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V
vb19
Participant
February 15, 2016
Question

Unlocking SECURED files for Editing in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Mac

  • February 15, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 35631 views

I recently updated to Adobe Acrobat DC on Mac, to find that I cannot edit .pdf files -- specifically add Sticky Notes.

The file is xyz.pdf (SECURED)

Document Properties > Security Tab > Commenting : Not Allowed

[Only Show Details as a tab in it is present]

The Get Info shows I have Read & write Privileges

How could I permanently remove SECURED extension using in-built Mac tools?

Would downgrading Adobe Acrobat Reader help?

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Bernd Alheit
Community Expert
Bernd AlheitCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 15, 2016

‌With Adobe Acrobat and the permission password you can change the security settings.

V
vb19Author
Participant
February 16, 2016

There is no Permission password  or any option to change security settings

This only happens with some .pdf files

1. Note the (SECURED) inbuilt extension & grey sticky note & text editing

2. I can only view the Security Settings, can't alter 'Password Security'

3. Although I've Read & Write Privileges, Editing worked with previous Acrobat Reader version, I couldn't downgrade the version.

I would prefer not to buy another software or its ineffective demo version for password unlocking.

V
vb19Author
Participant
February 17, 2016

The free Reader has never had the capability to unlock secured PDFs; you need Acrobat for that. If you could unlock them before, you were not using Reader but Acrobat. If so, make sure that you are opening the files with Acrobat.


After periodic upgradation of Adobe Acrobat Reader 11 Mac to Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Mac, the file turned to SECURED setting.

Editing being blocked now only happens with some selective files. Earlier Get Info>Change to read & 'write' privileges used to unlock SECURED tag for me allowing editing consequently.

Could you clarify if you meant Adobe Acrobat Professional?

If you could break this, how to decrypt the owner password only then I could access Editing privileges.

I've tried everything else, Save as .pdf is creating a blank PDF (though editable), as is evident from 1.5MB copy as compared to 53MB original

Are there free softwares out there for password retrieval?

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