How to Open Password Protected PDF File without Password
Have you ever come across a PDF which is password protected? Are you unable to open it or edit it in case it opens up? Are you looking for a suitable program or software which can open a password protected from PDF or recover it if lost?
Practically speaking, for an individual like me who loves to read, running into a locked PDF again and again is very irritating. If the PDF file is small in size, it is not that a big deal. You can manually copy the documents, but if it is voluminous, then relying on a software to decrypt it is the only viable option. Before we begin with the guiding software, you need to be familiar with the types of password PDF files are encrypted with.
Owner and Open Password:
With Owner/ Permission password encryption, you are allowed to view the document, but cannot do any modification, or print the PDF. But with Open Password restriction the PDF file will not even open. So you see, it’s a dead serious issue and cannot be taken for granted for too long. Here this page will talk about how to unlock a password protected PDF file without password.
Method 1. Unlock Password Protected PDF Onilne
In fact, there are lots of online websites claiming that they’re able to remove password from PDF file, some even can works with PDF open password. The result turns out that it was not a bad attempt, I’ve successfully removed owner password from my PDF file using smallpdf. This unlocking service is totally free of cost, and you can use it for many times without restriction.
Step 1. Open the sites by typing the URL in any browser.
Step 2. Click the PDF file or directly drag PDF to the screen.
Step 3. After the PDF file is loaded, agree their the agreement and click Unlock button to remove password from PDF file.
Step 4. Click the download button to get your new PDF file without password.
Cons: Your PDF will be processed in their server and not sure if the PDF will be deleted or saved after the password is removed, so, I think it’s unsafe for you to unload your important PDF online.
Method 2. Unlock Password Protected PDF file with Dr.PDF
In case you are not fully satisfied with the PDF Password Remover online service, there is another one to try out. The software name is Dr.PDF. In our test, Dr.PDF provides two main functions: Recover PDF owner password and Remove PDF permission password , it works with a standard password protected PDF file, including 40-bit RC4 ecryption, 128-bit RC4 decryption and 256-bit AES decryption, but it can’t remove DRM or third part plug-in. After the password is removed successfully, you can easily handle PDF file for copying, editing, printing & extracting.
Function 1: Remove PDF Open Password
Step 1. Download and install Dr.PDF. Launch the tool and from the main tool interface screen. Click on the “Remove Owner Password from PDF” if you own an owner password encrypted PDF file.
Step 3. From the next tool’s operating Window click on the “Add file” button from the upper left corner to locate and load the necessary file. Mention the source folder to store the output file. To do this, check the output source folder checkbox below.
Step 4. When you are done, click on the “Start” button from the bottom right corner and the password removal process will begin instantly.
Function 2: Recover PDF Open Password
Step 5. From the first home screen, click on “Recover Open Password from PDF” option if the file has Open password encryption.
Step 6. When the next Windows turns up, choose any particular attack type as mentioned previously in the feature list. Within the attack type option Window, provide Character Range, and Character Length. Click on “Ok” button to go back to the previous screen.
GPU acceleration can actually improve CPU performance significantly, it acn improve the password cracking speed 10X faster. You can open it by clicking Settings.
Step 7. Provide the output file path from the option below and click “Start” when you are ready. The cracked password will be shown on a pop up Window. But the process may take longer time than you can expect.
And that’s it… You can download the Dr.PDF here>>>
Method 3. Unlock a Password Protected PDF File using PDFcrack
PDFCrack is anther free tool that can be used to unlock PDF file on Mac, Windows and Linux, it’s a GNU/Linux command link tool without no User graphical interface, it unlocks PDF files by using dictionary based on brute force attacks. It also supports cracking bother open password and owner password from PDF file. You can download rockme.txt or directly generate word list by using crunch word list generator, then put the word list into the application to crack PDF password, but it takes much longer!
Step 1. On your Windows computer, open the command prompt window then type the command:
cd c:/pdfcrack
Step 2. Assuming your PDF file is filename.pdf, type the command:
pdfcrack -f filename.pdf.
This option will try all alphanumeric passwords from one character to infinite characters, so it’s time-consuming.
Step 3. If you happen to know the minimum or maximum number of characters in the password, you can use -n (minimum) or -m (maximum). The syntax is:
pdfcrack -f filename.pdf -n 8
Or
pdfcrack -f filename.pdf -m 12
Once the password is found, it will be displayed in the screen.
Method 4. Remove Password Protection from PDF using Chrome
You may no know that Google chrome can be used to remove password protection from a PDF file, all you need is either a PC or a Mac with the Google Chrome browser installed, but this way only works with PDF permission password not the open password.
Step 1. Open your Chrome browser then drag the your locked PDF file to it,
Step 2. If your PDF has the open password then you will be asked to enter the password to unlock it for next step.
Step 3. Now, you need to press the Ctrl+P or directly click the Print button which is present in the top-right corner. For Mac users this will be, Command + P.
Step 4. Set the Destination as Save as PDF and click on Save.
Step 5. After you clicking the save button, your PDF will be saved locally on your computer and the permission has been removed in background.
Method 5. Remove PDF Passwrod using Google Drive
If you have a Google Drive account then you will also be able to remove password protection from a PDF file, no other software is required, as the Google Drive has both the built-in PDF Reader and PDF Writer features, which can remove PDF password in the process of saving it to desktop.
Step 1. Login in your Google drive with your account and password.
Step 2. In the left part, click New button and select the File Upload in the menu, then browse your PDF and upload it to your drive.
Step 3. Click the settings in the upper right corner of the screen, and check the check the “Convert the uploaded file to Google Docs Editor format”.
Step 4. Right click the uploaded the PDF file and select the “Open with” — “Google Docs”.
Step 5. You should see your PDF will be opened in the Google docs without password, now you can also download it to your desktop by selecting the option “Download as Microsoft Word” under the File.
End:
If you wish to open a password protected PDF file without password, I would suggest users to go through the difference of the ways first before they decide on which one to hook up. It will save your time, if you are prepared in your mind as to which one is a more suitable ally. In my personal opinion, iSeePassword Dr.PDF will do better performance than methods, in case you are looking for a guaranteed output and a reliable software.
