.
  3. Double-click the PDF Unlocker setup file. It will be in your computer's default downloads folder (e.g., "Downloads" or your desktop).
  4. Follow the on-screen instructions. This will install the PDF Unlocker program on your computer.
  5. Open the SysTools PDF Unlocker program. You may have to click Continue Demo before proceeding.
  6. Click Unlock PDF. This is a link on PDF Unlocker's main page.
  7. Click Browse. There are two Browse buttons on this screen. You'll want to click the one in the top right corner of the screen for this step.
  8. Select your secured PDF. You may have to click a different directory (e.g., your desktop) before it appears.
  9. Click OK. Your PDF will be uploaded to the PDF Unlocker.
  10. Click Browse. This time, click the Browse button in the bottom right corner of the screen.
  11. Select a save location. You can save your unlocked PDF anywhere on your computer.
  12. Click OK.
  13. Click Unlock PDF. Your selected PDF has now been unlocked.
    • If the PDF is user-locked, you'll need to provide the password for the PDF before you can unlock its permissions.
    • The SysTools PDF Unlocker demo version will place a watermark on all PDF files you unlock with it. You can get rid of these by purchasing the full version.

Tips

  • ElcomSoft sells high-end PDF-cracking software for around $50.
  • For any questions related to the Adobe Acrobat suite of software, use the Frequently Asked Questions page on Adobe's website.
  • If you tried to make changes to you a PDF file for which you are the owner or creator, only to find that you lost your permissions password, you are not completely out of luck. There are programs available that will help you recover your password—for a price. You can find one to help you recover your lost password by performing a search engine query for keywords like "recover PDF password".

Warnings

  • Attempting to unlock a PDF that doesn't belong to you could be illegal in certain jurisdictions.

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