How do I remove a password from a PDF?
Written by Cameron James·October 29, 2026Quick answer
To remove a password from a PDF, open it with the password you already have, then strip the security: in Acrobat Pro that is Protect, Encrypt, Remove Security. If you only have Acrobat Reader, or no Acrobat at all, you can open the file with its password in a browser or Preview and save a copy without protection. This only works when you know the password, and it should only be done on files you own or have permission to change.
Key facts
- A PDF can have a Document Open password, a permissions password, or both. The open password stops anyone viewing the file without it. The permissions password lets people open the file but restricts actions such as editing, copying or printing.
- Adobe describes the open password as encrypting the file, so recipients must enter it to open or view the document. A permissions password limits what people can do with the file without blocking access to it.
- Removing a password means first proving you hold it. If the file asks for a password before it opens, you need that password to get in. There is no legitimate shortcut.
- In Acrobat Pro, the usual route is Protect, then Encrypt, then Remove Security, entering the password when prompted. Save the result.
- Without Acrobat, opening the PDF with its password in a browser or Preview and saving or printing a fresh copy usually gives an unprotected file. That copy can lose form fields, signatures and other interactive parts.
- Keep the original protected file. Save the unprotected version under a different name so you can always go back.
- Online remover tools mean uploading the document to someone else's server. For anything confidential, that is a bigger risk than the password you were trying to get rid of.
The steps, and the one condition
Open the PDF and type the password when it asks. That is the condition: this whole answer assumes the password is yours to type. If you do not have it, ask whoever protected the file, because there is no honest way to skip that step and I am not going to point you at one.
In Acrobat Pro, go to Protect, choose Encrypt, then Remove Security, and enter the password when prompted. Save the file. If you use a lot of online tools, the same job can be done in a browser: open the PDF, enter the password, then print to PDF and save the result as a new file.
The browser route is quick but blunt. Printing to PDF flattens the document, so form fields, existing signatures and links can go missing. For a plain report that does not matter, for a form or a signed contract it does.
Which password are you removing
Check this before you start, because it changes what you do. If the PDF asks for a password before anything appears, that is the Document Open password. If it opens but editing, copying or printing is blocked, that is a permissions password, a different lock. Adobe treats these as separate controls, and removing one does not remove the other. To add one instead, see how to password protect a file.
When I was sending proposals and decks all day, I ended up with a folder of PDFs locked by someone else's habit: a password nobody wrote down on a file we all still needed. The fix was always the same. Find the person who set it, get the password, save an unprotected working copy and keep the locked original untouched.
Be careful with online remover tools
A search for how to remove the password from a PDF online throws up plenty of free sites. They work by taking your file onto their server, which for a contract, a payslip or an investor deck is the part that should worry you. If a file was protected because it is sensitive, uploading it to a stranger's site undoes the point of the protection in a worse way than the password ever did.
If your real goal was to stop passing a locked file around by email, there is a neater answer. I wrote about whether it is safe to send documents over email separately. A hosted link to the PDF, like one from LiveDocument, means you can set an expiry on the link rather than relying on a password everyone ends up emailing round. It will not remove a password from a file for you, so you still need an unlocked copy you are allowed to share before you upload it.
The Bottom Line
If you know the password, removing it takes a couple of minutes and one saved copy. If you do not know it, the answer is to ask whoever set it, not to go looking for a way round it.
Written by Cameron James