Free Online Protect or Unlock PDF
Add password protection to a PDF or remove a known password.
Upload an unencrypted PDF to begin.
Leave blank to use the user password as the owner password as well.
Permission flags are a courtesy signal. Some PDF readers and third-party tools may not enforce them strictly.
Upload a PDF and choose a password.
Protection uses standard PDF encryption, normalized to PDF 1.7 with AES-128 for compatibility. Keep your password somewhere safe: there is no recovery option, and ImGenerate never receives the password or the file. Strong passwords of 12 or more characters are recommended.
Upload the PDF you want to unlock.
If the document opens without a password, leave this blank and unlock it to create a clean copy.
Upload a protected PDF to begin.
This page does not crack passwords. It asks the PDF renderer to open the document with the password you provide, then rebuilds the visible pages. If the password is wrong, no output is produced.
About the Protect and Unlock PDF Tool
PDF passwords serve two different purposes. A user password is required to open the document at all, while an owner password controls whether the document can be printed, copied, or modified. This tool can add both kinds of protection to an unencrypted PDF, and it can create a password-free copy of a document when you already know its current password. All work is done in your browser.
How protection works
The Protect tab uses standard PDF encryption to require a password before the file opens. You choose the user password, optionally set a separate owner password, and decide which actions remain allowed. The encrypted file is written locally and downloaded directly. The password is never transmitted. There is no way for ImGenerate to recover a forgotten password, so store it in a password manager before you close the page.
How unlocking works
The Unlock tab uses the PDF.js renderer with the password you supply. Once the document is open, each page is rendered to a canvas and placed into a new, unencrypted PDF. This genuinely removes the open password when the password is correct, but it also flattens the content: text is no longer selectable, links and form fields are lost, and the output size may increase. If the password is wrong, the tool reports an error and produces nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Can this tool remove a password I do not know?
No. It does not perform password cracking or exploit weaknesses in PDF encryption. Unlocking requires the current password, and the output is only produced after the renderer successfully opens the document.
Do permissions prevent copying or printing completely?
Permission flags are honored by well-behaved PDF readers, but they are not a strong security boundary. Anyone with the file and suitable software may be able to ignore them. Use a user password when confidentiality matters.
Why is the unlocked PDF larger or less sharp?
Unlocking rasterizes every page at a fixed resolution. Image-heavy pages can become larger, and text is converted to pixels. If you need selectable text, use a dedicated PDF editor with the original password instead.