How to Unlock Signed PDF File: Best Way to Remove Protection
Unlike paper stamps or signatures, digitally signed PDFs are secured and commonly known as sealed documents, preventing unwanted editing or modification of the signatures. It serves as a trusted document, ensuring data integrity and originality. Unfortunately, locked PDFs might annoy you when you need to update the information. Here learn how to unlock signed PDF files to edit or remove signatures from PDF files. Now, let’s dive into it.
What is Digital Signature and Encryption Protection?
A digitally signed document is typically considered an e-signature that contains a trusted digital certificate. It is incorporated with legal standards, ensuring the protection of identity. Moreover, these PDFs retain cryptographic algorithms for making a strong yet unique connection between the signature and the document.
Unlike e-signature, digital signatures are more secure or verified through cryptography methods such as hash function, ensuring authenticity and integrity. Moreover, these signed PDFs are rich with safety and strong encryption, protecting sensitive information.
For legal and professional agreements, including personal disclosures, use digitally signed PDFs to add another level of authenticity. It prevents fraudulent and unauthorized actions of editing and manipulating the information.
Most importantly, the digital signature documents come with a PDF-sealed password, also known as an open document password. The signer of the document imposes security encryption to make the PDF file tamper-proof and protected.
Now, if you’re wondering how to unlock signed PDf file, let’s first move down to learn the reason to remove security from PDF which is a signed document. With this, you can easily access your document with ease.
Why Remove Signature Protection from PDF?
A signed PDF adheres to the standard of security including Authentication (digital certificate), integrity (hash function), and non-repudiation. Additionally, it uses advanced PDF encryption standards such as AES to protect sensitive information. In this way, users can’t alter the signer’s identity or even edit the information.
Unfortunately, there are various circumstances where the signer searches for ways to unlock signed PDF files. Once you remove PDF signature protection, you can seamlessly access or control the updation of the content. Here are the other reasons to unlock a signed PDF document:
Ensure Editing: Often there are typos and the need to update the information. Here, a signed PDF becomes a challenge preventing changes in the document. Hence, you need an advanced solution to rectify the errors.
Bypass the Security Protection: If you need to share, copy, or print the locked signed PDF. In this case, unlocking or bypassing the security restriction is necessary. With this, you can easily get access to the complete document.
Expired Digital Certificate: The digital signature is associated with a legal digital certificate. If the certificate is expired or invalid, removing the signature restriction becomes necessary. With this, you can easily add a new valid signature to your PDF document.
Hence, unlocking the signed PDF becomes a crucial action for editing, modifying, and even updating the document. It allows you to share digitally signed PDFs without any restriction. Now, let’s walk through how to unlock PDF document locked by signature.
How to Unlock Signed PDF File: 3 Easy Methods
If you’re wondering how to unlock a signed PDF document, here we will share the best and simplest ways to remove password from digitally signed PDF. After unlocking the document, you can make the required changes while maintaining the authenticity of the PDF file.
Here are methods to remove PDF signature protection:
- Adobe Acrobat Pro DC to Unlock Signed PDF for Editing
- Online PDF Unlocker to Remove Signature Lock from PDF
- SysTools PDF Encryption Removal to Unprotect a Signed PDF
Now, let’s walk through these techniques one after another.
How to Unlock a Signed PDF Document with Acrobat Pro DC?
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is a robust and comprehensive tool for editing, creating, signing, and printing PDFs. Removing the signed protection from PDF using Acrobat allows you to clear the restriction and unlock the PDF file.
Remember unlocking a signed PDF sometimes makes the signature invalidated. Ensure to take the backup of the original signed document, before attempting the process of removing the signature security from PDF.
Here’s how to remove signature protection from PDF using the Acrobat Pro DC tool:
- Install the Acrobat DC on your PC.
- Open the signed PDF using the File.
- Right-click on PDF > select Properties.
- Under the Security tab > review the restriction summary.
- In the Security section drop-down > tab No Security.
- Enter the necessary password > press the OK button.
In this way, you can unlock signed PDF for editing. Additionally, it allows you to modify the document without any prohibition. However, there are a few limitations that might occur, read them carefully.
How to Remove Signature Lock from PDF Using Online Unlockers
If you’re wondering how to unlock PDF document locked by signature, use online PDF unlocker services. These freeware tools allow you to unlock signed PDF documents with ease. Here is the step-by-step guidance for removing the digitally signed protection from PDF files:
- On your web, use any online PDF unlocker.
- Find Add Files to upload signed PDF.
- Lastly, enable the Unlock button to remove signed protection.
It might look easy and quick, right? Unfortunately, it is not a secure way to remove signature lock from PDF file. Moreover, it will adversely impact document integrity. Now, take a look at the disadvantages of this method.
How to Unlock a Signed PDF – Try SysTools PDF Encryption Removal
To remove signature protection from PDF documents, use SysTools PDF Unlocker Software, typically known as a PDF encryption removal tool. It is a powerful and advanced solution for removing AES encryption without hurting the cryptographic mechanism.
This is a feature-packed tool that allows you to unlock singed PDF while removing the open document protection or signer restrictions. Some of the common PDF protection includes copying, printing, and editing. Fortunately, this software deals with all these permissions, ensuring you can edit the document for free.
Additionally, this tool follows all the standards of document integrity and doesn’t harm the digital signature of the document. Hence, download this software on your Windows or Mac OS to unlock signed PDF for editing and updating data.
Steps to Remove PDF Signature Protection
- Download the SysTools Encryption Removal tool.
- Find Add Files to upload the signature locked PDF.
- Scroll down > select the Save option.
- Tab Change to remove signature security.
- Lastly, press the Unlock button to unprotect a signed PDF
FAQs on Remove Signature Security from PDF
Q1. How to remove digital signature protection from PDF file?
Ans. Using the SysTools software solution, you can easily remove signing restriction or digital signature in PDF files in less than 5 steps. Just follow the below steps for the same:
Step 1. Download the software solution on your PC.
Step 2. Click Add File and select the desired PDF.
Step 3. Set destination location to save PDF files.
Step 4. Click on the Unlock button to remove the digital signature from PDF.
Q2. Is it legal to remove signature lock from PDF files?
The legality of removing signature protection from a PDF file depends on the context and the permissions granted by the document owner or issuer. Hence before removing signature permission, always ensure you have the right to modify a PDF file.
Q3. What are the potential risks of removing signature protection from a PDF file?
Removing signature lock from a PDF file may pose several risks, including compromising the document’s integrity, violating legal agreements, and exposing sensitive information. However, if you have the authorization then you can legally remove signature lock from PDF files.
Q4. Why can’t I remove signature from the PDF file?
You can only remove your signature from the PDF file. If you have the digital ID used to sign the PDF, you can update the digital ID in your PDF editor and delete the PDF signature. If you do not have a digital ID, you won’t get the option to clear your signature. Additionally, you can opt for advanced software like Adobe Acrobat DC to remove signature from PDF.
Concluding Words
In this stepwise guide, we have shared 3 ways to unlock signed PDF documents. The process of removing the signature protection from PDF is quite a complex task; it might serve the potential risk to data or even remove a digital signature from the document. Therefore, use the SysTools Pro tool for unlocking the signature security from the PDF file without any risk and data loss.