PDF Downloads unexpectedly password protected

@Melclift 

DocuSign eSignature does not password protect documents when you download them. There is no option to configure something like this in DocuSign eSignature. Therefore, this must be something you have setup locally on your machine and unrelated to DocuSign. Maybe you installed a browser extension or something else on your computer recently, which automatically applies a password due some kind of automation?

I would suggest to try a different browser on your machine and see if that works and reach out to your IT department so they can investigate the root cause.

This is a long standing bug that occurs somewhere between MacOS’s Preview software and Docusign. PDFs can be saved down from Docusign and opened just fine. But when re-opening the document from Finder, the PDF will be password-protected and no one will be able to open it. 

The workaround is to use a different PDF reader, but with Preview as the default on Mac it inevitably happens over and over again and is rather infuriating, especially when you email a signed document to someone and they can’t open it.

Apple blames Docusign and Docusign blames Apple. I wish they would work together and solve it.

@earwormpc 

I am working on a Mac and have never run into the issue that you describe and was unable to reproduce it. For me it works fine to open it with the Preview and it is not password protected afterwards.

Using a different PDF reader makes sense anyway, as Preview is not able to validate the signatures in the PDF document and you are not able to see if the document was tampered with or not. Hence Adobe Acrobat Reader or a different PDF software is usually standard even on Mac devices and recommended to be used.

Thanks for your reply. Poke around the internet and you’ll see this problem all over. I have multiple colleagues who can replicate it. If you’re willing to investigate, I can grab a video.

I’ve been resistant to moving to Dot Loop which i can get for free through my brokerage and doesn’t have this issue, only because I have so many templates in Docusign. But this issue drives my crazy! :)

And yes, using a different PDF reader I’m sure makes some sense, but Preview functions overall much better as native software in every other use case. So I keep it as the default, and inevitable screw up and open a Docusign PDF in Preview and this issue occurs (yes, user error).

Hey All,

I am having the same issue (didn’t over the last couple years, but the last few months this is happening). Has anyone figured out the solution to preventing this???

Thank you,

I am also having this same issue and it is causing me a LOT of problems. I’m ready to abandon docusign altogether and move to digisign that my brokerage gives me. It’s really awful that they can’t fix this. I never had this issue before. 

Hello @Melclift, @earwormpc, @Sinkrealtor, @gaylie, 

Thank you for reaching out here, we want to welcome you to the Docusign Community, I appreciate you bringing your question to this Community.

I apologize for the inconvenience, we are committed to providing you with the best service possible. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention, I understand that when you download an envelope, the envelope is password protected.

As stated before, Docusign does not place any password on a completed PDF when is downloaded, the affected users can unlock it using free online PDF unlock tools.

I noticed that there are tickets already created for this on our system a potential solution is to create a case with Docusign support and confirm with the support agent if by modifying an option at the backend called DSS: EnableIText the issue on your account will be fixed.

The case is needed because the account Admin needs to authenticate the account, and that contains Private Identifiable Information that cannot be disclosed in this public forum, Open a case in the Docusign Support Center.

Note: Some advanced features and options are supported only in specific Docusign plans. Your account plan might not support some options discussed in this help topic. Contact your account administrator for more information about which options are available for your account. Or, visit our Plans and Pricing web page for more details on the features included with your plan. Compare eSignature plans & pricing.

Let us know if you need further assistance.

Best regards,

Christopher | Docusign Community Moderator

"Select as Best" below if you find the answer a valid solution to your issue.

Having the same issue since a last couple months or since updating the OS. this is really frustrating as using preview and docusign made my job much easier. Now I got pw protected documents all the time i can no longer edit myself or my clients. This is adding more time than I save now.

Hello @cyim, 

Thank you for reaching out here, we want to welcome you to the Docusign Community, I appreciate you bringing your question to this Community.

I apologize for the inconvenience, we are committed to providing you with the best service possible. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention, to clarify based on your description is this happening to all of your envelopes?

When you mention the edit part, are you editing the document itself or in Docusign?

Note: Some advanced features and options are supported only in specific Docusign plans. Your account plan might not support some options discussed in this help topic. Contact your account administrator for more information about which options are available for your account. Or, visit our Plans and Pricing web page for more details on the features included with your plan. Compare eSignature plans & pricing.

Let us know if you need further assistance.

Best regards,

Christopher | Docusign Community Moderator

"Select as Best" below if you find the answer a valid solution to your issue.

I am having the exact same issue. When I call Apple to try and resolve it they tell me it’s a Docusign problem and there’s nothing they can do. I really like the Docusign platform but this is very inconvenient.

Hi @jmfrankln,

I hope you are doing well.

I would like to confirm if you need further assistance, feel free to let me know and I will gladly help you address the situation as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Christopher | Docusign Community Moderator

"Select as Best" below if you find the answer a valid solution to your issue.

Thank you Chris. Yes, I still cannot open pdfs from Docusign on a Mac without it asking the recipient I send the doc too for a password. 

Hi @jmfrankln,

I hope you are doing well.

To clarify, what reader are you using to open the PDF?

Best regards,

Christopher | Docusign Community Moderator

"Select as Best" below if you find the answer a valid solution to your issue.

I have Chrome set as my default browser to open items, however, when I open the document from a Docusign email it automatically opens it in Mac’s Preview app and when I save it from there we have a problem. The work-around is to log into Docusign and open it in Chrome. That works fine if it is a single document. However, if there are multiple documents in the Docusign envelope and I tell it to open the file in separate PDFs then it creates a Zip file. When I open the Zip file it opens each individual document in the Mac Preview app again and I have the same problem with a password being required if I save it and send it to someone.

I have this exact issue. It is very frustrating!

I’m having this same issue.  And it’s maddening.  Trying to get a real estate offer finalized and the seller’s agent needs the magical password.  And what password??  I have no idea.  This issue is not tolerable.

@mbandrews3 @Jennifer Nangle 

As stated above do not open and save the documents with the Preview App on Mac, as this may add a password to the document. This issue is not related to Docusign, as the password gets added locally by the Preview app on Mac.

Using a different PDF as default, e.g. Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is free to use or even opening them natively in the browser will resolve the issue, was the Preview App is not leveraged.

How do you set a different different PDF as default.  This is making me crazy, I can’t save or do anything from DocuSign.  Everything is password protected and I have never set this up.

Has anyone actively having this issue checked their Mac settings to see if FIleVault is turned on? While Filevault doesn’t normally encrypt PDFs by default, because this is a bug, it could be a bad interaction between docusigns general security and FileVault. I’m testing this out on my client’s computer but I think any new Mac with a T2 chip will automatically opt into Filevault