Why my Mac setup password to pdf automatically?

Question

Level 1

11 points

Why my Mac setup password to pdf automatically?

Environment: M1 chip MacBook Air, macOS Monterey 12.0.1

I recently download some forms from a government website and want to fill them in the MacBook air .

But the Mac is always automatically setting a password to protect the pdf once I save it. Also, I do not know what is the password. I tried my waking-up password and Apple ID password, neither works.

I tried both "preview" and "adobe acrobat reader", same problem happens in every single time.

Please, can anyone tell me how to avoid this problem?

Posted on Nov 30, 2021 11:04 PM

Reply

Answer 1

bruno75

Community Specialist

Dec 1, 2021 5:09 PM in response to shiqi225

Hi there shiqi225,

We'd like to help take a closer look at what's happening regarding those PDFs you downloaded and the password protection that's showing.

On first glance, especially since it shows within two different apps(one by Apple and one by a third-party), this doesn't seem to point towards your Mac as the cause. It does point towards the files you downloaded from the government website.

Let's confirm the following to better understand what's happening, along with ruling out some possible causes:

You mentioned downloading these PDFs from a 'government website', but which website was it?
If you try downloading the same PDFs to a different device, what occurs?

Take care!

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Answer 2

bruno75

Community Specialist

Dec 2, 2021 1:00 PM in response to shiqi225

Hello shiqi225,

Do all PDFs have this issue on your Mac, or only the ones specifically downloaded from the government website?

Have you already tried reaching out to the government website support, and if yes, what did they have to say?

Cheers!

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Answer 3

bruno75

Community Specialist

Dec 3, 2021 5:55 PM in response to shiqi225

Hey shiqi225,

We're glad to hear you found a workaround for the currently affected PDFs.

Based on the details you provided, we still recommend reaching out to those government websites to see if they have any solutions for you.

It would be a good idea to test a non-government website obtained PDF when you get the chance.

Have a good one!

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Answer 4

shiqi225 Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 1, 2021 9:44 PM in response to bruno75

Hi bruno75

Regarding the Q1, These forms are from 'Department of Homeaffairs' of Australia Government. You can simply search 'form 80', form '956', 'form 929' in google to access them. They are widely used in almost all visa application, so I think google will show them in top few items.

Regarding the Q2, I only have a mac and a windows laptop (win10). I couldn't find problems when filling forms in windows PC. But the pdf is shown as "secured" in PC version adobe acrobat reader. I don't know whether this is the problem.

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Answer 5

shiqi225 Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 3, 2021 5:37 PM in response to bruno75

Hi bruno75

At this moment, I don't have other needs or sources of other editable forms, so I did not try other forms. I tried to edit a pdf converted from a docx file, it works good.

Meanwhile, I also edited a form from 'Medicare' of Australia government (called MS004), same problem also shown.

I did not contact any government agencies regarding this issue, as they may reply very slow.

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Why my Mac setup password to pdf automatically?

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