Here Is How To Unlock PDF Files Without Any Software

Written By Edwin Stark
Updated on September 19th, 2023

PDF files are an important file format for many of us.

It’s safe and secure.

Once saved, others cannot edit it.

And the best part about PDF files is that you can secure them using different types of security restrictions.

The power to secure your files and control who interacts with them and how is really important for many of us.

You can either keep a full restriction or limit editing capabilities, making it a perfect solution for legal documents and high-end contracts.

However, there is one problem that many users face i.e. how to unlock a PDF file if you forget or lose your password.

Securing your PDF file can help protect your documents, however, if you don’t get it right you may also lose it.

So today with this article, I will show you how you can easily unlock secured PDFs without any hassle, and that too for free.
You may also read: PDF File Recovery- Ways to Repair Corrupted PDF Documents

So How To Unlock PDF File For Free

Using Google Chrome

By using the Google Chrome browser, you can easily remove passwords from PDF files.
Note: It works for the owner’s password

So let us now see, how to do it:

Open Google Chrome and go to Google Drive
Login to your Google account
Click on ‘New’ on the top left of your Google Drive Window and click on ‘File Upload’
Select the file that you want to upload and click ‘OK’. You can even drag and drop your file in the drive.
Now double-click on the PDF file to open it in Chrome itself. If it has a user password, enter it and click ‘Submit’
Once your screen shows the complete content, click Ctrl+P to print.
A new Windows will pop up, click on ‘Change’ and then select ‘Save as PDF’
Now click on the ‘Save’ button and browse & select the location where you want to save the files.

As soon as you click on ‘Save’, doing so will download the file at the mentioned location. Now being an unsecured file, you can easily print, edit or even copy text from the PDF file.

Using Adobe Acrobat

Note: To use this technique effectively you need to purchase the full version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Launch Adobe Acrobat Reader Pro.
Click on ‘File’ on the top left corner of your Windows and from the drop-down menu click on ‘Open’
Now browse and locate the PDF file that you want to open and click ‘Open’
Enter the password in the given box to unlock it and click ‘Ok’
Go to the ‘Padlock’ icon located just on the left side of the screen beneath the “Home” tab, and click on ‘Permission details’
In the ‘Security’ Tab, go the ‘Password Security’ and select ‘No Security’ in the drop-down menu
And click ‘Ok’

Using PDF Unlocker

By using a good PDF Unlocker, you will be able to remove passwords from PDF files easily. As a paid tool, this software supports both user and owner passwords.

However, finalizing one particular tool is quite hard.

So if you are also facing the same issue, then I would suggest you go for SysInfoTools PDF Restriction Remover.

Being an expert, I have used a lot of tools and applications related to PDF and one of them is the above-mentioned tool.

However, there are a lot of other tools that are good and effective but I found this one much more effective to unlock secured PDF files.

This application is one of the most advanced tools to break PDF encryption. The software can easily remove passwords from your PDF files with ease and can make them unsecured files.

Advantages Of Using A Third-Party Tool

It supports both single as well as multiple PDF files
Support display of Meta properties
Can recover both user and owner passwords from your PDF files
Support all versions of both MS Windows and Adobe Acrobat

Disadvantages

Doesn’t support Linux
Doesn’t run on MAC OS

So here are the three techniques through which you can easily unlock PDF file without any hassle.