Saving PDF forms in Preview app asks for passwords when open

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Saving PDF forms in Preview app asks for passwords when open

A friend of mine has to fill out a few PDF forms. He tried this in Apple MacOS Sonoma Preview app. When he saves the PDF and opens the file again in Preview, he get asked for a password. When saving the PDF he didn't got asked for any password and didn't set any password.

I'm still on Ventura 13.4.1, I didn't have the issue he demonstrated on his machine over FaceTime. He sent me a PDF file he saved with Preview, and Preview also asks me for a password. I can open the file with Google Chrome though and got this information from the file:

macOS Version 14.3.1 (Build 23D60) Quartz PDFContext

Mac mini (M1, 2020)

Posted on Mar 12, 2024 10:20 AM

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Answer 1

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HWTech

Community+ 2026

Level 9

76,654 points

Mar 13, 2024 8:56 PM in response to richard_metzler

It is a bug with Preview in macOS 14.x Sonoma. There are multiple threads on this forum about this issue. The Preview app is applying the existing restrictions from the PDF's creator to the modified document when people fill in the form. That file is now permanently locked since you don't have the password. Just download another copy of the PDF file and use a third party app to fill in the form and never let Preview modify it again (not sure if it may lock it just by viewing it).

You can provide Apple with product feedback here:

Feedback - macOS - Apple

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