Where is my "read only copy" saved (on MacOS)?

[defaultqw6rpzrw7byf]

I'm running I'm running Adobe Acrobat DC 2021.011.20039 on MacOS 12.1.

I just used Fill & Sign to modify a PDF. When I was finished, I clicked Next and chose to save a "read only copy". But I see no such file anywhere on my hard drive. When I search in Finder, I can only find the original unedited PDF. Where is this read only copy saved? Is it only saved *in* Adobe Acrobat, within the Application package? Is it saved in Application Support in some hidden folder? Why is this file not saved in a logical location on my hard drive? When I try to save as, it seems to undo the "read only" status of my PDF and invalidates the security, so I would like to know how to access the read only file that seems to have been saved to some inaccessible location on my computer.

Sincere thanks for any help with this!

[Chris 486 · Accepted solution]

Hello!

The read only copy is being saved to your adobe document cloud location. The link below should take you to there. Once you sign in you can see your documents.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/home

After the document has been signed and saved. You can still save a local copy by going to File > Save As.

[defaultqw6rpzrw7byf]

Thank you so much Chris. Sorry that I'm taking so long to respond when you responded so quickly.

I found the file where you specified (https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/home).

Now I'm wondering if there's any way to turn cloud storage as a save location off. I looked this up online and couldn't find an answer and searched Preferences... in Acrobat and didn't find a way to turn cloud saves off. I deal with a lot of files under strict NDA and am not even contractually allowed to store on cloud for many of the files. I'm really hoping there's a way to not save to cloud every time I edit a PDF in this way. Even a temporary save on the cloud that I delete after the fact doesn't work for my situation.

Thanks again for your response very helpful response.

[Chris 486]

Glad you were able to access them!

If you use adobe sign, you will always have a copy with adobe.

The Adobe Sign FAQ can provide more specific information.

Adobe Sign FAQ

TL:DR - Adobe is providing 3rd party proof that the document is signed, unaltered, and meeting necessary digital signing requirements possibly required by your company, country, et al.

The documents are tied to an adobe account but I would not consider them less secure purely based on them being in the cloud. Your company should have a business account/login for you that is under their ownership so the documents stay with them and not tied to an outside or individual account.

Hope that helps!

[Test Screen Name]

Adobe Sign _is_ a web service. The signing stuff isn't on your computer at all. You cannot use it under the circumstances you describe. There are many ways to sign a document in Acrobat and some of them are entirely local. It is a great pity that there is no big warning message before sending to the cloud.

If you'd like tips on which one to use, please say whether you want

- a trusted certicate proving your identity

- a certificate you create, with your name but no proof (need to share a checking file with others)

- not a certificate at all, but a visual stamp on a page

- a scribbled signature made with mouse

- something else

[defaultqw6rpzrw7byf]

Thanks for this, that makes it super clear. And yeah, I wish there had been any kind of warning - for users like myself who rarely use Acrobat, it's not intuitive that clicking "Fill & Sign" is sending you down a road of cloud-based digital certification. I thought I was just entering in data into a PDF and saving for myself. Re: the use cases you listed, I don't need a certificate at all, I had just wanted to enter text into a blank table on a PDF form. I am relatively new to using Acrobat and assumed "Fill & Sign" was a logical choice to fill out blank fields (not actual digital certificate form fields but simply visually empty spaces in a table) in a PDF. I imagine I should be using (and only using) "Edit PDF" for this.

Thanks for the help!