Open the PDF in Acrobat.
- Acrobat User Guide
- Introduction to Acrobat
- Access Acrobat from desktop, mobile, web
- Introducing the new Acrobat experience
- What's new in Acrobat
- Keyboard shortcuts
- System Requirements
- Download Adobe Acrobat
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- Install Adobe Acrobat Reader | Windows
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- Release Notes | Acrobat, Reader
- Workspace
- Workspace basics
- Opening and viewing PDFs
- Working with online storage accounts
- Acrobat and macOS
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- Grids, guides, and measurements in PDFs
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- Adobe Acrobat for Outlook
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- Creating PDFs
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- Edit text in PDFs
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- Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
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- PDF properties and metadata
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- PDF articles
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- Delete pages from a PDF
- Edit a signed PDF | FAQ
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- Forms
- PDF forms basics
- Create a form from scratch in Acrobat
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- PDF form field properties
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- About forms tracker
- PDF forms help
- Send PDF forms to recipients using email or an internal server
- Combining files
- Combine or merge files into single PDF
- Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
- Add headers, footers, and Bates numbering to PDFs
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- Working with component files in a PDF Portfolio
- Publish and share PDF Portfolios
- Overview of PDF Portfolios
- Create and customize PDF Portfolios
- Sharing, reviews, and commenting
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- Adding a stamp to a PDF
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- Security
- Enhanced security setting for PDFs
- Securing PDFs with passwords
- Manage Digital IDs
- Securing PDFs with certificates
- Opening secured PDFs
- Removing sensitive content from PDFs
- Setting up security policies for PDFs
- Choosing a security method for PDFs
- Security warnings when a PDF opens
- Securing PDFs with Adobe Experience Manager
- Protected View feature for PDFs
- Overview of security in Acrobat and PDFs
- JavaScripts in PDFs as a security risk
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- Edit secured PDFs
- Electronic signatures
- Sign PDF documents
- Capture your signature on mobile and use it everywhere
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- About certificate signatures
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- Printing
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- Add audio, video, and interactive objects to PDFs
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- Preflight (Acrobat Pro)
- PDF/X-, PDF/A-, and PDF/E-compliant files
- Preflight profiles
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- Output intents in PDFs
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- Additional checks in the Preflight tool
- Preflight libraries
- Preflight variables
- Color management
- Troubleshoot
- Troubleshoot PDF printing in Acrobat and Acrobat Reader
- Adobe Acrobat license has either expired or not been activated
- Edit PDF forms created in LiveCycle Designer
- Insufficient data for an image error on Adobe Acrobat
- Resolve errors related to the AcroCEF/RdrCEF processes of Acrobat or Acrobat Reader
About editing password-protected PDFs
You can control PDF access with passwords and feature restrictions like printing and editing. With the document password, you can remove security. For server-based security, only the policy author or administrator can make changes. Contact the PDF creator or author for editing passwords.
If you attempt to edit a password-protected PDF, you'll see an error message: This is a secured document. Editing is not permitted.
Remove password security
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From the All tools menu, select Protect a PDF.
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From the left panel, select Remove security.
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Depending on the type of password:
- For Document Open password, select OK to remove it.
- For permissions password, enter it in the Enter Password box, then select OK. Confirm the action by selecting OK again.
You can now edit the PDF.
Forgot document or permissions password
If you are the owner of a PDF and don't remember the password required to open the PDF, you have to re-create the PDF. There is no way to recover the password in Acrobat.
If you own a PDF and have forgotten the permissions password used to restrict certain features in the PDF, use the following steps to make the PDF editable by printing a copy.
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Open the PDF in Acrobat.
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From the top toolbar, select the Printer icon
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In the Print dialog box, select Adobe PDF as the printer and select Print.
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Type a name for your file and select Save.
It creates a PDF and opens it in Acrobat. You can now edit the PDF.
Printing a file to PDF using the Adobe PDF printer removes interactive elements in the printed file, such as bookmarks, hyperlinks, and buttons.
Edit signed or certified PDFs
Certifying a document assures recipients that the document is authentic. If a PDF is signed using a digital ID or certificate, it’s locked to prevent changes to the document. Digital IDs or certificates used to sign PDFs are used for the commercial and legal purpose and are governed by laws in many countries.
When you try to edit a signed or certified PDF, you get the following error.
For more information on editing a signed or certified PDF, see Edit a signed PDF | FAQ.