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Preview App, password protected pdf is no longer possible to export without password

J

Juraj22

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 29, 2020
179
208
Monterey 12.0.1, Preview App, I have pdf with password, I type the password, pdf is displayed. So far so good.
Now I want to export it as pdf, but without password. That option is on Monterey greyed out. It works on Big Sur.

Is it somehow possible to remove password from pdf that have printing permission?
 
I tried, same result. Not possible to save as pdf. Apple is consistent.
 
Export vs Print: seem to recall that the Print way of doing it did not allow printing to a PDF with password set in Big Sur. Never tried Export, so maybe Apple corrected the inconsistency.

But makes sense how working now as preserving PDF creator's wishes re: what someone can do with the PDF.

What also seems to not work: export as a Postscript and then read it in (gives an error on output from a password protected PDF).
 
When I go to File > Edit permissions, I can remove password protection without any problem. This is in Monterey.
 
Depends on the PDF. For a bill I get in PDF, they have set the owner password to get into the "Edit Permissions" form. Also Monterey.
 

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workaround is to use Firefox. You can open pdf there and print it again to pdf without password. But it is so stupid just for this use Firefox.
 
Good to know.

But not great for a reason other than different app. Firefox took one of my locked PDFs and generated an almost 4x bigger PDF (3.7x).

Chrome does a better job of it, as their file size is about the same as original (in the tests I ran, smaller by a few bytes).
 
Bumping this back up... it appears the Firefox move doesn't work.
What is the best way to get around this? Really annoying having all documents Password protected now
 
Using Chrome still works. Open the file in Chrome, print, but choose the "Use system dialog" (or similarly phrased on the screen). I did that the other day successfully.
 
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Opening PDF in Safari and printing it to pdf from there will drop the password from saved file. But I still don't understand why Apple did it. Feels stupid.
 
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NoBoMac said:
Using Chrome still works. Open the file in Chrome, print, but choose the "Use system dialog" (or similarly phrased on the screen). I did that the other day successfully.
Click to expand...

Thank you!!

Super annoying to have to do these extra steps, but now at least I don't feel like pulling my hair out
 
I did some digging on this. The reason it's so confusing is different versions of the PDF standard support different levels of PDF encryption. For instance, I have an encrypted PDF1.3 doc that I was able open and print to a new document with Chrome, but not do the same thing with a different doc encoded in PDF1.6.

To see the version of the document, use "Tools -> Show Inspector".
 
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THIS IS INSANE.

I manage / combine pdf's for work every day. Is there no other way around this?

Now if I have 3 - 4 different documents I have to open each in Chrome first then save as new. Whereas before I could drag and drop in preview...

Is this just they way it is going to be from now on?
 
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