How to Unprotect Multiple PDF Files in Most Efficient Ways?

People usually limit access to PDF documents by setting passwords or restrictions. These restrictions include copying, editing, commenting, signing, document assembly, printing, etc. This is basically done to protect the document from any unauthorized access. But, at times it is required to access these secured files. Therefore, in such cases, people look at solutions to remove password from multiple PDF files. So, in this write-up, we have described the solutions that can unprotect multiple PDF files in smart ways.

Table of Contents:

• Reasons to Remove Password from Multiple PDF Files
• List of Methods Explained to Unprotect Multiple PDF Files
• Method to Remove Protection from PDF documents Using Command Line Tools
• Remove Password from Multiple PDF Files Using Python with PyPDF2
• How to Unprotect PDF Files Using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC?
• How to Unsecure PDF Files Using Google Chrome?
• Conclusion
• FAQs

Reasons to Remove Password from Multiple PDF Files

1. Quick PDF file reading and sharing with others.
2. Opening the document without any password.
3. Actions like copying, editing, printing, commenting, and signing can be performed.
4. Maybe the password is lost or forgotten by the user.
5. To make it free from encryption i.e. 128 or 256 bit.

List of Methods Explained to Unprotect Multiple PDF Files

There are 4 manual method are available to remove password from PDF files are

1. Remove password from multiple PDF files using Command Line Tools
2. Using Python with PyPDF2
3. Unprotect Multiple PDF using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.
4. Manually remove password from PDF files via Google Chrome.

Method 1: Unprotect Multiple PDF Files Using Command Line Tools

This way, I will guide you on how to remove passwords from several pdf using command line tools like QPDF, it is, therefore, a comprehensive guide on how to remove password from multiple PDF files on Windows.

Step 1: Install QPDF on Windows Download QPDF 

• Visit the QPDF GitHub Releases page.
• Download the latest release for Windows appropriate for your system, qpdf-11.1.0-bin-msvc.zip, for instance. Extract the Files Downloaded into a Folder 
• Extract the files from the downloaded zip folder to a desirable path within your system say, C:\qpdf. Add QPDF on Your System’s PATH 
•  Right-click on This PC or Computer Choose Properties. 
• Click on Advanced system settings. 
• Environmental Variables, under the System variable section, look for the path variable, select it, and choose the Edit button. 
• Click. Now, add the path to the QPDF bin directory, such as C:\qpdf\bin.
• Click to save button to remove password from multiple PDF files. 

Step 2: Prepare Your Environment Directory Creation:

• Make a directory, such as C:\protected_pdfs, where your protected PDF files are kept.
• Make a directory, such as C:\unprotected_pdfs, where you wish to store the unprotected PDFs. 

QPDF Installation Check to unprotect multiple PDF files:

• To launch the Command Prompt, hit Windows + R, type cmd, then hit Enter.
• Type qpdf –version and hit Enter to see if QPDF is installed correctly. 
• The qpdf version information should become visible on the command prompt. 

Step 3: Create a Batch Script to Unprotect PDFs Open Notepad:

• Run Notepad by pressing Windows + R, typing Notepad, and pressing Enter.

Create the batch script to remove password from PDF files:

Copy and paste the following script into Notepad to remove password from multiple PDF files:

@echo off

set input_directory=C:\protected_pdfs

set output_directory=C:\unprotected_pdfs

set password=your_password

if not exist “%output_directory%” mkdir “%output_directory%”

for %%f in (“%input_directory%\*.pdf”) do (

  qpdf –decrypt –password=%password% “%%f” “%output_directory%\%%~nxf”

)

echo All PDFs have been unprotected.

Pause

Replace your password with the actual password for the protected PDFs.

Save the Batch Script to unprotect multiple PDF files:

Save the file with a .bat extension, e.g., unprotect_pdfs.bat.

Choose All Files in the Save as type dropdown to ensure it doesn’t save as a .txt file.

Step 4: Run the Batch Script

Execute the Script:

• Navigate to the location where you saved the batch script.
• Double-click unprotect_pdfs.bat to run it.

Verify the Output to remove password from multiple PDF files:

• Once the script completes, open the C:\unprotected_pdfs directory.
• Check some of the unprotected PDF files to ensure they are no longer password-protected.

Step 5: Method for troubleshooting

In the event that you run into any problems, take into account the following:

Incorrect Paths: Ensure that the paths in the script are correct and the directories exist.

Password Issues: Make sure the password provided is correct. If the PDFs have different passwords, you’ll need a more advanced script that handles multiple passwords.

QPDF Installation: Confirm that QPDF is correctly added to the PATH and accessible from the Command Prompt by typing qpdf –version.

Method 2: Remove Password from Multiple PDF files Using Python with PyPDF2

Writing a script that iterates through your PDF files, removes the passwords, and saves the unprotected copies is the first step in using Python and PyPDF2 to unprotect multiple PDF files. The specific stages are listed below:

Step 1: Install on your machine 

• Set up Python
• Install Python by downloading it from python.org. During installation, make sure you click the box to add Python to your PATH.

