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Preview Error: "The document “” could not be saved. "

This issue drives me mad:

Preview doesn't save files. Always get the same error "The document “” could not be saved. "

Tried to save an image or PDF on the Desktop, My Home Folder, iCloud.

Can't do anything with Preview...

Anyone has a suggestion?

Note: Installed Catalina on a blank drive just a few days ago, so I can't say it's been working fine ever since, even if it did. Checked that I have the right permissions and I do...

(I'm re-posting this question because I just found the answer, but the Apple forums have closed that question already so I can't reply to it.)

Posted on May 6, 2020 9:43 AM

Top-ranking reply

Grant Grueninger Author

Level 1

128 points

Posted on May 6, 2020 9:46 AM

I reported this as a bug in Preview during the Catalina beta, but the actual "bug" is that the error message isn't very useful.

This issue appears to be caused by certain PDF files that either have some security setting, or possibly are just using a form. The "fix" is to "print" the PDF and choose to save it as a PDF. You should be able to annotate and save that version.

That is:

Open the PDF in Preview
File > Print
Save as PDF

View in context

Preview Error: "The document “” could not be saved. "

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