How to use Unlock PDF

1. Upload a PDF that has permission restrictions (printing, copying, editing disabled).
2. The tool re-saves the file with pdf-lib using ignoreEncryption, which strips owner-password restrictions.
3. Download the rebuilt file. Permission restrictions are removed if the PDF used owner-password-only protection.
4. This does NOT work on PDFs that require a user password to open. If the PDF asks for a password before you can see the content, this tool cannot help.
5. Verify the output opens correctly and content is intact before relying on it.

Tips

• This tool works on PDFs with 'owner passwords' (restrict print/copy/edit) but no 'user password' (restrict opening). Most PDFs from government agencies and corporate tools use owner-password-only.
• If a PDF requires a password to open (user password), you need qpdf with the actual password: qpdf --decrypt --password=PASS input.pdf output.pdf
• PDF permission restrictions are security theater. Any tool that can parse the PDF structure can ignore them. This tool just makes that explicit.
• If quota is reached, wait for month reset or upgrade for unlimited usage.

What this does not protect

• Cannot decrypt PDFs that require a user password to open. The tool has no password input — it simply re-parses and re-saves.
• AES-256 encrypted PDFs with user passwords will fail completely. There is no brute-force or cracking capability.
• Some PDFs with unusual encryption handlers (non-standard, DRM) will fail to load.
• It does not replace legal, compliance, or incident-response workflows.