PDFDeSecure is a free, open-source tool to remove restrictions from PDF files (e.g. printing, editing, copying), especially when DRM-like protections are applied.

📂 Unlock your PDFs from "secured" printing mode in seconds.

• ✅ Removes PDF security restrictions (print/copy/edit)
• 💡 No need to know the password (if only usage rights are locked)
• 🔐 Works on Adobe LiveCycle DRM-protected PDFs
• 🖥️ CLI support and optional UI
• ⚡ Fast and lightweight — built with C#/.NET
• 💻 Cross-platform via .NET (Windows, Linux, macOS*)

Grab the latest release from the Releases page.

Or clone the repo and build it yourself:

git clone https://github.com/abatsakidis/pdfdesecure.git
cd pdfdesecure
dotnet build

PDFDeSecure.exe input.pdf output.pdf

That’s it! Your output PDF will be unrestricted.

PDFDeSecure bypasses usage restrictions by re-rendering the document as a new PDF, preserving layout and content while discarding the security flags.

⚠️ It does not attempt to crack password-encrypted PDFs (e.g. owner/user password protected).

##🤝 Contributing

Pull requests are welcome! If you’d like to:

Report a bug ➡️ Open an issue

Suggest a feature ➡️ Start a discussion

Help improve UI or compatibility ➡️ Fork and send a PR

Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

This tool is provided for educational and legal personal use only. Do not use it on documents you do not own or have rights to modify.