Big Sur 11.6.6 permissions issues

There are 3 or 4 threads open on this all since 11.6.6, regarding both Mail and Outlook ... now this seems bigger than just mail apps but something inherent with the security fixes in 11.6.6 and in particular with Preview ... please file a bug report with Apple (use Feedback Assistant) ... this is a major inconvenience and it needs fixing, but that won't happen unless everyone with this issue takes 2 minutes and files a bug report so the matter percolates to the top :~)

Not sure about Mail but in Outlook )or with just stand alone PDFs) the only workaround seems to be quitting Preview, Word, Excel or whatever app is insisting on permissions, then it will open, but the next one won't unless you first quit the app ...

I see this too - cannot double click an attachment in Mail to open it - happened after the 11.6.6 update. It is random, and our workaround is to save the attachment to the Desktop (or a folder on the Desktop), and open it from there.

C'mon Apple - 11.6.7!!!

Please File A Report With Apple Here

Feedback - macOS - Apple

Apple Support told me 11.6.6 is probably the last Big Sur Update. There could be another one a while later but not necessarily. Maybe they will be quicker if we can get enough bug reports submitted. Reporting here will not impact fixing the issue.

I just read this, submitted a bug report and I see a BigSur update for 11.6.7!

"macOS Big Sur 11.6.7 — Restart Required

macOS Big Sur 11.6.7 fixes an issue where Mail and apps, such as Microsoft Outlook, cannot open attachments if the app required to open the file is already running.

For more information on the security content of this update, see Apple security updates - Apple Support

"

I have this exact issue as well. I believe it started with the 11.6.6 update for me, but I am not positive.

After a safe boot and a reinstallation of macOS (over top of the existing), there was no improvement, so I deleted the volumes and did a clean install. I signed in to iCloud and installed 1Password before I thought to test, but I believe these steps would reproduce the problem on a fresh install as well:

1. Close Preview if it's open.
2. Open TextEdit and create a document with arbitrary text contents.
3. Print the document to PDF using the menu in the print dialog box, saving the file to ~/Desktop.
4. Right-click the file on the desktop and choose "Open With" and then Safari.
5. Use the overlay button in Safari (near the bottom center of the screen) for "Open in Preview".
6. The document will open correctly in Preview. Close the document window, but not Preview.
7. Click the "Open in Preview" button in Safari again.
8. Warning dialog from Preview is presented with the message, "The file $filename couldn't be opened because you don't have permission to view it." with subtext, "To view or change permissions, select the item in the Finder and choose File > Get Info.", and only an "OK" button.

I don't know what the right name for the underlying technology is, but the problem seems to manifest itself whenever another app asks Preview to display a file. I don't believe it's limited to PDFs, but that's what ruined my work day.

Edit: I forgot to mention, I do not experience this issue on Monterey. Issues occurred on a Late 2014 iMac that can't upgrade.

Specifically on Outlook for MAC - I have the exact same issue (thought I was going nuts)

Tried all of the above but still no resolution - this was DEFINITELY introduced after Big Sur 16.6.6 the other day.

• PDF's won't open at all (but you can quick-look them) ... or after force-quitting Preview ... but it only works once .. then you need to force-quit again (even for the same file)
• Excel and Word attachments will open ONLY after you've given them permission once for each file access-request (i.e. after granting access in the Outlook Temp folder)

Just a royal pain in the neck !

Please file a bug report with Apple. Perhaps Feedback Assistant is the easiest way; only takes a minute or two. We can complain here all we want but Apple does not read/monitor these forums. Until they know how serious this is, it's just going to linger.

Good solution ! Thank you . And as matter of fact it always works. But then this demonstrates that the issue is with the Preview app. C'on Apple has to solve this issue immediately with a 11.6.7 !!! Very very annoying

And Apple could also say "Update to Monterey and problem will go away..." But I cannot update to it since I have a still beatiful iMac 27 late 2014 that works just fine and don't want to spend more money... for a new iMac.... So Apple please fix this issue with urgency !!!

This question is not answered! It is a way to work around not use the OS. For me it is only an issue with Microsoft Office Files when I try to us the PDF Option in the Print dialog. It must be connected to permissions on the temporary folder where PDF is put until you save it somewhere. I don't know where that is but I'd guess that Mail uses the same behind the scenes code to open attachment thus resulting in the same problem. Can anyone tell us how to update the permissions so we can all get back to work again?

I did file a bug report with Apple. I noted that the problem was with using Preview to open attachments in both Mail and Outook (I use the latter for work). I also noted that you can "quick view" the attachments without any problem. I also noted that, at least with Mail, I have given Preview "Full Disk Access". So that would seem to allow it to read any folder, whether "temporary" or not. Apparently not.

The work around does seem to work but it is an extra step. I always click on every file I've attached to a draft email to make sure that I've attached the correct file. Quite annoying (and gets confusing) when I have to save a file attached to a draft email before I can make sure it's correct.

Another workaround, much simpler, is to "Open with Acrobat Reader." After 2 decades of using Preview, I am having to retrain myself to do that.

I'm also someone with an older computer (early 2014 Air) that can't upgrade to Monterey. I had only recently upgraded to Big Sur and had been very pleased with how my "vintage" (per Apple) computer was running on it. (The upgrade even cured a wake-from-sleep problem I was experiencing when running on my aging batter.) It was definitely 11.6.6 that has introduced this problem.

Thanks for you insight! I was trying to help my dad with this, as he was completely befuddled by this. Good to know that there is some closure. Not what I was hoping to find, though!

I myself don’t run Big Sur, anymore, which is why I hadn’t run into the problem myself. It’s always harder to help someone troubleshoot who has a different version of the OS.

Let’s hope that Apple will address this.

I just upgraded Big Sur to 11.6.6 and bingo... same problem. I have Mac Air mid 2103. Really making things difficult. It also means I can't open PDFs I send in other apps, not just Outlook and Mail.

I can't use the apple reporting app mentioned because it says I'm not allowed too. I guess I'm not singed up for something...

Let's get this fixed as soon as possible. I heard IOS 12 is coming in June... so!

I had the same issue with PDFs in mails or PDFs in ibooks since the last update to 11.6.6.

There is a solution or better maybe a fix/work-around.

I have added preview and books in the security settings from Mac OS to have full disk access.

Now I can open the files again, but I do not know if this is the best way to handle that.

It issue looks like a permission problem with the sandbox environment.

The logs look like this for mail attachments:

Sandbox: Preview(11237) deny(1) file-read-data /Users/(Username/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail Downloads/Attachment.pdf

PDFs in books have a similar issue with a different path:

sandbox: Preview(11237) deny(1) file-read-data /Users/(Username)/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~com~apple~iBooks/Documents/PDF.pdf

I have the same problem.

My work around for email files is to open it on my phone where opening it works and airdrop it to my MacBook.

But it is only helpful for emailed files and the problem also happens with other files.

It even happens with files I created and nobody else saw or touched.

It is also random.