3 Ways to Edit Protected PDF (without Password, Use Chrome)

PDF file, as we know, is hard to edit without the professional PDF editor, and if you want to edit protected PDF, it becomes more challenging. Some people add an owner password to protect their PDF from editing and printing. To edit a protected PDF, you will need to you unlock the PDF first, then edit the file with a PDF Editor.

Here in this guide, we will look at 3 ways to edit a secured PDF even without password, or using Chrome to edit the locked PDF online free.

 Cisdem Password Remover

Open, Copy, Print Secured PDF with Ease

• Instantly remove copying & printing restrictions from PDF
• Remove open password with password, or decrypt without password
• Batch unlock PDFs
• Easy and fast to use
• Available for both macOS and Windows

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How to Edit Protected PDF without Password?

It is super easy to edit a locked PDF if you know the password, just open the PDF and input the password for editing. So, in most cases, we have to edit a protected PDF without the password. There are multiple solutions to edit a protected PDF without password, but the best and quickest one is using a professional PDF Password Remover to unlock the PDF file first, then edit with your installed PDF editor.

There are abundant PDF unlockers available, but Cisdem PDF Password Remover, which is available on macOS and Windows, is on the top of the list. It is a great PDF unlocker designed to remove unknown and known  passwords from encrypted PDF files, no matter it is open password or user password protected. For PDFs with owner password, you just need to start the Remove process and get a unsecured PDF; for PDFs with user password, you will have to decrypt the file.

Steps to edit protected PDF without password

1. Download and install Cisdem PDF Password Remover on your Mac or Windows.
   Free Download   Free Download
2. Drag and drop all protected PDFs to the program.
3. Unlock protected PDF.
   If your file is only secured with the owner password, you can directly click Remove to unlock it, if there is an unknown user password, you need to click Forgot and decrypt the file without password first, then click Remove to unlock it.
4. Edit the PDF with your installed PDF editor.

Tip:

To decrypt PDF file without password as fast as possible, you can use the decryption settings to provide clues about the original password.

How to Edit Secured PDF without Password Using Chrome?

To edit secured PDF online free, Google Chrome is a good option, but you must know the password. If you want to edit secured PDF without password using Chrome, you have to to unlock the PDF first, then add the unlocked PDF to Chrome tab and fill in the editable fields. There are web-based tools in your Google Chrome allows users to remove editing security from PDF, Smallpdf is one of the best.

Smallpdf offers rich features to handle PDF files, besides unlock PDFs, smallpdf helps users to compress, convert, scan, split, merge, edit, create, sign and protect PDFs. Smallpdf unlocker is easy to use, but you can have only 2 free tasks per day. Here is another disadvantage of smallpdf unlocker, it can not unlock PDFs with unknown user password.

Steps to edit secured PDF without password in Google Chrome

1. Go to smallpdf unlock pdf.
2. Upload the secured PDF and tick before the pinky swear, click on UNLOCK PDF.
3. Then download the unsecured PDF and open in Google Chrome, edit the PDF as you want. 

If you want to edit PDF for free, following are the recommended best free PDF editor that you can use in Google Chrome:

• PDFescape
• PDF Filler
• PDF Buddy

Also, there are professional PDF Editors for your choice:

• PDFMaster for Mac
• Nuance PDF Editor for Mac
• Foxit PDF Editor for Windows
• Nitro Pro for Windows

Can I Use Adobe Acrobat to Edit Protected PDF?

If you have installed Adobe Acrobat, you can absolutely edit a PDF file. But when talking about editing a protected PDF with Adobe Acrobat, this only happens when you know the PDF owner password. With a known PDF owner password, you will be able to remove the owner permissions, finally capable of editing the protected PDF in Acrobat.

1. Open the protected PDF in Adobe.
2. Go to Tools>Protect>Encrypt and choose Remove Security, enter the editing password to unlock the PDF.
3. Now, you will be able to edit the secured PDF in Adobe.

Conclusion

Surely, there are many options to edit a protected PDF, as long as you install a PDF editor with unlock feature, which often comes with a high price tag. But if you want to edit a secured PDF without password, you can have a professional PDF password remover to remove the security first, both Cisdem PDF Password Remover and Smallpdf Online are worth a try, then use online PDF editor to edit the PDF for free.