I can't paste the password for the protected PDF document

[nadined47461928]

I get sent a lot of PDF protected sheets on a daily basis. In the same mail that the PDF is attached to I also get sent the password to open the sheet. I used to be able to copy the password from the email body, open the PDF document and paste the password when prompted for the password, but recently when I paste nothing pastes into the password box. I also tried right-clicking selecting copy and then right-clicking the password prompt box and selecting paste to no avail.

Please assist as this is very a very annoying problem.

Regards

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Nadined,

We have tried to replicate the issue on our end. However, we can easily copy and paste the password without any issue.

Did you check if the issue occurs with some particular PDFs or with all the password protected PDF?

Try once to repair the installation. In the application, Go to Help > Repair Installation (Only for Windows).

Check if that makes any difference.

If the issue persists, please share the application and OS version on the machine. Identify the product and its version for Acrobat and Reader DC

It would be helpful if you can share any sample document on which the issue occurs.

Let us know if you need any help.

Regards,

Meenakshi

[johns38723103]

I have been having the same problem.

I can't paste a password into the password dialogue box. Very frustrating. This keeps happening.

Please could Adobe look into this advise. Thanks.

[smooth_Butterfly5FB7]

Hi

[smooth_Butterfly5FB7]

We too are seeing this issue using Win10 1903 and Acrobat DC 19.12.20040.345533. The problem appears to be with the HTML formatting in the email itself - Our passwords come through as underlined in the email and if we copy from the email and paste into DC, nothing appears. However, if you paste into Notepad, then copy and re-paste into DC, it all works fine. As discussed, it is extrememy time consuming for users who receive many of these documents in a day

[ls_rbls]

Does this happens also when you try to type the password in that box instead of the copy and paste method?

Looks like, either the last person who edited the document disabled the capability to do what you are trying to do, OR an update changed or "enahanced" the restrictions that otherwise would've allowed access to editing using copy and paste method (depending on the point of views), OR, see if by cleaning the cached content in your "Clipboard" and other temporary folders helps in any way.

[ls_rbls]

Hello nadine,

I also forgot to add one more observation.

You mentioned that you used to be able to copy the password from the email body of the email that was sent to you.

You may want to also check if the security settings have changed at the computer level (lole group policies, permissions, or firewall and such).

Not sure if you are accessing your emails from a mail server(if one is used and if it applies to your case).

In my case at work, for example, the mail server is configured to restrict some  the users from right clicking on hyperlinks.

If a message is even missing a subject line is considered a possible spam message and it warns the user to proceed with caution when copying amd pasting from a received email.

I hope this gives you additional insights

[BhavAce]

First copy the password into notepad or similar plain text field (like run command)
then Copy from there and paste into input box of Adobe reader. This works!!

[Rosanne21906362zh65]

Thank you!!!!  

[RAKESH24343604s54g]

Great. Thank you.

[A_Rahman1]

We are getting this issue too, but only recently, on machines running Win10 v1903, Acrobat DC 19.012.20040.17853.

As suggested by PhilG1, it is to do with the formatting of text. It needs to be pasted in as plain text, so pasting into Notepad or any plain text area first (search bar, etc), and then copying and pasting that text will resolve your issue.

[ls_rbls]

So I am reading this post again amd because I cannot see what type of emails are sent to the user I really can't tell what is going on. 

But taking PhilG1, BhavAce and A_Rahman1 answers as a starting point again, instead of involving the notepad process you can also try righ-clicking on the HTML email message and Select View Source, then copy the text password from the Inspect window that will open.

I am more inclined to believe this issue is also strictly related to how the PDF document where you are trying to apply the paste action of the password in text format has to do with how the document is opened by default.

Go to preferences, Documents, and where it says PDF/A View Mode select "Never" from the pulldown menu. Click OK and restart Acrobat try again.

If that does not work , here is an interesting approach: https://blogs.adobe.com/acrolaw/2011/05/how-to-remove-pdfa-information-from-a-file/ which suggests how to disable PDF/A restrictions and in the last suggestion of that thread someone suggests printing the file as PDF.

Worst case scenario, if none of the suggestions here work, then maybe a thrid-party add-on will be my last guess , where security restrictions are removed or partially removed in the document(s) that you need to copy and paste into. The fact that some users are reporting that they can paste the emailed password into a word processing application or be able to place it in the clipboard indicates that up to that point the problem does not relates to a fault with the email or HTML page.

This looks more at the security or restrictions that were applied into the document that is sent by the creator of the file.

[ls_rbls]

one more link here: easier to understand: https://superuser.com/questions/441404/how-to-convert-pdf-a-to-normal-pdf

[smooth_Butterfly5FB7]

Having tried removing the PDF/A info, it makes no difference - still cant paste the password. The only solution would appear to regress to version 11 of the reader - which is deeply unsatisfactory. (granted that the cut/paste approach works but try explaining that to my users when they receive 50-60 documents like this per day)

[ls_rbls]

Yes , i feel your pain. Maybe there is a registry editing option. I will check and post back if I can find something.

[smooth_Butterfly5FB7]

I may be missing something here but it looks like a straightforward bug in the DC reader software to me - the password input screen cannot handle formatted text. If I do this in a full version of Acrobat Pro DC, it works fine. That tells me it is not the PDF per se that has the issue.

[Amal.]

Hi There,

We have a new update available for Adobe Acrobat/Reader version 19.21.20047. Please try to update the application to the latest version go to Help > Check for updates and see if that helps. 

For more information about the new update, please use the help article https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/index.html

Let us know how it goes

Regards

Amal

[A_Rahman1]

Hi Amal,

I've updated to the latest version 19.021.20047 and can confirm that the issue still exists.

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi A_Rahman,

Please try updating the application to the latest version 19.021.20048. After updating, reboot the machine. 

- https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/release-note/release-notes-acrobat-reader.html

Also, check if the issue occurs with particular document or with all the secureed documents.

Regards,

Meenakshi

[A_Rahman1]

Hi Meenakshi,

I have updated to the latest version, rebooted, but am unable to paste in formatted passwords.

I am using the same protected pdf as I do not have any other at hand right now.

[smooth_Butterfly5FB7]

Hello - is there any update on a fix for this? Can anyone from Adobe confirm that a) this is a bug, b) that it is logged as such and c) when a fix is likely to be available?

[ls_rbls]

Even though I didn't see  this particular issue mentioned in the release notes, there is a new update with a patch available that was published yesterday.

See if by updating to the current update .20056 fix or helps to correct this issue.

[ls_rbls]

https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/index.html 

[smooth_Butterfly5FB7]

Thank you for the suggestion but that has not resolved the problem. The issue - as I see it - is that Adobe are not recognising this as a bug and therefore it is not on anyones list of things to fix

[ls_rbls]

yes it does seems like it could be a bug.

I've read also that it could be related to new security layers.

It is not just happening in Adobe products; as the software development leaders continue to enhance securiry, move forward with 64bit, and drop support for 32bit, the copying and pasting of a password that is  unencrypted  and shared over a network in plain text, seems to be highly discouraged nowadays.

But if this was the case, why would Yahoo mail, Gmail , Facebook, for example, all have continued to allow users to  paste an unsecured  password in plain text  in their login page that was copied by anyone from anywhere else?

So when it comes down to PDF documents with sensitive information on them, why would Adobe  see fit to continue to promote such an unsecured business workflow with their products?