Preview signature annotation: Without the owner password, you do not have permission to create or modify annotations in the document

Without the owner password, you do not have permission to create or modify annotations in the document.

I need to download a banking form and email it back. After opening the PDF in macOS Preview, I attempt to sign it via Tools > Annotate > Signature This gives the error:

Without the owner password, you do not have permission to create or modify annotations in the document. Enter the password to unlock annotation of the document.

How can I sign this PDF document? Adding an annotation seems like it should be controlled by the client, not the document itself. Can I force Preview to add an annotation? Can I somehow create an unlocked read/write copy of the document without this signature protection?

asked May 16, 2022 at 5:19 9,120 15 15 gold badges 73 73 silver badges 119 119 bronze badges

4 Answers 4

Just want to share my findings, since I find this forum is very helpful - and maybe somebody else would benefit from my findings too.

I encountered the same problem and solved it by saving the file and ADDING an owner password, then reopening it. The procedure:

  1. In Menu, click Menu --> File --> Export . (if you have the option of "saving file as . " you can use it too - you want to get a file saving dialogue with encryption option).
  2. In the opened file saving dialogue, enter the file name and directory as you normally do, then click the "Permission" button, enter image description here and in the next dialogue, enter password in the "Owner Password" field, like shown below, then click "Apply". enter image description here
  3. Click "Save" file in the next screen, if it's not already saved.
  4. Reopen the saved file. Try to sign again; this time when it prompts for a password, just type in the password you created / entered before, then it should work.

It might look long, but it's not that complicated. BTW, I used Preview version 11.0 with MacOS Monterey (12.5)