Instead of Free WiFi

You have a bunch of PDF files on your computer that are protected by a long and complex password. You know the passwords but it still feels inconvenient and boring typing them each time you have to open a PDF file.

Is there a tool available that can remove password protection from PDF files? Someone asked me this question on Twitter the other day and the answer is obviously yes.

Removing Password from a PDF File

There’s a free Windows utility called BeCyPDFMetaEdit that can help you remove passwords from PDF files* but without make any other change to the document. (I am not sure why the developers picked such a complex name for this useful utility).

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Launch the program and it will ask your for the location of the PDF file.

2. Before you select and open the PDF, change the mode to “Complete Rewrite.”

3. Switch to the Security tab and set the “Security System” to “No encryption.” Click the Save button and your PDF will no longer require a password to open.

[*] If you would like to test this tool but do not have a password-protected file, use this sample PDF (the password is labnol).

This puppet can dance….deserves to be properly famous.