Already locked a file with our Lock PDF tool and now need the password off, maybe before compressing it or sending it somewhere the recipient already has access another way? This reverses it using your original passphrase.
This specifically reverses files that were locked using SantaPDFTools' own Lock PDF tool. A PDF password-protected in Adobe Acrobat or another app uses a different internal encryption format, so it won't work here.
You locked a payslip PDF before emailing it, and now need to merge it with three other months' slips into one combined file. Unlock it first, since Merge PDF (and most other tools) can't read an encrypted file directly.
An encrypted PDF's content is, by design, unreadable without the password — every tool on this site works by reading a file's actual structure (text, pages, images) directly in your browser, which simply isn't possible on data that's still encrypted. Unlocking first turns it back into a normal, readable PDF that Merge PDF, Compress PDF, or any other tool here can open like any other file.
No, this only reverses files locked with our own Lock PDF tool. Other software uses different encryption formats.
No, decryption happens fully offline, right in your browser.
No, the original content comes back exactly as it was before locking. Nothing about pages, formatting, or metadata changes.
Unfortunately not. Because the encryption is real, there's genuinely no way for anyone to recover a lost password.
Every tool here reads a PDF's actual content to process it, and that content is unreadable while still encrypted. Unlock it first, then it works normally everywhere else on the site.
Yes, passwords are case-sensitive. Double-check capitalization and any trailing spaces if unlocking fails.