Portable Document Formats (PDFs) are everywhere, it’s the preferred format for e-brochures and e-books these days and everybody is using it. PDFs are convenient in the fact that almost all devices these days are able to read those files out of the box and without the need for elaborate and expensive software.
PDFs allow for secure encryption of content, which means you can lock the content and prevent people from viewing it by protecting it with a password. Every time you open the PDF file afterward, you will need to enter the password to access the content in it.
If you come across a PDF file, that is encrypted with a password as mentioned and you need to remove the password that is in a way “Unlock” it, then there are free tools online which will let you do the same. Many such tools will be able to crack simple passwords, however, you will need to enter the actual password for others in order for the tool to remove it and let you download the file.
We introduce one such online tool here and talk about its functioning and how to unlock your PDF file using this tool. Afterward, we also cite another tool, which you may use for the same task as a bonus. Both of these work pretty much in the same fashion.
1. SmallPDF to Unlock PDF Password
The first tool we introduce is “SmallPDF”. To use this follow the below guidelines:
- Go to SmallPDF address and click on “Choose file”.
- Choose your locked PDF file using the file explorer pop up and click “select”. The website will prompt you to enter the password.
- Enter the password and you shall receive a link to the unlocked file within seconds of this.
- Click “Download” and you will be able to download the file to your PC.
2. ILOVEPDF to unlock PDF Password
BONUS: “ilovepdf.com” is also a similar website, like SmallPDF, unlike the latter, this one doesn’t offer as many tools and options. It is simpler to use for PDF unlocking than SmallPDF.
Thank you, these posts helped me in unlocking the PDF files which I forgot the password.