Intall PyPDF2 in place:

• Launch the Command Prompt.

Using pip, the Python package installer, install PyPDF2 by issuing the following command:

pip install pypdf2

Step 2: Get Your Environment Ready  to bulk remove password from PDF

• Establish Directories
• Make a directory, such as C:\protected_pdfs, where your protected PDF files are kept.
• Make a directory, such as C:\unprotected_pdfs, where you wish to store the unprotected PDFs.

Step 3: Compose the Python script to unprotect multiple PDF files.

• Launch a text editor:
• Start your preferred text editor or an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), such VSCode, PyCharm, or Notepad.
• Make the Python script:
• The script below should be copied and pasted into your text editor:

import os

from PyPDF2 import PdfReader, PdfWriter

 

# Set the directories to remove password from multiple PDF files

input_directory = ‘C:\\protected_pdfs’

output_directory = ‘C:\\unprotected_pdfs’

password = ‘your_password’

 

# Create the output directory if it doesn’t exist to remove protection from PDF documents

os.makedirs(output_directory, exist_ok=True)

 

# Loop through all PDF files in the input directory to remove password from multiple PDF files

for filename in os.listdir(input_directory):

    if filename.endswith(‘.pdf’):

        input_path = os.path.join(input_directory, filename)

        output_path = os.path.join(output_directory, filename)

 

        # Read the protected PDF to unprotect multiple PDF files

        reader = PdfReader(input_path)

        if reader.is_encrypted:

            try:

                reader.decrypt(password)

            except Exception as e:

                print(f”Failed to decrypt {filename}: {e}”)

                continue

 

        # Write the unprotect multiple PDF files

        writer = PdfWriter()

        for page_num in range(len(reader.pages)):

            writer.add_page(reader.pages[page_num])

 

        with open(output_path, ‘wb’) as output_pdf:

            writer.write(output_pdf)

 

        print(f”Unprotected {filename}”)

 

print(“All PDFs have been processed.”)

 

• Replace your password with the actual password in order to remove password from multiple PDF files.

• Save the Python Script to remove protection from PDF documents:

• Save the file with a .py extension, e.g., unprotect_pdfs.py.

Step 4: Launch the Python script to unprotect multiple PDF files

• Execute the Script:

• Open Command Prompt.

• Navigate to the directory where you saved the Python script using the cd command. For example:

cd path\to\your\script

python unprotect_pdfs.py

Step 5: Verify the Output to unprotect multiple PDF files:

• Once the script completes, open the C:\unprotected_pdfs directory.
• Check some of the unprotected PDF files to ensure they are no longer password-protected.

How to Unprotect PDF Files Using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC?

Follow these simple steps to know how to remove protection from PDF documents:

1- Firstly, open the PDF document in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.
2- Click on the Tools >> Protect >>Encrypt>>Remove Security.
3- Now, enter the password in the text box and click on OK.
4- Again click the OK button for the confirmation.

Note: With this method, a user can unprotect multiple PDF files. But, for each document, the same steps need to be followed again and again. Also, the user must be aware of the permission password for removal purposes.

How to Unsecure PDF Files Using Google Chrome?

Google Chrome web browser provides the functionality to unprotect PDF documents. Now, follow these simple steps to carry out the process remove password from multiple PDF files:

1- Open the PDF document in Google Chrome.
2- Click on the Print icon present on the top right side.
3- Click on the Change button.
4- Under the destination choose the “Save as PDF” option.
5- Then again click on the Save button to save the document.

Now, navigate towards the destination location and view an unsecured PDF document.

Note: The above-mentioned method will only work if the file is not print restricted. Also, at a time single file can be processed.

Also Read: Learn the Best Way to Copy Content from Protected PDF Files

Read More: How to Unlock PDF on MAC OS X

Conclusion

In this blog post, we have covered three solutions to unprotect secured PDF files. One is by using a professional tool and the other two are manual solutions. Although manual methods can work, however, they have certain limitations. Therefore, to unprotect multiple PDF files without any limitation users can opt for professional software that can bulk remove password from PDF.

FAQs

Q1: Is it possible to remove passwords from multiple PDF files simultaneously?**

Yes, it is possible to remove passwords from multiple PDF files at once. You can use dedicated PDF password removal software that supports batch processing. This allows you to unprotect multiple PDF files in one go.

Q2: Do I need to know the passwords for each PDF in order to remove password from multiple PDF files?

It depends on the type of password. It is necessary to know the password for open-password. But for permission password, even not remembering it will do.

Q3: Can I remove both open passwords and permissions passwords from multiple PDFs together?

Yes, if you’re using specialized PDF password removal software, you can typically remove both open passwords (used to open the PDF) and permissions passwords (used to restrict actions like printing, copying, or editing) from multiple PDF files in a batch.