We add password to a PDF to protect our privacy, especially for those highly confidential documents, like a PDF bank statement, a PDF password is necessary. But if we don’t take a note, we may easily forget the PDF passwords. Or you have a password encrypted PDF that was created by your former colleague and don’t know the password…In these cases, you will need to remove password from PDF.
Here in this tutorial, we will show you 4 best ways to remove password from PDF on mac with or without password, no matter the PDF is owner password encrypted or user password protected.
Cisdem Password Remover
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Free DownloadIn most cases, we just forget, even don’t know (but have legal access to) the PDF password and hope to remove PDF password protection without password. Then a professional PDF password remover for mac will be needed to remove the unknown password.
There are numerous apps available to remove protected PDF password, but Cisdem PDF Password Remover is the one on the top of my list. It is not only designed to helps users directly remove the password and restrictions from an user-password encrypted without input the password, but also enables users to unlock PDF on mac even when they forgot the user password. In other words, no matter your PDF file is added with an owner password or user password, Cisdem PDF password Remover, with its intuitive interface and versatile function, will be your professional assistant in this field.
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Also you can refer to following YouTube video tutorial:
When working on a Mac, Preview can be deemed as the best free PDF Password Remover for mac. With several clicks, you will get the PDF password protection removed instantly. But it can only remove known password from a encrypted PDF.
Speaking of PDF, Adobe always comes first into our mind, for the reason that PDF was a proprietary format controlled by Adobe and later officially released as an open standard. So, Adobe Acrobat, as a matter of course, is a good PDF password remover for mac users to get protected files unlocked. However, like Preview, it can remove known password from a PDF only.
In our first solution to remove password protection from PDF on mac, we recommend our users to turn to the program Cisdem PDF Password Remover because it is really the one performs outstandingly in this field. Of course, there are 3 alternative PDF password removers for mac.
iPubsoft PDF Password Remover for mac has served to remove pdf password protection since 2009, it is both available for Mac and Windows version. The program is designed to remove owner password directly without entering the password, also to remove user password only if you can enter the correct user password.
But the greatest problem of iPubsoft PDF Password Remover for Mac lies in its discontinued upgrade, the latest release was on 08/13/2012, users who are using MacOS 10.10 or newer will have problems to use even launch the program.
iStonsoft PDF Password Remover nearly shares everything in common with iPubsoft PDF Password Remover, in terms of UI, features and process. It also offers Mac and Windows versions and the latest Mac version only supports MacOS 10.12 or earlier.
Still, it can remove owner password protection directly, but require the user password to remove the user password protection, without the corrent user password, you won’t be able to unlock the PDF.
With a neat and stylish interface, Wondershare PDF Password Remover allows users to do the password removal in a quite easy way. It supports to remove owner password directly, but still requires entering the correct password to remove the protection from an user password.
It is both available for Mac and Windows platform. Yet, same problem like other pdf password remover, the latest mac version is for MacOS 10.12 and earlier.
To have a closer look at the difference between these 3 alternatives and Cisdem PDF Password Remover for Mac, please refer to following table:
| Supported MacOS | Remove Owner PW Directly | Remove Known User PW | Remove Forgotten User PW | Unlock Speed | Batch Support | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cisdem PDF Password Remover | MacOS Ventura and earlier | Yes | Yes | Yes | Fast | Yes |
| Wondershare PDF Password Remover | MacOS 10.12 or earlier | Yes | Yes | No | Fast | Yes |
| iStonsoft PDF Password Remover | MacOS 10.9 or earlier | Yes | Yes | No | Medium | Yes |
| iPubsoft PDF Password Remover | MacOS 10.12 or earlier | Yes | Yes | No | Medium | Yes |
So, as you can see, Cisdem PDF Password Remover for mac is probably the only one that can remove both owner and user password protection, even if you have forgotten the user password, also the one among few to work on the latest MacOS Ventura. That’s no wonder, Cisdem PDF Password is picked as the best PDF Password Remover for Mac by so many users.
Maybe, but you are not recommended to do so.
Actually, I tried the steps on Internet to remove password from PDF with Mac Terminal. It requires you to install qpdf and brew to run the command lines. I installed the both tools, but when running commands, it requires me to install another tool called X-code to run the lines. And then I get repeated error message in Mac Terminal. So, I quit.
Even if you have make the command lines run well, it is far too complicated to remove a password from PDF with Terminal, it is just not necessary to do so.
No, you can not, you have to subscribe Adobe Acrobat to use its Protect tool.
Adobe Acrobat Reader can only open, view, bookmark, print, annotate your PDF files, you can enter PDF password to view or print the file, but you cannot remove the security settings without buying Adobe Acrobat.
There may be more option to remove pdf password protection on a mac, but the most efficient way is always turning to an expert. And for this reason, I recommend you to invest in a third-party app like Cisdem PDF Password Remover for Mac to remove the PDF password.
Megan has an impressive deal of experience with Mac software and has the ability to explain tech stuff in a simplified, straightforward and easy to understand way.
Howard Cotter
I tried online tools at the beginning, but went nowhere. It seems that offline programs are the best way out, they allow to remove both user and permission password.
Andrew
I feel 3rd party ones are better, they are fast to run, good at bringing satisfying results.
Jonny
Come here to say thank you. I manged to remove the password from downloaded web PDF with your tool, it is really great and saved me. Thanks again.
Gina
You mean the app can find back forgotten pw? Oh, that's really cool cuz I got a bad memory here.
Elisa Swift
Thanks for sharing, I tried and it worked, really useful.