How to Remove Password from PDF Without Password: Easy Guide

If you have opened a password-protected PDF file you need to access it right away, but you can’t remember the password or even do not have one. What should you do? Don’t worry. There are lots of people who are in the same situation. Many people have faced this issue, especially when dealing with sensitive documents that have password protection.

In this article, you will get to know how to remove passwords from PDF without password. No matter if it’s a forgotten password or a file you received without credentials, you can find a solution here.

There are a few people who know that Google Drive is also a PDF editor. The first method you can try to solve how to remove password protection from PDF without password is by using Google Drive. This method is compatible with various platforms, no matter you’re using a Windows or Mac computer. Before starting to try this method, you should also know that there could be some limitations, such as file size restrictions and requirement of a stable internet connection.

Now, you can follow this step-by-step guide to check how to open password protected PDF file without password using Google Drive.

Step 1. Visit the Google Drive website and sign in with your account.

Step 2. Click the “+New” icon on the top left side of the Google Drive web page, then click “File Upload” to upload the password-protected PDF file.

Step 3. Then double-click to open the uploaded file. Your PDF file will mean to be displayed in Google Drive’s built-in document viewer. But since you don’t have the password, you still won’t be able to view the contents at this stage.

Step 4. Now, find and click the printer icon at the top right corner.

Step 5. In the print menu, click on the "Change" button to modify the printer destination. Choose "Save as PDF" from the list of available printers.

Step 6. At last, save the PDF file to your desired location. This new PDF file will have the password protection removed. And you can access the content freely.

Removing password protection from a PDF without knowing the password can be a challenging task. However, you can also try to use Adobe to help. Adobe is one of the most famous PDF management tools in the world. If you have downloaded this software to your computer before, follow the guide here to see how to remove password from PDF without knowing the password with Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.

Step 1. Open the PDF file you want to remove the password protection from in Adobe.

Step 2. Select the File menu and then choose Print. Make sure the “Adobe PDF” or a similar option is selected as the printer.

Step 3. Choose the location where you want to save the new PDF file, and then click Save.

Now you are getting a new PDF file without passwords. By using the print-to-PDF feature in Adobe Acrobat, you can successfully remove the previous password. However, you should also notice that the quality of the output file may be slightly degraded compared to the original PDF.

The above two methods are teaching you how to remove password from PDF without password by selecting the PDF to print and then saving the file again. Another method here is showing you how to remove password from PDF without permissions password by converting.

Step 1. Launch Microsoft Word and click File > Open.

Step 2. Choose the password-protected PDF file and then open it in Microsoft Word.

Step 3. A dialog box will appear, prompting you to the operation that will change the file format. Just click "OK."

Step 4. Microsoft Word will now attempt to convert the PDF to a Word document. This process may take some time, depending on the size and complexity of the PDF.

These are all the steps of how to remove password protection from PDF after opening in Microsoft. You should also know the pros and cons of this method:

Pros:

• No need for additional software.

• Simple and does not require technical knowledge.

Cons:

• May not work if the PDF has strong encryption or advanced security features.

• The formatting of the converted document might not be perfect, requiring manual adjustments.

With the above three methods, you can remove the password from PDF files. However, there are also circumstances that you need to add the password to the PDF document again. For example, suppose your PDF file contains personal information or confidential business details. In that case, even though you managed to remove password protection from the PDF, encrypting the file with a more memorable password again is still recommended. 

To add a password to a PDF document, the best free PDF tool you can trust is iTop PDF. The reason why recommended iTop PDF here is that it is not only a free PDF editor but also provides users with various practical features such as add watermark to PDF, split PDF file into pages, make the PDF file editable, and delete pages from PDF.

More features of iTop PDF include:

• Totally free to add password to PDF: There are many freemium PDF managers that claim to be free on their product pages. But once you added a password to your file and want to save it, it requires a payment. However, you can completely rely on iTop PDF. It is totally free for you to add a password to PDF.

• Support setting super complicated passwords: Another advanced feature of iTop PDF is it supports creating complex passwords, which helps increase the security level of your protected PDF files. 

• Easy and lightweight for new users to lock PDF: The intuitive interface of iTop PDF makes it easy for new users to navigate and lock their PDF files without any hassle. You don’t need to be tech-savvy to set a password to a PDF file.

• Pro PDF Protection and Editing Features: Apart from password protection, iTop PDF offers professional features to edit and further protect your PDF files. You can edit, comment, split, delete, and compress PDF without losing quality. Furthermore, there is also an online tool of iTop PDF to enable users to edit and compress PDF online.

To add a password to your PDF file using iTop PDF, follow these steps:

Step 1. Download and install iTop PDF on your computer.

What makes iTop PDF a must-have software?

• Edit PDF smoothly without hassle
• Convert PDF to any format in high quality
• Split and Merge PDF files easily and quickly
• Add e-signature effortlessly to your PDF

Free Download

Step 2. Click “Open PDF” to open the PDF you want to add a password to.

Step 3. Navigate to Protect tab, click Encrypt, and set a password to your PDF file.

The Bottom Line

How to remove password from PDF without password used to be a difficult problem. After reading this article, you will know three proven solutions that can remove the password from PDF without password. What’s more, if you want to set a new password again to protect the document, you can download and use iTop PDF to add a password to your PDF file for free.

What makes iTop PDF a must-have software?

• Edit PDF smoothly without hassle
• Convert PDF to any format in high quality
• Split and Merge PDF files easily and quickly
• Add e-signature effortlessly to your PDF

Free Download