Every Adobe Acrobat file says "This is a restricted file" when clicking on "Add Comments"

[Terri Guintivano]

When clicking on "Add comments" , the comments window comes up and says "This is a restricted file". However, you can still add a comment and start making mark ups without issue and the the message no longer shows. If I disable New Acrobat, it seems to resolve the issue, however; I'd prefer not to do that. This is happening with all employees we manage in our admin console.

[Anshul_Nautiyal]

Hi @Terri Guintivano,

Thanks for reaching out. Sorry for the delay in response. As you mentioned, you are encountering the error message "This is a restricted file" when clicking "Add Comments" in the new update of Acrobat. However, this does not prevent you from adding comments or making markups. Here are a few steps you can try to resolve this issue.

Check the document security settings by opening the PDF file in Acrobat, clicking on the menu, going to document properties, selecting security, and reviewing the document restriction summary to see if commenting is enabled.

Verify with your IT administrator whether any services have been enabled or disabled for your product profile. For more details, refer to this guide: Enable or disable services.

If you are unsure who your IT administrator is, follow this guide to find out: How to contact your IT administrator.

Try reinstalling the Acrobat application on a test device to determine if the issue persists. You can either install a single app package from the Adobe Admin Console by following the Pre-generated packages guide or reinstall Acrobat via the Creative Cloud Desktop app

If the issue still persists, please raise a support case with our team for further assistance: Adobe Support and Expert Services.

Let us know if you need any further assistance.

Regards,
^AN

[Jaclyn262480907cj4]

Hello, just jumping in to say that our firm is having the same issue.

[tsurikov]

My work team also experiences this problem. For us, it is somewhat more severe -- when the message appears, Acrobat does not allow us to add any new shared-review comments. The only solution we have is to delete the problematic shared-review-enabled PDF and re-create it.

Regarding Anshul's reply: None of our original PDFs have any security settings enabled, our IT team has all services properly configured (obviously -- otherwise we wouldn't be able to create any shared reviews), and the problem occurs both for old and fresh Acrobat installations.  So I believe the root cause lies elsewhere.

[Friendly_Elixir6190]

We are having the same issue in our envrionment. 

[Studdock_Mark]

Even a blank page created by the command Menu > Create > Blank Page, is displayed as a restricted:

This seems to be a bug, and it's strange that it still hasn't been fixed since February.

[smart_penguin4411]

People were able to access and comment on files up until last week without adobe pro license. But for the past few days all non pro members are facing this restriction which is slowing things down. What happened!?

[creative explorer]

@smart_penguin4411 It is quite possible Adobe has changed the availability of commenting features for free users in Acrobat/Reader. It's time to purchase an Adobe Acrobat Pro/Standard license! I know it will sting and sucks.... but many of us are paid users.

[smart_penguin4411]

I was guessin the same. Some members do have the liscense and dont face the  issue. But for several others I am not sure if I can get the budjet approved at this time 😞 for individual license unless if there is any other way where there is no additional chargers for additional members.

[tsurikov]

As I mentioned in my post, we are already using the paid Adobe Acrobat (Professional, in fact), and we still experience this behavior. So I don't think paying for Acrobat is the answer. And in any case, even if it were, the expectation is for Adobe to announce this limitation prominently. No such announcement has occurred.

[Studdock_Mark]

Let's carefully read the restriction message displayed in the comments panel:

“This is a restricted file

The owner of this file has locked it from receiving comments or other changes.”

What does Adobe and their subscription have to do with a file whose unknown owner has locked it? This question is rhetorical. The restriction applies to the file, not the subscription.

[devina86956525]

This is definitely a bug as our entire org is now experiencing this on all Acrobat Reader or Pro installs. It does appear to be some sort of UI bug, since if you do the following steps it seems to fix the issue and you are able to comment again - however opening the comment tab initially will say you are restricted, you can click the page and add comments normally:

1. Open a PDF
2. Right click and select Document Properties
3. Click on the Security tab
4. Under the "Security Method" dropdown, it will be blank. Select the box and click "No Security"
5. Press OK
6. All subsequent documents should now allow adding comments

[AtrocitySale]

I am having this issue also. The first time I thought perhaps comments had been accidentally disabled so I unshared and reshared again, making sure it is shared for review and commenting (and yes, the security settings are set to none). I verified I could add comments in the new share and sent the link. But as soon as one of the team members who does not have an adobe account tried to comment, she received the error commenting is not allowed on this file, and now we all get that error. She was always able to comment as "guest" before, and interestingly she can go back to an older file and still comment as guest, the problem only occurs with the newly shared files after the latest Acrobat update.