The usual case: a locked PDF you can already open
Banks, insurers, payroll services and phone carriers often send statements, pay stubs and documents as password-protected PDFs. The password is usually based on your own details, like part of an ID number or your date of birth, and the email explains it. The hassle comes later: you have to type it every time you open the file, and plenty of upload portals, printers and PDF tools refuse protected files.
Here you type that password once and get a regular copy of the document that opens without asking. The content stays the same: same pages, same text, same images.
Two different kinds of protection
A PDF can have an open password, which stops anyone from viewing it without the key, or just owner restrictions, which let you open it but block printing, copying text or editing. When you choose the file, the tool tells you which one it has, or whether it has none.
With an open password, you type it and it's removed, as long as it's correct. With restrictions only, they're removed without asking you for anything. Either way, the copy you download no longer has encryption or restrictions.
What it won't do: crack passwords
This tool doesn't guess, doesn't try combinations and doesn't break unknown passwords. If you don't know the open password, it can't open the document. If you type the wrong one, it tells you, and you can try again. If you forgot the password to a document someone sent you, the fastest route is usually to ask the sender for a new copy or check the original email, which often explains how the password is built.
Only use it on documents you have the right to unlock: your own, or ones someone shared with you along with the password so you could use them.
Think before keeping an unprotected copy
The password protects sensitive information. Once it's gone, anyone who gets the file can open it: if you forward it, drop it in a shared cloud folder or leave it on a shared computer, there's no barrier anymore. A good habit is to remove the password only from the copy you need for the task at hand and keep the protected original.
If you later want to lock the document again with a password of your own, use Protect PDF, which applies AES-256 encryption. Removing the password happens in your browser: neither the PDF nor the password leaves your device.