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I have a couple of ebooks as PDFs with passwords, however my ebook reader (sony prs600) doesn't seem to support PDFs with passwords. What is the easiest of removing the password from a PDF (I know the password, which presumably helps a lot). It's a bit annoying buying a book and then only being able to read it in front of a computer.
Alister
Posted 2009-12-21T22:08:11.110
Reputation: 647
8
With A-PDF Restrictions Remover, you can remove the password and other restrictions in a few seconds.
A-PDF Restrictions Remover is shareware ($10), try before you buy.
The trial version of this worked perfectly - I think I'll be registering ;-) – Alister – 2010-02-17T01:12:29.873
@Alister - if you work a lot with protected PDFs, it's well worth it :) – None – 2010-02-17T12:48:06.937
-1 Why pay, when there are free solutions available? – Sun – 2016-08-22T15:11:26.717
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https://mupdf.com/downloads/index.html
I tried the Win32 pdfclean binary for MuPDF 0.5: https://mupdf.com/downloads/archive/mupdf-0.5-win32.zip
I was able to remove the password without having to know the source password.
pdfclean clean protected.pdf pdfwithnopassword.pdf
MuPDF, available for at least Windows and macOS (via Homebrew) has a free command line tool called mutool.
I personally used it to remove the password on my American Express statement and merge all my separate PDF statements into one giant PDF.
The command line is:
mutool clean protected.pdf pdfnopassword.pdf
Sun
Posted 2009-12-21T22:08:11.110
Reputation: 5 198
1I found this the easiest. You don't need to install anything. No trial version. No nagging to buy something. It just works. – Gabriel Luci – 2017-12-27T20:40:19.057
3In 2017 this is an excellent free option. mupdf is available for OSX users via Homebrew as well. – Paul Wenzel – 2018-01-22T15:14:11.603
1
This didn't work for me on the latest (1.14.0) version of mutool, the output file was still password protected. I then tried with an earlier version (1.3) and it stripped the password out, but I had to supply the password for the original. So ended up with mutool.exe clean -p "myPassword" protected.pdf I found 1.3 here
2
As of version 1.15.0 (which can be downloaded from here), password protection can be removed (assuming the password is available) with: mutool clean -p "myPassword" -D protected.pdf pdfnopassword.pdf. The -D flag is not currently documented, but was added in commit 60b13ad. @Matt
My comment wasn't to criticize your answer (I didn't down-vote it), but to bring new information, and was somewhat in response to Matt's comment. – Tamir Evan – 2019-05-26T01:36:18.983
@TamirEvan@Matt Thanks, I didn't take it as a criticism. Its my fault for not including the version number. MUPDF 0.5 and tried pdfclean and it removed password without entering the password. I tried https://mupdf.com/downloads/archive/mupdf-0.5-win32.zip
– Sun – 2019-05-27T15:42:46.89313
You can try Easy Pdf Password Remover Free. Other alternatives are:
If none of the above worked for you, have a look at this page: 7 easy ways to unlock a PDF file.
NOTE: If you have Adobe Acrobat (not the free Acrobat Reader), you can remove the passwords from File > Document Security > Security Options by selecting No Security.
Mehper C. Palavuzlar
Posted 2009-12-21T22:08:11.110
Reputation: 51 093
1
I found that http://www.pdfunlock.com/ (from the 7 easy ways to unlock a PDF file) works pretty good, however it was sloooooooow.
– Alister – 2010-02-24T07:58:06.437After a lot of searching, this one worked me. http://blog.rubypdf.com/pdfcrack/
– bastos.sergio – 2019-04-12T10:30:20.3331PDF Unlocker worked like a charm! – Frankie – 2011-07-10T23:00:43.360
1The Easy Pdf Password Remover Free only allows for passwords of 3 characters, and you can't specify a password. I couldn't get PDF Password Remover or Unlocker to work - they are both the same tool based on ghostscript or something. – Alister – 2009-12-21T23:03:34.883
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If you have access to a Mac (and Preview.app), you can try "File", "Print", "Save as PDF" or "File", "Save as" a PDF document.
This has removed the password on some documents for me. I don't know if these tips are applicable to Adobe Reader.
Daniel Beck
Posted 2009-12-21T22:08:11.110
Reputation: 98 421
1For Linux users I suggest they do this using Okular rather than Evince. Okular maintained text information in the process, while Evince failed to maintain that, or page orientation. – badp – 2012-05-06T18:11:51.060
This doesn't work anymore. – Tyilo – 2012-08-15T15:10:30.237
@Tyilo It does, for any Mac running 10.7 or earlier. It didn't stop working, you just upgraded to a newer software version since this answer was posted. On Mountain Lion, try Preview's File » Save…, File » Duplicate or File » Export…. – Daniel Beck – 2012-08-15T15:13:41.107
File > Save, exports the file with all pages blank and the other two options, requires me to type the "owner" password although I only know the "user" password. – Tyilo – 2012-08-15T15:19:10.527
@Tyilo Please note that the question states the password (presumably owner password) is known. You don't know it, so this question — and therefore my answer — just don't apply to your situation. – Daniel Beck – 2012-08-15T16:33:17.307
Fair enough.... – Tyilo – 2012-08-15T17:29:09.183
Don't have a mac, but thanks. – Alister – 2010-01-05T01:01:51.043
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You can use SysTools PDF Unlocker:
It allowed me to remove the security on a password-protected document (for which I knew the password) certified by Adobe EchoSign e-signature service, whereas Adobe Acrobate Pro XI wouldn't let me do it:
You cannot change security on this document because the document is signed or certified.
Trying to print the document also wasn't working:
%%[ ProductName: Distiller ]%%
This PostScript file was created from an encrypted PDF file.
Redistilling encrypted PDF is not permitted.
%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%
Franck Dernoncourt
Posted 2009-12-21T22:08:11.110
Reputation: 13 518
What did you finally use to remove the password? I was in similar situation except I forgot the permission password I used to protect my PDF's. Tried some of the solutions mentioned here but I couldn't remove the password. Somehow I managed to remove the password and the restrictions only from FEW PDF's by following the tips mentioned in this guide: http://www.techbii.com/remove-pdf-password-restriction/
– Sairana – 2017-02-21T12:15:04.070