Apple Mail PDF attachment permissions issue

Question

Apple Mail PDF attachment permissions issue

I've encountered an annoying issue in Apple mail, and I've no idea how to fix.

Whenever I attempt to open a PDF attachment, I receive an error message saying The file "<filename>.PDF" couldn't be opened because you don't have permission to view it. To view or change permissions, select the item in the Finder and choose File > Get Info."

In order to open the attachment, I have to save it to a folder first, which is a pain in the butt.

I've taken a look in System Prefs and Prefs in Mail, but I cannot for the life of me find where to change this setting.

Does anybody have any suggestions?

Norman McFarlane

Mac mini (Late 2014), macOS Sierra (10.12.1)

Posted on Sep 7, 2017 5:41 AM

Reply

Answer 1

tygb

Level 9

64,588 points

Sep 7, 2017 6:07 AM in response to NormanMcFarlane

Read some articles : Mail (Yosemite): Save messages as files or PDFs

: macOS Sierra: Set permissions for items on your Mac

: macOS Sierra: If you don’t have the permissions to open a file or folder

Click on finder , select download folder and right click on it click on get info , the image is of download folder .

Reply

Answer 2

Sep 7, 2017 6:16 AM in response to tygb

Forgive me, but I think you're missing the point.

I can open the saved file in Finder, but if I try to open the attachment by double-clicking it in Mail, I get the error message.

I've attached a screen shot.

Norman

Reply

Answer 3

tygb

Level 9

64,588 points

Sep 7, 2017 7:27 AM in response to NormanMcFarlane

Dear Norman ,

Avoid opening mails by double clicking on them , please read the article Safety tips for handling email attachments and content downloaded from the Internet - Apple Support

I couldn't add in previous post , my bad .

Reply

Answer 4

CT

Level 7

23,987 points

Sep 7, 2017 6:43 AM in response to NormanMcFarlane

Does this happen for all types of attachments you get regardless of the sender? Or is it just PDF? Is it just one sender? What app do you use to open the PDF? Does this happen when starting up in Safe Mode?

Reply

Answer 5

Sep 7, 2017 6:51 AM in response to CT

Only PDF attachments, from any sender, opening with Preview, have not tired Safe Mode.

I have found that the work-around is to right click the attachment, and click Quick Look Attachment on the fly-out menu. that open the PDF attachment.

Norman

Reply

Answer 6

CT

Level 7

23,987 points

Sep 7, 2017 7:44 AM in response to NormanMcFarlane

"File could not open because you do not have permission to view ...

Preview is locking me out of my own PDFs, saying I don't have ...''

Why do i not have permission to view a file on my mac? - Apple ...

Do not have permission to open .pdf | Official Apple Support ...

Reply

Answer 7

tygb

Level 9

64,588 points

Sep 7, 2017 6:31 AM in response to NormanMcFarlane

Read the article Mail for Mac: View attachments in Mail

Reply

Answer 8

CT

Level 7

23,987 points

Sep 7, 2017 7:06 AM in response to NormanMcFarlane

That raises the possibility that the problem is actually with Preview. If you have Adobe Reader it would be interesting to see if that can open the attachment via right-click, "Open with..."

Reply

Answer 9

Sep 7, 2017 7:22 AM in response to CT

Spot on!

Right click and open with PDF Reader and it opens fine. Preview throws the error.

Can't find anywhere to change Permissions in Preview, though.

Reply