PDFArea PDF Protection Remover

Editors' review

by: Download.com Staff on June 15, 2010

PDFs are common in the business world, yet full-featured PDF software is often expensive. Developers have responded with an army of specialized utilities designed to do one or two things as quickly and easily as possible. PDFArea's PDF Protection Remover is a good example. It removes encryption from protected PDF files, including copy, print, and edit protection.

PDF Protection Remover's skinnable interface is just what we like to see in a utility designed to save time and enhance productivity by simplifying common processes: just the basics, clearly laid out. The controls couldn't be simpler, either: Add, Remove, Start, Stop, and Exit, and a main display with tabs for file lists and setting, or destination folder. It's so easy to use that it's probably self-explanatory to anyone who's done much with PDFs, but there's a fully indexed and well-illustrated Help file that explains every step. Nevertheless, with such obvious controls, we successfully unlocked encrypted test files moments after installing PDF Protection Remover, saved them, and opened them in a common file viewer. In fact, PDFArea claims PDF files unlocked by its software can be opened in any PDF viewer or editor. Nothing extra comes with the program, beyond a skinnable look; it's a specialized tool that does one job well and as simply as possible.

PDF Protection Remover worked just fine in Windows 7 and Vista. It can open virtually any kind of protected PDF and get you back to work in the time it takes to load and study some of the do-it-all packages.