Unable to password protect a PDF in Acrobat

Question

Level 1

4 points

Unable to password protect a PDF in Acrobat

I have a MacBook Pro and using Mac OS High Sierra.

I have previously been able to password protect a PDF using the free version of Acrobat. Not sure what's changed but am now unable to do so. Others I know using High Sierra have no problem doing so.

When I am at the Save to PDF stage, after entering a password, I enter Save and get a message that I can't save while trying to Print (since I have to hit the Printer tab to do these steps).

Any suggestions?

Export/encrypt does not work either.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013), macOS High Sierra (10.13.4)

Posted on Jun 3, 2018 3:17 PM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,308 points

Jun 4, 2018 3:49 AM in response to ctygrlsfo

The ability to password protect a PDF document, and its edit/copy/print protections is restricted to Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, or other PDF editors (e.g. PDFpen/PDFpenPro) in the Mac App Store. It may also be part of the web-based, Adobe PDF Creation subscription plan, where you upload the file to Adobe that you want converted to PDF.

If you are starting with an MS Office document, you can open these in the free LibreOffice. When you export to PDF, there is a security tab on that export panel that allows you to assign dual passwords for the document, and access controls for the content. Apple's Preview only password protects the document, with an option to choose Keychain.

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Answer 2

ctygrlsfo Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 4, 2018 10:26 AM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield

Thank you -- someone explained to me last night that opening/viewing a pdf is not the same as Preview. I now understand how to save a pdf using Preview. My pdf was opened using Acrobat Reader, hence my confusion!

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