How to Remove Passwords From PDF Files

Adding password to PDF files makes it secure and prevents any unauthorized access. Many organizations like national banks send the monthly statements in the form of password protected PDF files to your registered email account. If you want to save them for later reading, you need to enter the password every time you re-open the locked PDF file. It is better you disable the password lock from the PDF file before saving and avoid putting the password again-and-again. Here is how to remove passwords from PDF files.

Removing Password From PDF Files with Google Chrome

If you’re using Google Chrome browser at your Windows or Mac, you can use it to remove password protection from a PDF file – no other software is required. The Google Chrome browser has both the built-in PDF Reader and PDF Writer features. Combining those two features we can easily remove any password from the PDF documents. Here is how to do it.

• Open the PDF file with your Chrome browser (simply drag the file into Chrome). If you do not have any password protected PDF file at this time, you can use this sample PDF file – the password is “oxhow” without the quotes.
• It will now prompt you to enter the password for the file. Type the password into the box and hit the Enter key. It will open the file in Chrome browser.
• Now, go to File menu of the browser and select the “Print” option (or, press Ctrl + P in Windows or press Cmd + P in Mac). Then click on the “Change” button under the “Destination” section. Select “Save as PDF” as the destination and then press the “Save” button.
  

Now, the file will be saved as PDF file but without password protection. If you re-open the newly saved file, no password will be needed to open it.

If you want to save the password-removed PDF file directly into your Google Drive, you need to enable Google Cloud Print. Once enabled, change the destination as “Save to Google Drive” and then press the ‘Save’ button. This will save the unprotected version of the PDF file directly into your Google Drive account.

Removing PDF Passwords Without Chrome

If you do not have Google Chrome browser in your PC or you do not like to use it, you can download the free Windows application BeCyPDFMetaEdit to remove the password from PDF file.

Launching the program and change the mode to “Complete Rewrite” before opening the file. Once you open the PDF file with this utility, head to the Security tab and set “Security System” to “No encryption” and save the file. You’ve successfully removed the password from the PDF.

Conclusion

If you get plenty of password protected PDF files regularly, we recommend you to remove the password from your PDF files and save them to your Google Drive account as it has already 2-layer security system – there should not be any risk for your documents here.