Why am I getting this message when I try to duplicate a photo in a saved document folder on my new MacBook: The document “IMG_20260311_0001 copy” could not be saved. You don’t have permission. I am the only person who has ever used this computer. Everywhere I check, it shows I have read/write permission.
Also, when I forge ahead and edit the title, I can save it and move it, etc.
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 26.6
I'm sorry-- I don't quite understand. Are you using the Photos app? (This is the forum for the Photos app.) When you say "saved document folder" do you mean an album in Photos, or do you mean a folder in Finder. If in Finder, is this in your Home users's folder or in Pictures, or in Documents, or where?
This appears to be a picture file-- what is the format? Is it RAW or jpg or heic or what?
Do you use a VPN? Or have you used "Cleaner" apps or "Anti-Virus" apps? These sorts of things have been known to corrupt files and otherwise interfere with norma Mac operation. And they are mostly unnecessary.
A couple of things to try are:
Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support
So you use the Photos app? Photos is a non-destructive editor, so edits never change the original. But, of course, Photos editing is aimed toward photographs rather than drawings, so I get it.
Restarting in Safe Mode is does way more than just restart the computer.
In what app are the picture files created?
You haven't said how you try to duplicate the file. For instance,I would use ⌘D, is that what you do? I have no problem on my M3 MacBook with Tahoe 26.6.2 using command-D.
However, if I open a picture in Preview and choose Duplicate, I get a "Permissions" error.
On the other hand, if I use Preview to Export the picture, it works fine. I don't think that I have ever used Preveiw>Duplicate before…
If I use GraphicConvert>Duplicate, it works.
What is it that you do?
I looked it up: A "document" is "a computer file containing information input by a computer user." So Miriam-Webster thinks jpgs are documents.
Richard.Taylor wrote:
However, if I open a picture in Preview and choose Duplicate, I get a "Permissions" error.
Ditto. Preview.app > File > Duplicate works as expected only with .heic in my Tahoe setup while .jpg, .tif and many .raw flavors fail with the same error as in your screenshot.
Thank you for trying to help me and for asking clarifying questions.
I have created folders on my desktop that contain photos of my art. I sometimes need to duplicate an image in order to do some editing without losing the original. I used an older Mac for years without any issue when I did this. With my current model, I always get the message I showed earlier: n"The document can't be saved..." etc. I don't know why the mesage refers to this as a document; it is a jpg.
I do not use a VPN, Cleaner, or Anti-virus app.
When I view info for the jpg, "permissions" is grayed out.
I have restarted the computer, but it has not changed this.
Document Can't be Saved?
