Protected PDF forgotten password

Report · Jan 29, 2021

How in the world can I reset the password or get access to my PDF that is locked? HELPPPP!

Report · Jan 29, 2021

If the PDF file was protected by someone else, you need to get the password from that “someone else!”

If you set the password and have forgotten it, you are pretty much out of luck. The idea behind password protection is in fact to provide protection. It wouldn't be effective protection if there was a “back door” to bypass that password protection! The PDF specification doesn't provide for such a “back door” nor does Adobe provide some secret mechanism for retrieving a password.

Sorry!

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

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Report · Jan 29, 2021

If the PDF file was protected by someone else, you need to get the password from that “someone else!”

If you set the password and have forgotten it, you are pretty much out of luck. The idea behind password protection is in fact to provide protection. It wouldn't be effective protection if there was a “back door” to bypass that password protection! The PDF specification doesn't provide for such a “back door” nor does Adobe provide some secret mechanism for retrieving a password.

Sorry!

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

Report · Jan 29, 2021

Thank you I actually did that exact thing right before you responded. 👍🏼