I never need a PDF to be locked when I download them. This is very annoying when I want to quickly annotate them.
Is there any way to change this default in macOS? I am on Catalina.
MacBook Pro with Touch Bar
Using "Export as PDF..." does indeed prevent the problem. I will use that as a workaround, thank you.
For the record, y steps to reproduce the problem require that you click the button at hover menu at the bottom of the Safari screen to open the pdf in Preview. That does make the document locked when you move it somewhere on disc or at least when you move it and then rename it.
Where are you downloading them from. Being locked or protected is usually the author's doing.
Please read the following user tip and reply in detail: Writing an Effective Apple Support Communities Question - Apple Community.
Bring up the info pane for a pdf document and make a screenshot of the ownership and permissions section and post.
Where are the pdf files located when you try to open? Do you have an external HD (not a Time Machine) drive) that you can copy one to and try to open there?
What I'm getting at is the situation described in this Apple document: Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder - Apple Support
patrickkidd Said:
"How to prevent downloaded PDFs from automatically being 'Locked.' I never need a PDF to be locked when I download them. This is very annoying when I want to quickly annotate them. Is there any way to change this default in macOS? I am on Catalina."
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Try a New Administrator:
Create a new Administrator user (Go to: System Preferences > Users & Groups). Log into that user, and see if this occurs in that account. If not, then there is something misconfigured in your current user. So, transfer everything over to the new user, and then trash this user. You should be good from there.
What does the sharing and Permissions section look like? The file isn't locked but you may not have read permission for it. Also for your Desktop folder.
I did this again but to the Downloads folder since I deleted the last one. Attached are the permissions for the Downloads folder and the pdf file in the downloads folder. It should be noted that the pdf did not become locked if I changed the file name through the move file dialog from the title bar of Preview.app.
As mentioned previously, "This happens for all pdfs on a few OS installs now over the last few years. " For due diligence, I just tried this with a test user and it did the same thing. This is standard macOS behavior.
This occurs for every pdf regardless of source.
I think I am describing a different situation than you are. This happens for all pdfs on a few OS installs now over the last few years.
Here are the steps to reproduce what I am talking about:
1) Click on any link to view a pdf in the Safari browser window.
2) In the menu that appears when you hover your mouse over the bottom of the browser window, click the button to open the pdf in Preview.app.
3) Click the document title at the top of Preview.app to change the location of the pdf from the download cache folder to any folder on your computer.
4) Notice that the pdf is now automatically "Locked."
Here is the info pane for a pdf I just downloaded from the IRS, after following my steps to reproduce the behavior:
Old Toad: Well, I think that's certainly understandable if you haven't seen this behavior. But for the sake of future viewers of this thread who may have a solution I think it is important to point out that I have produced clear steps to reproduce default macOS behavior and that the problem remains unsolved.
Can you please be more specific? In your last reply in this thread you said that you used the "Export as PDF..." menu action from Safari, which is mutually exclusive with the open in Preview button I am talking about.
When I selected the 1040 pdf I used the open in Preview button at the bottom of the PDF file on screen:
when trying to duplicate your problem. I normally use the File ➙ Export as PDF menu to download the file.
OK, good. The full steps to reproduce the problem is to click that open in preview button, and then move it to a folder on your hard drive using the dialog at the top of the Preview.app window, and then rename the file in that folder using the dialog at the top of the Preview.app window. Sometimes the file is automatically locked when I move it, and sometimes it doesn't happen until I also rename the file after moving it.
In addition, notice that the Get Info box shows that the file is not locked, but the following Preview.app window shows that it is locked:
That's the same as my Documents folder.
And this locking occurs on every PDF you download regardless of the source, right?
How to prevent downloaded PDFs from automatically being "Locked."
