How to remove security from a PDF file?

Question

I am trying to fill out some docs, but the provided PDFs are "SECURED", meaning I can't use FoxIt's typewriter tools.

Is there any way to remove the security?

Answer 1

Assuming it's simply a 'rights' (owner) password that restricts things like editing, printing, and copying (i.e. the password does not need to be entered to open the file) the following will remove the restrictions:

1. Grab https://github.com/qpdf/qpdf/releases
2. Unzip/Install and navigate to the bin folder that holds qpdf.exe (or similar for your platform)
3. Place the PDF you wish to work on in the same folder
4. Run: qpdf --decrypt InputFile.pdf OutputFile.pdf (use "s if the file name has spaces).
5. Do what you like with the OutputFile.

If your PDF file is user password protected, change step 4 to qpdf --decrypt --password=yourpassword InputFile OutputFile

This won't work for Adobe Digital Editions and may have issues with digitally-signed files.

Some discussion on the background of these owner password restrictions at https://lwn.net/Articles/335415/ .

Answer 2

Contrary to the other solutions, you do not need additional software.

Anyone with Windows can do it with no extra software in 4 simple steps.

1. Open the PDF
2. Go to File > Print. From your print options choose Microsoft XPS Document Writer. Although you might expect it to print, it does not print anything, it will create an XPS Document.
3. Open the resulting XPS file
4. Press Print, go to Microsoft PDF Creator. It will now save it as a PDF again. Again, it will not print.

In my case I had to remove the first/last page of a document so I only printed the pages required.

Answer 3

1. Print to a PostScript (PS) printer (where the printer's port is set to print to file, not to the printer -- or check the "Print to file" option in the Print dialog)

2. Edit the resulting .ps file and remove:

   mark currentfile eexec
   54dc5232e897cbaaa7584b7da7c23a6c59e7451851159cdbf40334cc2600
   ...
   cleartomark
   

3. Save and distill the .ps file

Answer 4

Using google chrome offline (without uploading anything)

It's a slightly old thread but as I use this often, I wanted to update it:

• Simply drag and drop the PDF in question on a blank chrome page.
• Chrome opens the "locked" PDF.
• Now print the document and use "save as PDF" as the printer of choice.
• Enjoy your perfectly conserved and unlocked PDF (esp. copy & paste ;-) )

The "print"->"save as" step can be tricky when you do it the first time, as you might choose the PDF Writer/Maker for output and you will end up with a locked PDF again.

The process is further described here: Save As PDF

On some versions of chrome (older?) you have to activate the "save as PDF" option first.

As you can install chrome without giving them your email address, I would consider this a truly "free" solution.

Answer 5

Directly (see and) remove the restrictions from your pdf without any tricks:

---

1- Online method:

If you want to do in your browser (without installing a tool), then use PDFUnlock. You just need to upload your pdf (drop it to the available box) and it removes the security restrictions. However, up to 5MB files are converted for free.

---

2- Offline method:

But, like me, if you prefer having an offline tool on your machine, then you can install Weeny Free PDF Password Remover.

Answer 6

Easy!

1. From the full version of Acrobat (I used v9.3), select "File..Export..Postscript..Postscript". This creates a ".ps" file.
2. Click on the .ps file, it converts it back to pdf automatically with Acrobat distiller.
3. You now have a perfect copy of the original file, minus any signatures, restrictions on editing, etc.

I needed this technique fix the pdf file so it would display on my Kindle DX, via the "Advanced..Preflight" menu. This method worked perfectly on a file that had resisted all attempts by the four major utilities that offer to remove restrictions on pdf files (i.e. A-PDF, pdftk, Kernel PDF, UnrestrictPDF) .

Answer 7

I upload it to google drive with chrome, hit the print button and save it as pdf (which has to be enabled within chrome settings on some versions). I get the real deal, images are same resolution, file size checks out too, but all the security restrictions are gone.

Also removes printing restrictions from files. (Credit @Rob)

Beware! Also removes bookmarks and links. (according to @Barleyman)

Thanks Google! You guys are hackers :-)

Answer 8

The best option I have found is this online tool: https://smallpdf.com/unlock-pdf

Edit: they now have a desktop application too. https://smallpdf.com/desktop

Answer 9

Building on Dan's answer, here's the full bash for OS X/Mac

#! /bin/bash
brew install qpdf
PDF_PASS=YourPasswordHere
for file in *.pdf
do
    echo "Removing password for pdf file - $file"
    qpdf --decrypt "$file" "decrypt.$file" --password="$PDF_PASS"
done

Answer 10

you can use PDF CPU:

pdfcpu decrypt in.pdf out.pdf

https://pdfcpu.io/encrypt/decryptPDF

note that it actually resulted in a smaller resulting file for me, versus QPDF:

original	QPDF	PDF CPU
5,406 KB	5,339 KB	4,617 KB

Answer 11

My 20-page tax form ballooned to 70MB when I removed the password through a PDF-printer. But then I tried using PDFsam Basic, a free tool that I usually use for splitting and merging pdfs.

To my surprise, it handles password-protected PDFs well and, when exporting the document, removes the password protection without increasing the file-size.

In fact, the file-size decreased by a few kB.

Answer 12

On Windows 10, you can just :

1. Open the document
2. "Print" the document by selecting "Microsoft Print to PDF" printer

That's it! the protection is removed and you can still select the text in the document.

Answer 13

Analog conversion. Print and re-scan.

Answer 14

Removing user/open password is next to impossible, but if your PDF file is only protected with owner password, i.e., PDF print, edit, copy and other functions are disabled then there are several programs available to remove PDF security like the one mentioned in this article: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Remove-PDF-Password-Security-PrintEditCo/

Due to security and privacy reasons I would not recommend those online services where you’re supposed to upload your PDF documents to remove PDF security.

Answer 15

You may simply use iLovePDF's "Unlock PDF" tool :

1. access the website;
2. select and upload your file(s);
3. click "unlock PDF";
4. click dDownload unlocked PDFs";
5. voilà!

Answer 16

In my case, there was a view password that maintained its state through save -- but print, etc. were not blocked. That left open the analog method, or print-to-PDF-printer, which is what I did. The resulting file lacked a password, and seemed to suffer no degradation.