Easy Guide: How to Unlock a PDF on Mac Even without Password

"Without the owner password, you do not have permission to create or modify annotations in the document."

"Without the owner password, you do not have permission to copy portions of the document."

"Without the owner password, you do not have permission to insert, delete or rotate pages of the document."

"Without the owner password, you do not have permission to print the document."

"Without the owner password, you do not have permission to save this document."

"Without the owner password, you do not have permission to export this document."

"This document is password protected. Please enter the password below."

Have you even seen anyone of these messages when opening or modifying a PDF in Mac Preview? Much likely, and we are here to show you an easy guide to unlock PDF on Mac, even without password.

 Cisdem PDF Password Remover

1-Click Unlock PDF to View, Modify, Copy, Print PDF, More

• Instantly remove permission restrictions, so users can annotate, modify, copy, print, save or export PDF freely 
• Unlock PDFs to open and view the file
• Allow inputting parameters to reduce decryption time
• Batch unlock PDFs
• Unlock PDFs fast and successfully

Free Download macOS 10.13 or later Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7

What Is the Owner/User Password for PDF on Mac?

We add passwords to PDF files for security enhancement, so our privacy can be protected. 

There are 2 types of PDF password as follows:

PDF Owner password---also named as permission or master password, which specifies the operations that users are prevented from doing in the file. These actions include creating or modifying annotations, copying portions, inserting/deleting/rotating pages, printing, saving or exporting PDF. In other words, without the owner password, you do not have permission to create or modify annotations in the document, to copy portions of the document, to insert, delete or rotate pages of the document, to print, to save, or to export this document.

PDF User password--- also named as open password, which completely encrypts the PDF file and prevents it from opening.

Also, we should know that, unlocking a PDF with owner password is much easier than that with a user password. In most cases, you cannot unlock a PDF if it is protected with a user password that you don’t know or forgot.

How to Unlock PDF on Mac without Password

Most of the time, we protect a PDF and remember the password, but there are still great chances that we get several PDFs with unknown or forgotten PDF password, but actually have legal rights to access to it.

Nevertheless, we have the solution to unlock PDF on Mac under any situation for you, no matter you know or forgot the password, no matter it is an user (open) password or owner (permission) password, by using the best PDF unlocker for Mac 2023.

The Best PDF Unlocker for Mac

Cisdem PDF Password Remover is exclusively designed to help individuals remove any restrictions they might encounter when working with PDF files on a Mac. It can directly remove the owner (permission) password protection from PDF without entering the password, so you can freely copy&paste, print and edit PDF files. Also, it can unlock PDF after a decryption process if the PDF is locked with an unknown-user-password, so you can instantly open and view the PDF file.

#1 Unlock an Owner Password Locked PDF without Password

1. Download and install Cisdem PDF Password Remover on Mac.
   Free Download macOS 10.13 or later
2. Run the program, add owner (permission) password protected PDFs into the program by drag and drop or clicking "Add Files".
3. Select all encrypted PDFs and click Remove to unlock PDF on Mac without entering any password.

#2. Unlock a User Password Locked PDF without Password

1. Download and launch the PDF Password Remover on your Mac.
   Free Download macOS 10.13 or later
2. Import user/open password protected PDF files to the PDF Unlocker for Mac.
3. Click Lock settings icon and choose Forgot? if you want to unlock PDF files without password. If you know the password, just enter it.
4. Tweak the setting below and provide clues to speed up the decryption, click Decrypt to start.
5. After the decryption, click Remove to unlock user password protected PDF files on Mac without password.

Or you can check the YouTube tutorial video to unlock PDF on Mac with Cisdem.

How to Unlock a PDF in Preview

For Mac users, Preview can work as the best free PDF unlocker on Mac to unlock your PDF offline free.

Preview is the free utility to open, view, edit and manage both image and PDF files on Mac. It meets all your basic needs to work on a PDF, including encrypting and unlocking PDFs.

#1 Steps to Unlock Owner Password Protected PDFs in Preview

1. Open the owner password-protected PDF document with Preview.
2. Go to File > Edit Permissions.
3. Input the owner password as required and click Unlock.  
4. Allow specific or all the changes to be made without entering the owner password by ticking the checkbox. Click Apply.

#2 Steps to Unlock User Password Protected PDFs in Preview

1. Open the user/open password protected PDF with Preview.
2. Input the user password as required. Press Enter to unlock the PDF.
3. If you want to unlock the PDF permanently without entering password every time you open the file, go to File > Edit Permissions, leave the User password blank, the original user password will be used as permission password for the file.

Best Free PDF Unlocker for Mac Online

Looking for on online free PDF Unlocker to remove PDF password protection on mac? It is lucky that we have the choice. We recommend iLovePDF. 

This site allows unregistered users to batch unlock password protected PDFs, and it unlocks both user-password protected PDFs and owner-password locked PDFs. However, when unlocking user password locked files, it only works when the password is quite simple, with 3 to 6 digits only. Any password with long password length, special symbols or characters will take forever to decrypt or won’t succeed at all. In this case, you’d better try Cisdem PDF Password Remover.

Steps to Unlock PDF on Mac Free Online

1. Go to iLovePDF Unlock PDF.
2. Upload password protected PDF online.
3. Click "Unlock PDF" to remove restrictions on your PDFs. 
4. Download the unlocked PDFs to your Mac.

Conclusion

As a popular saying goes, every coin has two sides. Online PDF unlocker is often free, but quite feature limited, and involving risks like leakage of sensitive information. While, Cisdem PDF Password Remover provides more features for Mac users. It will be the most professional tool for you to unlock PDFs for editing, copying, priting, etc., and drive your productivity to new heights.