Participating Frequently

Question

Why is Adobe Acrobat adding a security password automatically to my documents?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
July 5, 2021
5 replies
4960 views

I regularly use PDFs created by other firms. These are fillable forms that can be saved, printed, etc. When I send them to others for signature, the clients are unable to open them or sign them. Some investigation revealed that the forms are password protected. The firms that send me the forms insist they are not adding any password protection at their end and it appears that my paid version of Adobe Acrobat DC is doing it. Is this possible? How do I stop it from happening? Any way of knowing what password my Adobe Acrobat is using for security?

Thanks,
Scott

This topic has been closed for replies.

E

Embriel29948306p2dd

Participant

My Acrobat also does this and it is causing huge problems. In my case, the form in question has been used many times without problem. Forms are filled by me and sent out for signing. When we receive them back and try to combine them with other documents, suddenly they are password protected and can't be merged. I have no idea what the password is; I've never used the password feature on any documents. Neither I nor the signatory took any steps to add a password. As I said, this has caused a lot of problems. It's annoying to see replies state so confidently that Acrobat does not do this. I assure you that in some cases at least, it does.

try67

Community Expert

You've answered your own query. The files are not password-protected, but they are locked because they were digitally signed. This prevents editing them, including merging them with other files (except as a part of a Portfolio), per definition.

MikelKlink

Participating Frequently

... or did you probably try to change permissions?

Please describe exactly what you do to those documents with your Acrobat.

S

SCOTT5FD9Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks for the replies. It's the oddest thing. All I do is receive the forms, open them, and then enter new information in the fields that are permitted. I don't change any of the settings or permissions. Creators insist there should be no security settings on the files, yet this is the second time that I cannot request signatures because of a password protection. I've tried Acrobat DC and Reader DC and the result is the same.

Bernd Alheit

Community Expert

Have you looked at the security settings after you have received the form?

try67

Community Expert

Did you maybe sign the document yourself before sending it out?

S

SCOTT5FD9Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks for the replies. It's the oddest thing. All I do is receive the forms, open them, and then enter new information in the fields that are permitted. I don't change any of the settings or permissions. Creators insist there should be no security settings on the files, yet this is the second time that I cannot request signatures because of a password protection. I've tried Acrobat DC and Reader DC and the result is the same.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

Since Acrobat doesn't do this, take a look at the file as you first receive it - check if there is a password. Be sure you are checking with File > Properties > Security, not any other way.

S

SCOTT5FD9Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks for the replies. It's the oddest thing. All I do is receive the forms, open them, and then enter new information in the fields that are permitted. I don't change any of the settings or permissions. Creators insist there should be no security settings on the files, yet this is the second time that I cannot request signatures because of a password protection. I've tried Acrobat DC and Reader DC and the result is the same. I can go into Security and try to make changes to the permissions, but it then asks for the password. Neither I, nor the file creator, have a clue what the password is or why it's been requested.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

So, if the file you get - before you change it - says it has a password, then it has a password. It's not your problem to get rid of it - because you don't know it! You are checking BEFORE YOU CHANGE ANYTHING, right?

Bernd Alheit

Community Expert

Adobe Acrobat doesn't add a password automatically.

S

Sue23673477xxft

Participant

My docs that I create are being automatically given a password also. It is the name of the first password I set up for the first document that I added security to. Fortunately I remember the password. Each and every document I create (eg by just saving a word doc to a pdf ) has this same password automatically saved . I have to manually go in and remove the password and sometimes it takes more than one try to remove it. Any ideas how to help this?

Bernd Alheit

Community Expert

How does you create the PDF files?

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded