How to Remove a Password from a PDF on Mac

Removing a password makes sense when the file is yours, you know the password, and the protection now gets in the way.

Typical cases are archiving monthly statements, sending documents to someone who shouldn't need your password, and preparing files for other tools. File Acture's merge, split and compress tools won't open a PDF that needs a password, so you unlock it first. Keep the password on files that stay sensitive: an unlocked copy is readable by anyone who gets it.

Preview can drop the password once you've opened the PDF with it. Open the file, enter the password, choose File > Edit Permissions, deselect Require Password To Open Document and click Apply.

Preview saves that change into the file you opened, so the protected version is gone unless you duplicate it first with File > Duplicate. It also works on one file at a time, which adds up quickly with a year of statements.

A PDF can have two passwords: one you need to open it, and one that only guards permissions such as printing, copying and editing.

A file with just a permissions password opens for anyone but may refuse to print or let you copy its text. File Acture's Unlock PDF asks for a password either way, so for such a file you type the permissions password. The unlocked copy then has no password and no restrictions left.

File Acture's Unlock PDF takes the password you type and saves a copy of each PDF with the encryption and all restrictions removed.

Add as many PDFs as share the password, type it once in Password and click Unlock. A file that uses a different password stops with “The password is incorrect.” while the rest are unlocked, and each copy is saved with “-unlocked” in its name. The originals stay locked, so you keep the protected version as well.

The unlocked copy opens without a password and prints and copies normally. From there you can merge it with other statements or compress it to a target size for an upload.

Batch unlocking pays off when the same bank or employer uses one password for every document.

Put the statements in one folder, drag them all into Unlock PDF, type the password once and click Unlock. If a few files came with a different password, they're marked with the error, and you run just those again with the other password. Then merge the unlocked copies into a single yearly PDF and, if it has to go somewhere private, protect that one file with a new password.

File Acture can't remove a password you don't know, and it doesn't try to guess one. Neither does Preview.

Ask the sender, or check the message that came with the file: it may explain which details make up the password. If you only need to read the document once, the sender can also send it again without protection.

Unlocking online means sending both the file and its password to someone else's server, which is the opposite of what the password was for. File Acture unlocks on your Mac, and neither the file nor the password leaves it.

The free version includes 3 runs of up to 5 PDFs on each Mac; see pricing for Pro. If you need to share the document safely later, add a new AES-256 password.