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A
ACCAS-JF
Participant
May 31, 2022
Pergunta

Cannot open password protected PDF in MacOS 12 Monterey

  • May 31, 2022
  • 2 respostas
  • 3806 Visualizações

Dear community,

 

my customer has recently received a new MacBook with macOS 12. He is currently having the problem of receiving password protected PDFs from another company. When he opens the PDF in Adobe and enters the password, Adobe says the password is incorrect. However, when he opens it in Apple's Preview app and enters the password, he can read the contents. (Yes, we copied and pasted the password to make sure there was no typo).

(translated, so the format is strange)

Wenn er nun eine andere Person fragt, die nicht MacOS 12, sondern eine frühere Version von MacOS (z. B. OS 10.11) hat, kann er die Datei ganz normal im Adobe Reader öffnen.


Wir haben festgestellt, dass in der Vorschau-App von MacOS 12 kein Passwort für das Lesen festgelegt ist, sondern nur ein Besitzer-Passwort.

 

If we set a new password required to read, we still can't open the PDF in Adobe Reader. However, if we set a new owner password and a new password required to read, we can open the PDF.

 

Is there something I'm missing so that Adobe skips the required to read password and goes straight to the owner password, or can it only be opened with the password at the beginning (password required to read)

 

 

 

    2 Respostas

    S
    steffen_8675
    Participant
    June 9, 2025

    Hello, 

    I am facing the same issue as described by the other user. However, I am using a MacBook Air M3 and have installed Adobe Acrobat Version 2025. When trying to open pdf files that are password protected, the same message appears as shown by the other user. And no, it's definitely not a password issue, because when I try to open the files with Preview or with another pdf-reader such as PDF Expert, I am able to open the files with the password. 

    Since I am not the only one who is facing this issue with Adobe in combination with a MacBook, I wonder if this is an issue that must be solved by Adobe or Mac (Apple), or both?

    Who can help?

    Thanks in advance for your feedback.

    S_S
    Community Manager
    S_SCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    June 9, 2025

    Hi @steffen_8675,

     

    Hope you are doing well. Sorry for your experience with viewing protected files on Acrobat.

     

    I tried opening a PDF file that was saved with a password, and it worked fine. Do you see this with one particular file?

     

    For further investigation, would you mind sharing a few more pieces of information:

    1. The app version of Acrobat (go to Menu > Help > About Acrobat);

    2. A screen recording of what you see when trying to open the file;

    3. A sample file where you see the issue to test in-house.

     

    Look forward to hearing from you.

     


    Regards,
    Souvik.

    S
    steffen_8675
    Participant
    June 11, 2025

    Dear Souvik,

    Thanks for your reply. Let me try to answer all your questions.

    • The problem occurs with all pdf files that are password-protected, not just with one particular. 
    • As mentioned before, the problem only occurs when I try to open pdf with Adobe Acrobat. There is no problem when I use the Mac "Preview" program or other pdf readers like "PDF Expert".
    • I have created a sample file. Please see attached. The password is: 14aA25-R
    • The details about the app version of Acrobat and a screen recording of the error message is included in the sample file attached.

     

    Again, for me it looks like there is a particular problem with the Adobe Acrobat app for Mac. Now, who is going to solve it? Adobe or Apple (or both)?

     

    I look forard to receiving your feedback.

     

    Steffen

     

    S_S
    Community Manager
    S_SCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 31, 2022

    Hello,

     

    I hope you are doing well. I am sorry for your experience with Acrobat Reader.

     

    Is this issue with specific files or with all files that are password protected?

     

    If the issue is with all password-protected files, please share a sample file with us so that we can check it at our end and respond better. 

     

    Hoping to hear more from you.

     

    Thanks,

    Souvik.

    A
    ACCAS-JFAutor
    Participant
    May 31, 2022

    Dear Souvik,

    thank you very much for your reply, I am fine, I hope you are fine.

    So far we have encountered the problem that when trying to open encrypted files from an older macOS system, we could not read them despite entering the correct password. However, if you repeat the steps I wrote above, you were able to make the files readable.

    Unfortunately, I don't have a file available at this time, but I will try to get one that we can upload.

    S_S
    Community Manager
    S_SCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 31, 2022

    Thanks for your response. I tried creating a file and then password-protecting it in the first method that you suggested above. It worked fine on my end.

     

    It could also be how the PDF was created, which could cause the issue. Could you also share a screenshot of the description window of the document you are working with?

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