I'm working on some immigration forms I downloaded from the USCIS website. One of them automatically encrypted itself without me initiating/requesting the encryption. I'm now prompted for a password that I do not have.
The form is i-131. It's a simple PDF file. Has anyone else run into this issue and know of a fix to resolve it?
Thanks!
Victor’s MacBook Pro
The USCIS site also offers to file that form online now. I just downloaded that i-131 form and without opening it, I ran a PDF inspector on it that I wrote in Swift, and the document shows it is encrypted and does not permit document assembly. It is also a PDF/A-1 archival PDF document.
Try restoring this PDF from a Time Machine backup (/Applications/Time Machine) and do not open it with Apple's Preview, but instead, try the free, current Adobe Acrobat Reader. Fill out the form and then don't save it, instead, perform a Save As to write it to another PDF file.
The government uses either Acrobat, or Adobe's LiveCycle Designer PDF generator which favor Adobe Acrobat Reader over Apple's Preview for PDFs.
The USCIS site also offers to file that form online now. I just downloaded that i-131 form and without opening it, I ran a PDF inspector on it that I wrote in Swift, and the document shows it is encrypted and does not permit document assembly. It is also a PDF/A-1 archival PDF document.
Try restoring this PDF from a Time Machine backup (/Applications/Time Machine) and do not open it with Apple's Preview, but instead, try the free, current Adobe Acrobat Reader. Fill out the form and then don't save it, instead, perform a Save As to write it to another PDF file.
The government uses either Acrobat, or Adobe's LiveCycle Designer PDF generator which favor Adobe Acrobat Reader over Apple's Preview for PDFs.
Good point @VikingOSX. FYI: We looked into filing online but our loved one doesn't meet the online filing criteria.
Prior to seeing your reply, I tried opening the form in Adobe Acrobat and had the same problem as I did in Apple Preview. Fortunately, I had an older version of the file that was partially completed. I went back to that version in Preview, made my updates, and then used Print > Print as PDF to make a new version. The new version can't be edited but can be opened and read.
I'll test your suggestion using Adobe Acrobat on the other USCIS forms we have to complete. Thanks for your help! 🙏🏽
My USCIS PDF file is password protected... but I didn't set a password
