Locked PDFs: Why Do They Have Passwords?

As far as most of us know, the portable document format, short for PDF, allows preservation of formatting, ease of sharing, and many other features. That’s why people opt to convert or render their files to PDF, especially before sharing or archiving them. However, they are skeptical about whether their work will get leaked once they share their documents. 

One solution that many people found is to set a password for the PDFs. Like how you cannot connect to Wi-Fi without knowing the key, the same goes for locked PDFs. It provides a layer of protection against unauthorized access.  Let’s discuss more information about PDF passwords – their types, what they can do, and how you can remove them with PDF unlock tools!

What are PDF passwords?

As we’ve said earlier, PDF passwords essentially provide a “locked door” where you need to insert an appropriate “key.” You can password protect your files using third-party software that you can find online. If you do this, other people who don’t have the key cannot open the PDF you encrypted with a password. Remember to select whom you’ll share your password with carefully!

Types of PDF passwords

For instance, you locked your phone with PIN-type security. But, most likely, you had other password-type options like biometrics, passphrase, and many more. The same holds true for PDF passwords as well. Though the types are not as numerous as that of a smartphone, you certainly have options for PDF encryption types.

The two types are owner-passwords and user-passwords. User-password, as the word user implies, is the type that allows the authorized person to view and access the file. Meanwhile, owner-passwords provide more control regarding what other people can do with your PDF. For example, as the owner, you can restrict editing, copying, printing, and many more possible actions.

Are PDF passwords really secure?

Certainly, yes. As long as unauthorized people don’t know the password, literally almost no one can open the said file. That’s why it’s no wonder people opt to password-protect their PDFs. It’s best to set up a preventive measure if ever. But, of course, you also need to be careful in sharing the passkey. After all, people are the ones who move and leak the information, and not the file itself. 

Have you experienced having locked PDFs?

If you’ve got locked PDFs, it’s relatively easy to open them as long as you know the key. It can be tricky, though, if you forget it. Most web browsers are equipped to open portable document format files – some computers set them as default. So, all you need to do is click your file, open them in your browser, enter the password, and view the content!

Removing PDF passwords

Though it’s pretty easy to type the password when prompted while opening the file, it can be pretty annoying to do it over and over again. It can also interfere with your work, in case you need to make changes to the file. Luckily, you can remove your PDF passwords just like how you can encrypt them!

Oops! First, you have to know that you don’t need to download any software application to do this. Many people hate having to go through many complicated processes. Don’t worry! As technology constantly advances, removing passwords from PDFs is made easy. You just got to go online, open your browser and search for a PDF unlocker.

Popular choice: PDFBear’s Unlock PDF Tool

Talking about tools you can use to remove PDF passwords, PDFBear is undoubtedly one of the best out there. A few reasons are that PDFBear assures its users of their guaranteed privacy and accessibility. But, more importantly, it’s a quick and secure web-based service that removes your PDF’s password on the cloud. 

One reason why you searched for a PDF unlocker is probably that you’re clueless on how to handle it properly. It’s absolutely fine, as not all people are indeed tech-savvy. The most likely thing you would do is to look it up on Google. Here on PDFBear, the steps to remove your PDFs’ passwords are made simple. Follow the guide below, and you’re done!

1. Go to PDFBear.
2. Select your file from your storage and upload it.
3. Input the password once the website prompts you.
4. Click Unlock PDF.
5. Wait for PDFBear to finish removing your password.
6. Download it, and you now have your decrypted PDF copy!

Final Say

We venture online frequently, especially now that sharing files through online storage, emails, and sharing apps are the norm. As a result, security is always a significant concern of many. It’s evident, given how people set password encryption for their PDF files. So it won’t be a surprise if you, yourself, encrypt your PDFs. 

You can easily open locked files through your browser – just type in the password when you receive the prompt. But, if you want to permanently remove the password to make it more accessible for you, just go to PDFBear and unlock your PDF!