PDFUnlock

Remove the password from PDFs you can already open, so you never have to type it again. Unlock one file or a whole folder at once, offline, on macOS, Linux and Windows.

Install View on GitHub

Why PDFUnlock?

Stays on your computer

No upload, no web service. Bank statements, payslips and contracts never leave your device.

Whole folders at once

Point it at a directory and every PDF inside is unlocked. You type the password once per folder.

Keeps your originals

Unlocked copies are saved next to the originals with an _unlocked suffix. PDFs without a password are copied unchanged.

Retries on a wrong password

Mistyped it? PDFUnlock asks again, up to three times, before giving up on a file.

Install

Homebrew (macOS)

brew install --cask fadeltd/tap/pdfunlock

Update later with brew upgrade --cask pdfunlock.

Pre-built binaries

Download the archive for your platform from the latest release, extract it, and put pdfunlock somewhere on your PATH. Builds are available for macOS (Apple Silicon, Intel), Linux (x86_64, ARM64) and Windows (x86_64).

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/fadeltd/pdfunlock.git
cd pdfunlock
make build

Usage

PDFUnlock prompts for the password without echoing it to the screen.

One file

# Creates statement_unlocked.pdf
pdfunlock statement.pdf

# Choose the output file
pdfunlock statement.pdf statement-open.pdf
pdfunlock -in statement.pdf -out statement-open.pdf

# The password you have is the owner (permissions) password
pdfunlock statement.pdf --owner

A whole folder

# Unlock every PDF in the folder
pdfunlock ~/Documents/statements
pdfunlock -dir ~/Documents/statements

FAQ

Can it open a PDF if I don't know the password?

No. PDFUnlock doesn't guess or crack passwords. You enter the password once, and it saves a copy of the PDF with the password removed.

Are my PDFs uploaded anywhere?

No. PDFUnlock runs entirely on your computer and never sends files or passwords over the network.

What does --owner do?

PDFs can have a user password (needed to open the file) and an owner password (which controls printing, copying and editing). By default PDFUnlock treats what you type as the user password; pass --owner if you have the owner password instead.

Is it free?

Yes. PDFUnlock is open source under the MIT license.

Which platforms does it run on?

macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Linux (x86_64 and ARM64) and Windows (x86_64).