How to Remove Password Protection from PDF

Password-protected PDF files are very useful to encrypt sensitive information. Most of your payslips and bank statements are delivered in PDF format which is password protected. This is done in order to protect your personal information. At times, there are situations where you may require to print such documents and will have to enter the password each time to open the PDF and then take a print. If you have a lot of password-protected PDF’s to print, it becomes a very tedious task to enter the password multiple times to unlock the PDF document.

So, how to remove password protection from PDF? There are a couple of easy ways by which you can unlock password-protected PDF files. Let’s take it up one by one.

How to Remove Password Protection from PDF

1) Removing password protection from PDF using BeCyPDFMetaEdit

BeCyPDFMetaEdit is a free tool for Windows that can be used to remove password protection from PDF files. You just need to launch the program and it will ask you to select the PDF file that you want to unlock. Before selecting the PDF file, you need to change the Mode to “Complete Rewrite”

Once you have selected the file, it will prompt you for the password. Enter the password and click Ok. Now, click on the Security tab and select the Security System as “no encryption”. Once you have done this, just click on the Save button and you will be able to open the PDF file without having to enter the password again.

2) Removing password protection from PDF using Google Chrome

Who would have thought about using Google Chrome to unlock a password-protected PDF file! Yes, it can be done with ease. Of all the Google Chrome tips and tricks, this will probably be a new one for you.

Password removal of a PDF file with Chrome is pretty easy. Just follow the steps below.

  1. Drag and drop the password protected PDF file into your Google Chrome browser.
  2. Chrome will prompt you to enter the password to open the file. Enter the password and hit Enter. The file will open up.
  3. Once the file has been opened, press Ctrl+P (Windows) or Cmd+P (Mac) to choose the print option. Now you need to choose the destination printer as “Save as PDF” and click on the Save button.

And that’s it! Chrome will remove password protection from the Adobe PDF file and will save it on the specified location. When you re-open the PDF in Chrome, it will no longer ask you for a password.

Removing password protection from PDF files was not that difficult, right? Do let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.