Convert Secured PDF to Unsecured PDF for Free in 2024

Mark Regan
Published: August 22nd, 2024 • 10 Min Read

If you are from a group of users who needs to convert secured PDF to unsecured normal PDF? Possibly for distributing among users freely, integrating with some other application, or for various PDF file format conversion needs. If yes, then today we will help you to make your work to change protected PDF to unprotected easier. Today through this blog, we will provide a compendium of the best-structured solution to your query.

Before moving towards the actual techniques and their detailed working steps. Initially, let’s discover the type of protected PDF we may encounter during our workflow.

PDF Protection Based on User & Owner Settings

If we talk about secured PDF, there are various PDF protections. However, in broader aspects, it is commonly divided into the following

User Password: – This is a kind of secured PDF document that needs passwords to see the content of the PDF file. Thus, the user needs to enter the password to inspect the content in any PDF-viewing utility.

Owner Password: – The owner password, controls permissions in PDF documents on the user level. Some of the globally used permissions restrictions by user passwords are printing, modifying, copying content, adding comments, form filling, signing, etc.

PDF users often encounter the problem to save secured PDF as unsecured for several reasons. Now, moving forward in this digital column we will uncover some of the requirements to do so based on different use cases.

Common Objectives to Convert Secured PDF to Unsecured

Simplified Access: – Suppose you need to handle the n number of PDFs in your daily work routine. So, manually entering a password in PDF is a very hectic task that may hinder your productivity. That’s why users often need to change secured PDF to unsecured. Meanwhile, by doing this user can improve their productivity, mobile compatibility, faster access, etc in their day-to-day work.

Cooperative Work: – While addressing working professionals, need to work collaboratively to provide better productivity to the organization. Meanwhile, secured PDF may hinder their work in terms of accessibility. So, in such a use case, they need to convert secure PDF to unsecure to fluidly work in a collaborative environment.

Content Extraction: – Reviewing each secured PDF file and manually entering the password for content extraction is very time-consuming. In our day-to-day life, we encounter several PDF files restricted with permissions from copying content. The only way to choose is to convert password protected PDF to unprotected. By doing this we can extract content from any PDF files.

Document Conversion: – There are several instances when you need to convert your PDF files to another file format. Perhaps, for editing, publishing content on the website, accessibility, etc. purposes. Meanwhile, a secured PDF file may hamper to convert it into another file format. So, to overcome such issues we usually need to save secured PDF as unsecured.

Printing: – If a PDF document is protected with print restrictions, then it will not allow you to print the PDF document. To successfully get your PDF printed you need to convert secured to unsecured PDF. Additionally, we are regularly required to print our PDF documents to accomplish various tasks.

Data Analysis: – If we delve into the scenario of data analysis. Commonly we need to perform various operations on the PDF documents. With the help of a manual and a programmatical approach. Password and permission-restricted PDFs may create a thwart in accomplishing our task. Thus, to bypass such events we are required to change PDF from secured to unsecured.

Change Secure PDF File to Unsecured for Free

Getting the help of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Adobe Acrobat, Opera Browser, etc. Converting PDF to unsecured is a useful approach under a gratis solution. Now let’s uncover the detailed working steps for each to do so.

How to Change Secure PDF File to Unsecure Using Google Chrome

At the start, locate the secured PDF with the password on your local desktop.
After that, you need to just drag and drop the located PDF in Google Chrome.
Next, enter the user-level password to the Chrome window if required.
Thereafter, click on the print icon or press the Ctrl+P button using the keyboard.
Now, choose the Destination as Save as PDF from the drop-down menu.
Then, click on the Save button and choose the appropriate saving location on your PC.
Finally, double-click on the saved PDF to see converted secured to unsecured PDF.

How to Convert Secured PDF to Unsecured PDF with Microsoft Edge

Firstly, choose the required PDF file needed for conversion on your PC.
Next, left-click on it and choose Microsoft Edge under the Open With option.
Now, if your PDF file is password protected, please enter the password.
Else, find the print button from the top-right corner and click on it to continue.
Thereafter, from the Printer option choose Microsoft Print to PDF and click Print.
Now, select the destination PDF file saving location on your local machine.
Finally, click on the Save option to convert protected PDF to unprotected.

