Participant

Answered

PDFs won't open on my iMac

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
June 3, 2022
6 replies
29020 views

The operation could not be completed as Acrobat Reader doesn't have permission to access: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail Downloads/169EFC63-1A72-43ED-817D-B303FE40ED68/.

Launch privacy settings to grant access?

General troubleshooting

Correct answer Souvik Sadhu

Hi; thanks for the reply. What folder would I do this to? Like my Mac HD? It is not happening within a particular folder.

My Mac HD, this is the screenshot. It won't allow to add my 'user', probably a safety thing. I work off my HD which syncs to a OneDrive folder. But these PDFs that I am having issues are being saved into the Downloads folder, to which I have Read & Write access.

I don't think this is limited to a folder. And why would the permissions to my Mac folders change suddenly?

It will have to be within Mac HD-> Users-> [your user name]-> Library.

[ Or an alternative method would be to click on any open space on the desktop-> Click on "Go" on the top menu bar-> press down the "Option key"-> Library]

The user account library is the location where you are experiencing the issue and it will be the folder you would need to provide permissions to.

Once there on the get info window, unlock the lock icon first and then change the permissions not for your user name but everyone.

[Unlocking the golden lock icon/Padlock requires you to put in your MAC password once]

Once you are done with it, click on the circle with the three dots beside the lock-> click on Apply to enclosed items.

Once this is done, try working with the files.

M

Mick Judo

Participating Frequently

It sounds like Acrobat Reader may not have permission to access files downloaded from Apple Mail. Try opening your Mac Privacy & Security settings and allow Acrobat Reader access to files and folders. You can also save the PDF to your Desktop first, then open it from there instead of directly from Mail. That usually fixes the issue for many iMac users.

IPP Print Shop

Participant

I’m having this same issue. I get the message on almost every PDF. Doesn’t matter if it's on a server or in my downloads, or on my computer. I have permissions on for everything under the sun. I've had this computer (Mac mini 2024) And this issue started happening to me last week. I was due for an update, so I did that any the issue is still persisting. My work revolves around PDFs so idk why it started doing this… I have to go into the Full Access Tab under Settings and turn it off and on in order for it to work… That’s obviously very tedious and an extra setp included for such a simple task. For example I would create a PDF via InDesign or Illustrator or from my work’s web system and having to go into settings to toggle on and off until a PDF I JUST made is able to open is very frustrating...

Also, If I am able to open a PDF, if the next one I open gives me that message, and I go back to open the first one I was able to, it won’t open and would give me the same message.

Again I have:

Full Disk Access on for ALL Adobe products ( I no longer have the option to choose “Allow from Downloads” or other avenues.
All my PDFs have Read & Write permission turned ON
NEVER had an issue opening a PDF unless it was corrupt (would say so in the message) whether its from my server, downloaded from online, made in Adobe, provided from a customer, Canva etc, they all worked and were able to open without granting access consistently through out the day.
Files not granted permission will open one minute and needs permission 5 min later. Whether I made it or downloaded it, its in my downloads, on my server, on my desktop… Nothing works.

I don't want to have to be toggling through my settings for something that should be seamless. Not sure why this is an issue (I can’t believe a company like Apple would have such a silly issue) I’ll try asking support as well since I can’t really work like this, but hoping that there’s a proper answer at some point for this here.

T

Tariq Ahmad Dar

Community Manager

Hi @IPP Print Shop - Sorry for the troubled experience.
Have you tried restarting your machine once. Ensure to close all the app and save your work, once done, restart your machine.

If the issue re-occurs, try enabling a new user profile for testing purposes and then check the issue again. https://support.apple.com/en/guide/mac-help/mchl3e281fc9/mac

Let us know how it works.

~Tariq

J

jimb81068532

Participant

I am having this issue in 2025 and nothing I do is helping ... any advice? Please!?

T

Tariq Dar

Legend

Hi @jimb81068532,

Sorry for the troubled experience.

Could you be more specific about what exactly is happening at your end? Are you trying to open a PDF File in Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader? Is that file located locally on the machine? What is the version of Acrobat or Reader?

If there is an error, please help us with a screenshot of the error message or a video.

Please ensure your copy of Acrobat is updated, to check for updates, launch Acrobat > Help > Check for Updates

~Tariq

Juan Cano

Inspiring

OK; unclicking the Enhanced Security in Preferences didn't fix it. I did go into my "Downloads" folder, Get Info, and noticed the "Sharing & Permissions" for Everyone was set to "No Access". I have now changed it to Read & Write and so far so good. Hope this helps.

I think this is mostly happening with PDFs I try to open via a Browser, Chrome, and they default to save in Downloads before they open.

Souvik Sadhu

Legend

Thank you, Juan, for taking the time and letting us know it helped. The error meant that the application could not access the files due to permissions not being granted.

You may also change the location of your downloads in the future if you think the location could be an issue.

T

Thomas247726395ahu

Participant

Hello. I have the same new problem. Someone sends a pdf file I try to open it and I get the "no permission... library..." message. I close Acrobat and while it is closed I click on the pdf file and it opens fine. But in order to open any pdf I need to close Acrobat and start clean. So far, nothing in the responses to this problem have helped at all. This is very annoying.

Juan Cano

Inspiring

Thanks for the reply. Did this start recently? Acrobat upgrade? I wonder what is causing it now. No updates for Acrobat on the Cloud.

I added Acrobat to have full disk access. And now it has full Files and Folder access. But that didn't fix it.

Thank you for the tip, better than nothing!! 😉

Souvik Sadhu

Legend

Hi Juan, you can try changing the folder permission settings to read and write for everyone through the get info option. The permission setting, at times, may change the way you work with files.

You can view this link to learn more: Change permissions for files, folders, or disks on Mac - Apple Support (IN)

I would suggest applying read and write permissions to the entire library to you don't get the same error that you are experiencing with Acrobat.

Meenakshi_Negi

Legend

Hi Shane,

Thank you for reaching out.

It seems that you are trying to open a PDF from a secured folder. As per the message, it is a permission-related issue.

Are you using your personal machine or the work machine?

Check if the issue occurs with files saved in another location on the machine. If not, please check the privacy settings as mentioned in the message for that folder.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

S

Shane247138630v0kAuthor

Participant

Hi Meenakshi,

I opened the privacy settings on my personal mac (which has always worked for opening PDFs so this is a random new development) and tried checking and unchecking the box for PDF security. No change to the message when I attempt to open a PDF. Any further suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you

Juan Cano

Inspiring

I have just started having the exact same issue. A week ago I had never experienced this. Extra annoying. I am unable to 'add' Acrobat in The OSX Privacy Settings for Files and Folders. All buttons are greyed out.

As a side note, my IT team just installed SentineOne security software and FortiClient VPN. I don't know if those can be interfering.

It happens mostly with PDFs from Chrome, like an attachment or a PDF egnerated on the page. But I think is happening with PDFs on my drive as well. This is a work Mac but I have Admin rights.

Also, I found that the PDFs that are refusing to open, do go into my Downloads folder (I have so many copies of the same thing!). Once in a while they open.

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