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Can't open encrypted PDF

New Here ,
May 03, 2021 May 03, 2021

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I password-protected a PDF with Acrobat Pro 2020, then tried to open it again. Instead of being asked for the password, however, I received an error message that told me the file was corrupted and couldn't be repaired. What!!!

I tried opening the encrypted, and allegedly "corrupted", file in MacOS Preview, and it worked! I typed in my password, and the file opened like a charm.

As if that wasn't weird enough, here's the next level: I encrypted a PDF in Preview this time, and saved it. When I tried to open it in Acrobat, I was asked for the password, typed it in, and it worked, too!

Now let't get this straight: In Acrotbat Pro, I can open documents encrypted in Preview, but not those encrypted in Acrobat itself?

Suggestions anyone?

TOPICS
Create PDFs , General troubleshooting

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Community Expert ,
May 03, 2021 May 03, 2021

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Did you try to open it in Preview first, and then tried it in Acrobat, by any chance?

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LEGEND ,
May 03, 2021 May 03, 2021

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What exact version of Acrobat please (like 2020.123.45678?)

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New Here ,
May 04, 2021 May 04, 2021

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Thanks for replying, also to try67. Opening the file in Preview first didn't change anything. The Acrobat version is 2020.001.30020. But I don't think this plays a role here. - Why? Because here's what I found today:

 

Encrypting works in general. It only fails and shows the above mentioned symptoms with OCR files.

That't what I usually do with scans - I OCR them. And no, not in Acrobat, but in ABBYY Fine Reader. Obviously, the two don't get along too well. For the sake of testing, I tried using Acrobat's OCR function and then encrypted the file. And bingo, this time it worked! I could open the file with my password, the way it's supposed to be.

So I guess there is no fault with Adobe here. I'll have to live with this little incompatibility, but now I at least I know how to handle this.

So thanks again for trying to help me here. Maybe someone will run into the same problem - here's the solution!

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Community Expert ,
May 04, 2021 May 04, 2021

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I didn't ask in order to encourage you to try it, but to warn you that opening it in Preview may very well cause this issue, as it's a buggy application that corrupts PDF files just by opening them...

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LEGEND ,
May 04, 2021 May 04, 2021

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Actually that does sound like a fault in Acrobat, and a serious one. I'm glad you found a way to avoid it. I can confirm the version you are running (2020.001.30020) is the latest available update to Acrobat 2020, as of May 2021. I asked because I think I remember a similar problem being fixed.

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