Protect and unlock PDFs
A PDF sent by email passes through more hands than most people expect. Protect encrypts the document with a password, so the contents stay unreadable to anyone who intercepts the file or receives it by mistake — the sensible default for contracts, payslips and medical records. Unlock does the opposite for documents you already have the right to open: it removes the password so you can work with the file normally, which is often needed for statements that arrive protected by a bank and then have to be archived or forwarded internally.
Tools in this category
Frequently asked questions
How strong is the protection?
The document is encrypted with the standard PDF encryption supported by every mainstream reader. As always, the real strength is the password you choose — a short or reused one undoes the encryption's value.
What if I forget the password?
There is no way to recover it, by design. Unlock requires the correct password; it is a convenience for documents you can already open, not a way to break into a file.
Can I remove a password from any PDF?
Only from documents you are authorised to access and whose password you have. Removing protection from someone else's confidential file is not something these tools are meant for.
Is my password sent to your server?
These two tools run on the server, so the file and password are processed there and both are deleted immediately after the job completes. Nothing is stored or logged.