Documents clients send back
Signed forms, statements and records that clients return protected with their usual password.
Remove a PDF password
Remove the password from a PDF, when you know it
A client sends back a signed form protected with their usual password. You need to merge it into a binder, annotate it, or file it in a system that cannot read encrypted documents. Typing the password every time you open it gets old fast: you want a working copy without the password.
PDF Protect Plus removes the password on your own computer, for one file or a whole batch. You type the password you know, the app saves a new copy without it, and the protected original stays exactly as it was. It does not guess or recover a forgotten password.
How to remove the password from a PDF
Choose “Unlock”
In PDF protection, pick “Unlock: Remove a password you know”, then drop the protected PDF. If the file has no password, the app tells you so instead of doing anything.
Type the current password
Enter the password that opens the file today. Without it, nothing can be done, and that is deliberate: the app is for documents you are entitled to open.
Save the copy without a password
Click “Unlock the PDF” and choose where to save. You get a new copy that opens without a password; the protected original stays protected and intact.
The readable copy is made on your computer
Removing a password produces the most sensitive version of a document: the one anyone can read. Doing it on a website means handing over both the protected file and its password, then downloading the readable result from someone else’s server.
With PDF Protect Plus, the file, the password and the unlocked copy all stay on your device. Your PDFs are never sent to our servers.
Your account and license require an internet connection.
Unlock a whole batch at once
When clients send back several protected files, the “Batch unlock” tab handles them in one run. With “My clients’ passwords”, the app reads your client spreadsheet or the vault and matches each file to its client. With “Type each password”, you enter each file’s password yourself.
Every password is tested before anything is written; a wrong one shows “✕ Password refused” on its row. The batch is created only if every password is correct, and the copies are named 001_…_unlocked.pdf.
What the app will not do
It does not recover, guess or crack a lost password. If you no longer know it, ask the person who protected the file to send it again, or to send you a new copy.
It only handles PDFs that ask for a password to open. A file that opens normally has nothing to unlock: the app says so and changes nothing.
Keep the unlocked copy safe
The copy without a password can be read by anyone who gets it. Use it for your own work, keep it in a folder that is not shared, and send the protected version, not the unlocked one, when the document leaves your office.
- Keep the protected original: it is the version to send again if needed.
- Delete working copies you no longer need.
- Protect the file again before sending it by email.
When removing a password is useful
Building a client binder
Merging several documents into one numbered PDF requires unprotected sources.
Archiving and searching
Some document management systems cannot index encrypted files.
Your own protected files
Files you protected yourself, and now need to edit or reuse.
Frequently asked questions
Can I remove a password I have forgotten?
No. PDF Protect Plus does not recover, guess or crack passwords. You need the current password; otherwise, ask the sender for it or for a new copy.
Is my original file changed?
No. The app saves a new copy without a password. The protected original stays protected and intact.
Can I remove the password from several PDFs at once?
Yes, with “Batch unlock”: from your client spreadsheet or vault, or by typing each password. The batch is created only if every password is correct.
Do my files or passwords go over the internet?
No. Unlocking happens on your device. Your account and license require an internet connection; your PDFs and their passwords never do.
Related reading
Working copies, without retyping passwords
Remove the password you know from one PDF or a whole batch, on your own computer, and keep the protected original.
Start your 7-day trialYour account and license require an internet connection.