RenoFi requires borrowers to upload several different documents for review before applying for a RenoFi Loan - like your renovation plans, contract, tax documents, and more. 

However, our system cannot process these documents if they are password protected. Unfortunately, many sensitive documents that we require are frequently password protected because they contain private information. 

If you’ve tried to submit a document that is password protected, you will get an email that says something like this:

 Hi Karen,

 Our system has detected that the file you uploaded is password protected and as a result, we cannot process this submission.

 Documents we need you to resubmit

 Task        Document

 Previous 2 years of W-2 forms 2019_Smith_Tax_Return.pdf

 Next steps

 Please click the button below to resubmit the document for this task.

 Note: Without this document, your loan materials are incomplete and cannot be submitted to the lender until we receive the missing components.

 RESUBMIT DOCUMENT

 Please reply to this email with any questions.

      Kind regards,

      The RenoFi team

So, you may be wondering how to remove the password from your PDF file so you can submit it successfully and move along with your RenoFi Loan application. 

There are a few different ways, so we will explain all of them. 

1. The Simple Way: “Save as a PDF”

The easiest way to remove a password from your PDF is to open it in an internet browser, hit the “Print” button, and instead of printing the document, hit “Save as a PDF.” When you re-save this document, the new version will not have the password, and you’ll be able to submit it successfully. 

No matter what type of computer or internet browser you are using, this method should work easily. 

Here’s a demonstration showing how to do this on a Mac computer using Chrome:

1. Email yourself the document.

2. Open the email in your inbox.

3. Click on the attachment to open it in your browser.

Do not hit either of the two buttons at the bottom of the square. Just hit the light gray square itself. 

The document should pop up like this in your internet browser.

4. Hover your mouse over the upper right corner of the screen and hit the Print icon

This should open a new browser window that shows your document like this. 

5. Next, hit the “Print” icon in the upper right corner again

This should trigger a set of options on the right side of your screen that looks like this. 

6. You should see text that says “Destination” with a pull down menu. If “Save as PDF” isn’t already automatically selected, hit the pull down menu to select that option. 

7. Once Save as PDF is selected, hit “Save” at the bottom of the screen. 

Now you can change the name of your document and choose where you’d like to save it so you can access it again. 

8. After you name your document, hit “Save” one last time.

9. Now, locate your document on your computer. When you open it, it should not require a password.

Depending on your computer and browser type, these buttons and steps may look a little different, but the basic directions should be the same for this method. 

2. The Easy Way: Use Adobe Acrobat Pro

This method only works if you own the paid version of Adobe Acrobat. If you do not, this method will not work for you. 

1. Open the document on your computer using Adobe Acrobat

2. Enter the password to open the document

3. Go to the Navigation bar at the top of the screen, hit “Edit” and then hit “Protection” and then “Security Properties”

4. Navigate to “Security Method” and select “No Security”

5. Hit “Ok”

Now it should say “No Security” under Security Method.

6. Hit “OK” at the bottom, and your document will no longer be password-protected.

What if these methods don’t work?

If you’re still struggling to remove the password from your document, or you still receive an email from RenoFi even after you’ve removed the password, you should:

  1. Reach out to [email protected] to explain your issue
  2. Try other online resources. There are lots of articles and video tutorials that explain how to remove a password from a PDF document that might be more helpful than our guide.