How to Remove a Password From a PDF You Can Open

If you know a PDF's password, you can remove it by opening the file, entering the password, and saving a new copy with Print > Save as PDF. Chrome, Edge and Preview on a Mac all do this for free, and the new copy opens without asking for anything. This guide is only for files you are entitled to open. If you do not know the password, ask the person who sent the file for an unprotected copy. We do not cover getting around a password you were not given.

The Tools Kit does not have a password removal tool. Our PDF tools cannot read a locked file, so they stop and ask you to remove the password first. Merge PDF, for example, names the locked file and suggests the same Save as PDF route described here.

Two kinds of PDF password

PDFs can carry two different passwords, and they behave differently:

Password type	What it does	What you see
Open password (also called a user password)	Stops anyone opening the file	A password prompt before the first page appears
Permissions password (also called an owner password)	Restricts printing, copying or editing	The file opens normally, but some actions are greyed out

Bank statements, payslips and tax documents usually use an open password, often built from details such as your date of birth or account number, as explained in the message that came with them. The methods below handle that case. Permissions passwords come later in this guide.

Not sure which one you have? If a prompt appears before you see any page, it is an open password. If the file opens but printing or copying is unavailable, it is a permissions password. The free Adobe Acrobat Reader lists the exact restrictions in Document Properties (press Ctrl+D on Windows or Cmd+D on a Mac), on the Security tab, if you have it installed.

In Chrome, on any computer

1. Drag the PDF into a Chrome window, or right-click it and choose Open with > Google Chrome.
2. Type the password when Chrome asks for it.
3. Press Ctrl+P on Windows or Cmd+P on a Mac.
4. Set Destination to Save as PDF.
5. Click Save and choose a new file name, such as statement-open.pdf.

The new file opens without a password. Keep the original too, in case you need the protected version later.

On Windows with Microsoft Edge

Edge is the default PDF viewer on Windows 10 and 11, so double-clicking the file usually opens it there.

1. Open the PDF and enter the password.
2. Press Ctrl+P.
3. Under Printer, choose Save as PDF or Microsoft Print to PDF. Both are built in.
4. Click Save or Print, then name the new file.

On a Mac with Preview

1. Open the PDF in Preview and enter the password.
2. Choose File > Print.
3. Click the PDF menu at the bottom of the print dialog and choose Save as PDF.
4. Name the new file and save it.

Recent versions of Preview also have File > Edit Permissions, where you can untick Require Password To Open Document and click Apply. That changes the file itself rather than making a copy, so duplicate it first with File > Duplicate if you want to keep the original.

What the new copy may lose

Print to PDF builds a new document from what is shown on screen. That is why it works, and also why some features may not come through:

• Fillable form fields can be flattened into plain text and lines.
• Bookmarks and links may be missing in the new copy.
• Certificate-based digital signatures do not carry over. The new file is a different document, so a signature that proved the original was untouched no longer applies.
• Text usually stays selectable, but check by highlighting a sentence. If it does not select, run the copy through PDF to Word, whose OCR option can read it.

If any of these matter, ask the sender for an unprotected copy instead of printing one.

When printing is blocked

If Save as PDF is greyed out, or the printed copy comes out blank, the file probably has a permissions password that forbids printing. The fix is the permissions password itself, which the document's owner set. With it, the paid Adobe Acrobat Pro can remove the security settings, Preview's Edit Permissions dialog lets you change them, and the free command-line tool qpdf can write a decrypted copy:

qpdf --decrypt --password=YOURPASSWORD locked.pdf open.pdf

That command saves the password in your terminal history, so clear it afterwards on a shared computer.

If you do not have that password, contact whoever produced the document. A bank, employer or tax office can usually send a version without restrictions.

Should you remove it at all?

A password protects you if a file is lost, forwarded by mistake or left on a shared computer. Before removing it, consider whether you need to:

• Keep the locked original for storage, and make an unprotected copy only for the task at hand.
• Delete the unprotected copy once the upload or print job is done.
• Do not email an unprotected statement unless you have to. Send it through the portal that asked for it.

Common reasons to make an open copy are an upload portal that rejects encrypted files, or merging a statement into an application pack. Once you have the copy, our tools accept it. You can combine it with other documents, sign it with Sign PDF, or shrink it for an upload limit. For keeping the pack in order, see our guide to combining multiple PDFs into one file.