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Unable to export Acrobat Pro file as word doc - don't have permission

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
December 22, 2020
5 replies
6728 views

Hello,

I've just finished filling out a pdf form through Adobe Acrobat Pro, however now that I go to save it as a word file it says "the document has insufficient permission for this operation." It's a government form (study permit application) so I obviously can't change the permissions. I downloaded it directly from the government site, too, so I can't imagine what's going wrong. I have no idea what to do. If anyone could shed some light on this I would appreciate it!

(also, I was going to try first to download it as a regular pdf, the kind viewable through preview, but there doesn't seem to be an option for this. Am I just missing something?)

Thank you for any help!

Edit and convert PDFs

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T

Test Screen Name

Legend

By the way, why would you try to convert a government form? It will no longer be accepted by the government if you mess with it. Just fill it and return it.

hammer0909

Community Expert

When you open the file, do you see (Secured) after the file name at the top of your screen? If so, you don't have permission to export the file to the Word format. As many people have already said though, even if you could, you probably won't like the results. The form field data will be lost.

R

Ry5C4EAuthor

Participating Frequently

No, it only says "the validity of the document certification is unknown. The author could not be verified." Even though I've been downloading it directly from the government website. I feel like that's probably part of the problem but I've redownloaded it several times and it always has the same message.

That's good to know about saving it as a word doc, I would definitely prefer to save it as a PDF but when I go to the "export PDF" function on Adobe the only export options are to word, spreadsheet, powerpoint, image, and HTML webpage (plus a few more under "more formats" but none of them are PDF). Going through "save as" gives me options for PDF/A, PDF/E, and PDF/X. I've tried saving to those (even though I'm not sure exactly what kind of PDF they are) but it gives me an error message saying "this PDF document contains an Adobe XML form. Such files cannot be optimized."

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

I think you need to focus on saving it as a PDF. Even if you suceeded in converting to Word, the stuff you typed in the form would be lost! What happens, exactly, when you try to save the PDF in the normal way?

R

Ry5C4EAuthor

Participating Frequently

That's good to know! I would definitely like to save it as a PDF but the "export PDF" function on Adobe only gives me options for word, spreadsheet, powerpoint, image, and HTML webpage (plus a few more under "more formats" but none of them are PDF). "Save as" gives me options for PDF/A, PDF/E, and PDF/X. I've tried saving to those (though I'm not sure exactly what they are) but it gives me an error message saying "this PDF document contains an Adobe XML form. Such files cannot be optimized." I've tried going through the print window, but the popup in Acrobat for that doesn't have a "save to PDF" option. But maybe I'm missing something somewhere?

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

When I hit save as, it asks me to choose where I want to save it (I choose desktop) and then it brings up a popup box with the file name and a dropdown menu saying it'll save to desktop. Underneath those things in the box there's a dropdown menu for format, and the automatic format is "Adobe PDF Files," which if I choose that just resaves it as this kind of PDF, not the kind I can view in preview. This dropdown menu also gives me the PDF/A PDF/E etc. formats I was talking about.

Oh, so you want to convert it to some other kind of PDF. No, it is that kind of PDF, and you are stuck with it; Acrobat has no tools to convert it to another more convenient kind.

JR Boulay

Community Expert

Why do you need to convert a filled Certified government PDF form to DOCX format?

Can't you store it like any PDF?

Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe

R

Ry5C4EAuthor

Participating Frequently

I would prefer to save it to PDF, I just didn't see that as an option. The "export PDF" function on Adobe only gives me options for word, spreadsheet, powerpoint, image, and HTML webpage. Going through "save as" gives me options for PDF/A, PDF/E, and PDF/X. I've tried saving to those (though I'm not sure exactly what they are) but it gives me an error message saying "this PDF document contains an Adobe XML form. Such files cannot be optimized." I've tried the print window as well, but the popup in Acrobat for that doesn't have a "save to PDF" option. Maybe I'm missing something though?

R

Ry5C4EAuthor

Participating Frequently

I also forgot to mention, at the top of the file in Acrobat it says "the vailidity of the document certification is unknown. The author could not be verified." I don't know if that has anything to do with this, but I re-downloaded the file from the website and opened it again and it still has the same message. I wonder if this has anything to do with me not having permissions?

Bernd Alheit

Community Expert

Can you share the link of the form?

R

Ry5C4EAuthor

Participating Frequently

https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/pdf/kits/forms/imm5709e.pdf

This is a link to the form, although I have been downloading it directly from my personal portal on the government site so I don't know if that makes a difference.

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