What Is the e-Aadhaar (Aadhar) PDF Password? Find Yours in Seconds

What is your e-Aadhaar PDF password?

Type your name as it is printed on your Aadhaar in English, and your year of birth. The helper shows your password at once.

• You can type in small letters. The helper changes them to CAPITALS and skips the spaces for you.
• Type dots where your Aadhaar has them, for example P. Kumar. A dot is part of the password.
• Type the 4-digit year only, for example 1990, not 15/08/1990.
• Without JavaScript, use the rule and the examples in the next section.

How is the e-Aadhaar password made?

UIDAI protects every e-Aadhaar PDF with a password. It is the first 4 letters of your name in CAPITAL letters, followed by your year of birth in 4 digits (YYYY). These four examples show how the rule works:

So most passwords have 8 characters: 4 from the name and 4 from the year. Only a name shorter than 4 letters gives a shorter password.

Which name do you use: Hindi, English or nickname?

Use the name printed on your Aadhaar in English, letter by letter. If your Aadhaar shows your name in two languages, the password uses the English one.

• Not the Hindi or regional-language name.
• Not a nickname, short name or the name people call you by.
• Not the spelling on another document, such as your PAN or school certificate. Look at your Aadhaar card, an old printout or the PVC card.
• Keep initials and dots exactly as printed. "P. KUMAR" and "P KUMAR" give different passwords.

Not sure how your name is printed? If your Aadhaar is lost, see find a lost Aadhaar number or EID first.

What mistakes make the password fail?

At our counter, the same four mistakes come up again and again. Each one stops the PDF from opening. The examples below use SURESH KUMAR and P. KUMAR, born in 1990.

Names with dots, spaces or fewer than 4 letters confuse people most. Two more examples of our own (not UIDAI examples), worked out with the same rule and an example birth year of 1990: a name printed as K. RAM gives K.RA1990 (the dot counts, the space is skipped), and MD ALI gives MDAL1990 (the space is skipped).

How do you open, check and print your e-Aadhaar PDF?

1. Download e-Aadhaar from an official source

   Use myAadhaar or UIDAI's Aadhaar App with your Aadhaar number, EID or VID. An OTP goes to your registered mobile. The download is free. Full steps: download e-Aadhaar.

   No OTP? In our experience the linked number is often different, or the phone isn't with you. See download without a registered mobile.

2. Enter the password

   Open the PDF and type the password from the helper: first 4 letters of the English name in CAPITALS, then the 4-digit year of birth.

   You'll know it worked when the PDF opens and shows your e-Aadhaar.

3. Validate the digital signature

   e-Aadhaar is digitally signed by UIDAI and is as valid as the physical Aadhaar letter. You can validate the signature in Adobe Reader; the certificate is issued by "(n)Code Solutions CA 2014". Step by step: verify the signature and print.

4. Print it or save it

   Print it from Adobe Reader after validating the signature, or keep the PDF on your phone. Need only the last 4 digits shown? Compare the forms in e-Aadhaar vs PVC vs masked.

What if the password still doesn't work?

1. Check the name on your card again. Look at the English name printed on your Aadhaar, letter by letter. Watch for initials, dots, and a different spelling from your other documents.
2. Check the year. Use only the 4-digit year of birth, the one on your Aadhaar.
3. Type CAPITALS. The password must look like SURE1990: capital letters and no spaces.
4. Download the PDF again from myAadhaar or the Aadhaar App. Use only the official sites, never a copy someone forwarded to you.
5. Validate the signature once the PDF opens, so banks and offices accept the print: how to validate.
6. Still stuck? An Aadhaar centre can give you a biometric-verified print of e-Aadhaar for ₹30–₹40. In our experience this also works when your mobile isn't linked.

Help someone else at a shop or café? Our guide for agents and cyber cafés covers safe handling of customers' e-Aadhaar files. Trying to open an e-PAN PDF instead? That file comes from the income-tax side, not UIDAI: use our e-PAN PDF password helper. Unsure about a word like EID or VID? See the Aadhaar glossary.

Problems and fixes

Bottom line

Your e-Aadhaar password is the first 4 letters of the English name on your Aadhaar in CAPITALS, plus your year of birth. Skip spaces, keep dots, and use all letters of a short name. If it still fails, check the name on your card, download again from an official UIDAI source, or get a print at an Aadhaar centre. For help, UIDAI's free helpline is 1947.