Unlock PDF
Remove password protection from your PDF.
Drag & drop your protected PDF here
or click to choose a file from your device
How to remove a password from a PDF
- Add the protected PDF. If it needs a password to open, the file card says "protected" instead of showing a page count.
- Type the document password. If the file opens without one and you only want the restrictions removed, leave the box empty.
- Press Unlock PDF.
- Download the result, saved with _unlocked added to the name. Your original file is untouched.
Want a more detailed walkthrough? Read the full step-by-step guide →
Unlock PDF online — free, fast and private
Remove a password from a PDF. With Pixpoo you can unlock PDF online for free, right in your browser — no sign-up, no watermark, and your files are processed locally rather than sent to Pixpoo’s servers.
About Unlock PDF
Unlock PDF takes the protection off a document you can already open, and hands back an ordinary PDF with the protection removed, so it can be opened, printed and copied without the original password restrictions.
There are two kinds of protection it deals with, and knowing which one you have explains what the password box is for. A document open password encrypts the file: nothing can read it until the password is typed, and you must supply that password here. A permissions password leaves the file readable by anyone but marks it as no-printing or no-copying; a file like that opens straight away, so the password box can be left empty and the restrictions still come off.
What it will not do is recover a password nobody knows. If a file demands a password to open and you do not have it, the content stays encrypted and Pixpoo cannot read it any more than any other reader can. This is a tool for removing protection you are entitled to remove — a file you set a password on yourself, or one you were given the password for.
When is unlocking the right thing to do?
The common cases are all about a password that has done its job and is now getting in the way.
- A bank or payroll statement that arrives encrypted every month and asks for a password each time you open it.
- A document you protected yourself for sending, which now needs to go into an archive that everyone can read.
- A file you need to run through another tool — some PDF tools cannot process an encrypted document until the password protection is removed.
- A report that opens fine but refuses to print or let you copy a paragraph, because a permissions password was set on it.
- Tidying a set of files before handing a project over, so the next person is not chasing passwords.
Unlock PDF options explained
There is one control that matters here, and a couple of notes about what happens to your password while you use it.
Enter PDF Password
The password the document asks for when you open it. The eye button reveals what you have typed, which is worth using before submitting, since a mistyped password is by far the most common reason unlocking fails. The label says "leave blank if none" because a file carrying only permission restrictions needs no password at all.
Fill it in whenever the document prompts you for a password in your usual PDF reader. Leave it empty when the file opens by itself but will not let you print or copy. We tested both: with the right password an encrypted file unlocked cleanly, and with a blank or wrong password it was refused.
Remember password for this session
Normally the password box is cleared as soon as you swap files. Tick this and the password is kept as you load the next document, which saves retyping when several files share one password. It lives in the page’s memory only, and closing or reloading the tab clears it.
Useful for a batch — a year of statements from the same bank usually share a password. Leave it off on a shared or public computer, where the next person could reveal the stored password with the eye button while the tab is still open.
What happens to your password
The password is passed to the decryption engine running inside your browser and used for that one operation. It is not transmitted anywhere, not written to storage, and not recoverable afterwards.
This is the part worth understanding rather than acting on. Because the whole operation happens on your machine, there is no server that could log the password or the document — which is the main reason to prefer a browser-based tool for a file that is encrypted precisely because it is sensitive.
Download and preview
Both stay greyed out until an unlock succeeds. Preview opens the unlocked document in a new tab; Download saves it with _unlocked appended to the original filename.
Preview first when you want to be sure the right file came back before saving anything. Keep your original until you have checked the result — unlocking writes a new file and never alters the one you uploaded.
Why use Pixpoo for Unlock PDF?
- Unusually for a PDF tool, nothing about the document is rebuilt: we compared the pages before and after and every page content stream came through byte for byte, with bookmarks, document properties, embedded fonts and links all still in place.
- Handles both kinds of protection — an open password when you supply it, and permission restrictions with the box left empty.
- The file and the password are processed entirely in your browser; neither is sent to Pixpoo’s servers.
- The file card identifies PDFs that require an open password; permission-only restrictions are indistinguishable from an ordinary readable PDF until you try to use it.
- The password is held only while the tab is open, and only if you ask for it to be.
Unlock PDF features
Unlock PDF limitations
The clear one: this cannot recover a password you do not have. A document with an open password stays unreadable without it, and a blank or wrong password is refused rather than guessed at — we tested both and neither produced a file. It is also worth being straightforward about what unlocking means: the result is a completely unprotected PDF, so anyone you send it to can open, print and copy it. Only remove protection from documents that are yours or that you have been given the right to open, and think about whether the unlocked copy should be kept somewhere private. One small rough edge: when a password is wrong, the message you see is the general "Could not unlock this PDF — please check the password and retry" rather than a specific one, because the underlying engine’s error text is not currently reaching the page.
Common Unlock PDF questions
Do I need the password to unlock a PDF?
It depends which kind of protection is on it. If the document asks for a password when you open it, then yes — that password encrypts the content and nothing can read it without one. If the file opens normally but blocks printing or copying, that is a permissions password, and you can remove those restrictions with the password box left empty.
Can Pixpoo recover a password I have forgotten?
No. There is no password recovery here and no attempt to guess. An encrypted PDF without its password is unreadable to Pixpoo exactly as it is to any other reader — in testing, a blank password and a wrong password were both refused and produced nothing. If it is a document you created, check wherever you stored the password originally; if someone sent it, ask them.
Does unlocking change the document?
Almost nothing changes apart from the encryption coming off. We compared a five-page test document before and after: the embedded fonts and images were unchanged and the pages rendered pixel for pixel the same. The page content streams are preserved byte for byte rather than being rebuilt, while qpdf writes a new unencrypted PDF container around them — which is why the saved file is a slightly different size even though nothing on the page has moved. Unusually for a PDF operation, the bookmarks and the document properties survive as well, and links keep working, including internal ones that jump to another page.
Is it legal to remove a password from a PDF?
That depends on the document and where you are, and it is not something we can answer for your situation. The sound principle is that removing protection is fine on a file that is yours or one you have been authorised to open — a statement addressed to you, a document you encrypted yourself — and not fine on someone else’s confidential file. If you are unsure, ask whoever the document belongs to.
Why does my file say "protected" instead of showing a page count?
Because it could not be opened for inspection, which tells you it has an open password rather than just restrictions. It is a useful signal: a file saying "protected" will need the password typed in, while one showing a page count opens freely — either because it carries only permission restrictions, or because it was never protected at all. The card cannot tell those two apart, so if a file opens normally but will not print or copy, run it through with the password box left empty.
Can I unlock several files that share a password?
Yes — tick "Remember password for this session" and the password stays in the box as you load each new file. It is kept in the page’s memory only, so closing the tab clears it, and it is worth leaving off on a computer other people use.
Is the unlocked file safe to share?
Treat it as completely open, because it is. Everything the password was protecting is now readable by anyone who receives the file. If the content is still sensitive, keep the unlocked copy somewhere private and send the protected original instead — or use Protect PDF to apply a new password once you have finished whatever needed the file unlocked.
Is the Unlock PDF tool free?
Yes. Unlock PDF with Pixpoo is completely free — no sign-up, no watermark, no usage limits and no paid plan. It runs entirely in your browser, so there is nothing for us to meter.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. When you use Unlock PDF, your files are processed in your browser and are not sent to Pixpoo’s servers — Pixpoo does not upload or store them.
Related tools: Protect PDF. All PDF tools →