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Participant
April 23, 2024
Question

Didn't set password, still my PDF file is asking for a password to open

  • April 23, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 5762 views

I have seen similar posts like that which were then "locked" for some reason. I'm having the same issues as many other users. These are documents from over 12 years ago that people have successfully filled out and sent back to me for over 10 years.

Now, they say they are security protected and require a password, but I have never placed passwords on them. They're questionnaires for clients. There's no reason to ever protect them. Should I attempt a 3rd party app that cracks the security? I really don't know what to do. For now, my workaround is just to tell people to download a copy. 😞

2 replies

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 23, 2024

This file contains a security policy that prevents editing it in various ways, but not opening it. The form fields in it can be filled in and the file saved. Maybe those users were trying to edit it. If they got prompted for a password when just opening it then they probably used a non-compliant PDF viewer.

Bernd Alheit
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 23, 2024

Open the form in Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat.

Participant
May 31, 2024

Hello!
I have the same issue.
I created a PDF and didn't set a password; I'm in a course and now I can't access my document.
What's going on? This was an issue 10 years ago.
I thought that PDF files are the safest and now... I'm stuck??

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 18, 2025

still getting the email and password prompt.  very frustrating

 


PDF passwords do not require an email address. This is something different.

Post a screenshot of what you're seeing, please.