Convert Secured PDF to Unsecured Amid Adobe Acrobat

At the start, download and launch Adobe Acrobat Reader DC on your PC.
Next, go to the File menu and click on the Open button in Adobe Acrobat.
Then, choose the required secure PDF file from your desktop storage.
After that, click on the open button to see the PDF in the utility console.
Now, if your PDF is password protected you will be redirected to enter password.
Else, directly choose the File option and select Security under the Properties tab.
Now, choose the security method and select No Security from the drop-down menu.
Thereafter, it will ask you to enter the user password as we discussed earlier.
Next, enter the password and click on the OK button to apply the changes.
Then, Save the PDF file to your desktop using the File > Save option.
Finally, open the PDF to get confirmation about the conversion of the secured PDF to unsecured.

Limitations of Using the Gratis Techniques

You need to download the complete Adobe Acrobat software. That is a very large tool and may work slowly on your PC with fewer or outdated resources.
Files restricted with print permission do not convert password protected PDF to unprotected with Chrome & Edge.
Chrome and Edge are online web-browser. So, it is not compatible to carry out the process for PDF with confidential data.
The above method ways are not recommended for enterprise users. Since you need to repeat the same set of steps for each secured PDF.

Convert Secured PDF to Unsecured Using Expert Tool

Using the BitRecover PDF Unlocker Software, you can fluidly convert PDF to unsecured in bulk. Furthermore, this advanced utility is designed with such advanced self-explanatory UI/UX that anyone can use it with any prior training. Secondly, this utility comes with a single-panel interface to provide ease of use to the users. When dealing with bulk-secured PDF files you can import multiple PDF documents for conversion at once.

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How to Change Protected PDF to Unprotected Automatically

First download and launch the suggested tool on your desktop.
Next, click on the Import button and select secured PDF files.
After that, select the destination path using the Save As option.
Now, click on the convert button to start the conversion of secured PDF.
Then, the tool will ask for the user password for the protected PDF if any.
Now, wait for the process to convert PDF to unsecured completed.
Finally, the tool will show a popup window when the process is completed, click OK.

Gratis Vs Pro Ways to Convert Secured PDF to Unsecured

Criteria	Free Method	Automated Approach
Ease of Use	Free techniques are simple to use but you need to proceed with repetitive steps. Additionally, there are several limitations to the gratis approach to change protected PDF to unprotected	The expert methodology is simple to use with the ability to bulk-process secured PDF files to unsecured ones.
Scalability	It is recommended to use gratis ways for multiple protected PDF files	This utility is specially designed to carry out large-scale operations to convert secure PDF to unsecure
Security	As user needs to take the PDF files to web browsers. So, it is compatible to handle confidential data.	On the other side, this utility is desktop-based with advanced system-level algorithms. It can securely handle PDF with sensitive information.
Speed	These free-of-cost techniques may not be handy to use with large PDF files. Additionally, they take time to conversion of secure PDF files with large size.	This tool is fast and optimized with such algorithms to bulk convert protected PDF files to unprotected with large sizes.
Functionality	Free methods are limited to changing certain restrictions and may not be able to change certain restrictions	Advanced tool, change protected PDF to unprotected with various restrictions in bulk.

Conclusion

To sum up the above digital column we have discussed how to convert secured PDF to unsecured both using several gratis methods and pro techniques. Moreover, we have discussed in detail the type of protection in PDF based on user and owner passwords. Meanwhile, we have discovered the various motives to save secured PDF as unsecured. Furthermore, we have uncovered the limitations of using the gratis approach and discovered an expert way. Finally, we have learned about the detailed working steps of the advanced utility along with the comparison of manual and automated approaches.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1) How do you change a secured pdf to unsecured one?

You can use any of the free or expert methods explained above. However, for using the gratis method to remove restrictions from PDF files. PDF mustn’t be restricted from printing.

Q2) How do I save a secured PDF as a regular PDF online?

To convert secured PDF to unsecured online you can use Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Meanwhile, before converting please check that the PDF file isn’t restricted from print permission.

Q3) How to unsecure a signed PDF?

To unsecure a signed PDF you need to discard the permission of signing & discard the user password. Thus, you can use the above-mentioned approaches which are appropriate to your requirements.