'This operation is not permitted' message

What are the Security settings for your document (Ctrl + d) under the Security tab? Also, what format did you save your form in from Livecycle Designer (i.e., Acrobat 8 static/dynamic/xml)? Are you testing this form in Reader 8 too?

1. We have the security method set at 'No Security'
2. The problem occurs when the file is saved as both an Acrobat 7 static and an Acrobat 8 file
3. The document has been tested in Reader 8 and Professional with the same error message

Does your form only contain static elements? Do you have a submit button on the form?

There are no buttons or scripts on the form, only static elements

Check to make sure that the fonts are embedded in the underlying PDF that you imported into LiveCycle Designer. When the document is opened in Acrobat, if the fonts are not embedded, and not on the system, they will be substituted. However, in your case the PDF is rights-enabled, which disallows changes thus the error message.

How do I check this? and how do I change the font to something that is embedded?

You can check the status of all your fonts under the File --> Properties --> Font tab. This will show you a listing of all fonts in the document and whether they're embedded or not.If you have fonts that are not embedded "and" they are on your system you can use the Text Touch Up tool to embed them (this can be somewhat tedious) or re-create the PDF with a setting that embeds the fonts (i.e., Standard).

Thanks! This doesn't seem to have been the issue, though as it went away when I cleaned up some unused boxes and such... Probably had something to with a border being crossed where it wasn't supposed to :)

Good Afternoon,
I'm having the same problem:
Using Adobe Acrobat 8-Professional, I have created a form using LiveCycle Designer (from a PDF ) that contains only text and check boxes. When the form is saved, it can be opened without trouble in both Reader and Professional. However, when I select 'Enable User Rights in Adobe Reader', close and re-open, the file opens (in Professional and Reader) with the message 'This operation is not permitted'. After two click throughs the error box disappears, but it's a bit unprofessional and I can't get it to go away...
I fixed fonts they all embeded now. The form is two pages long with a lot of
text an check boxes? Is there anything else I can do? Thanks

I'm having this EXACT same problem and it's driving me mad. I've tried doing everything I could think of, both in LiveCycle and Acrobat to try and fix the dang file but nothing works. Please, if someone, anyone out there has any suggestions or solutions, post them now. Thank you.

That message is caused by something in or about the document trying to do something that isn't allowed in Reader-enabled documents because the change that would be made would invalidate the extended rights. There may be a script in the document trying to do something. Or there may be something about the document that is an error that Acrobat is trying to fix (e.g. fonts) but can't.

I tried creating a few simple documents and they didn't exhibit the problem. Can you recall any more details about how the document was created? Static or Dynamic form? Did it have submit buttons or validation or anything like that?

I created the PDF form after importing a basic PDF file that was created from a while ago. It is a survey and all I've added to it was the following:

4 Standard Textareas (1 for Name, 3 for 'Comments')
1 Phone textarea
1 Email textarea
Many Radio Buttons in groups of 4
1 Print button
1 Standard button that does a submit of the filled PDF to a mailto address
1 HTTP Submit button that submits to an .aspx page

I didn't really do anything custom other than that. What's strange is when I first imported the PDF to start making the form, Adobe asked if it should try to create the form itself by scanning the document. I said yes and it got most of up, but I had to touch it up. On this form, I didn't have the HTTP Submit button, but I had the rest of it there. When I tried to get to the final Adobe Reader ready PDF, it gave me the exact same errors.

So I re-created the form telling Adobe to NOT to create the form by itself. I made it exactly the same as before and this time it worked and I was happy. Then I had to go back to it and add in the HTTP Submit Button. As soon as I did this and tried to save it again Adobe Reader ready, then it gives the same errors as before, but due to the number of Radio Buttons and how long it took me to re-create the form from scratch the 2nd time, I do not wish to try to do that a 3rd time just for 1 extra button added.

Another strange thing is that I have 2 other forms I created with the same 3 buttons and they work perfectly fine. It's only this survey PDF that is causing issues.

Form type is Acrobat 7 (Static) with Text Formatting and Event Model at version 7 and there's no security enabled. I guess the only difference with this form from the other 2 that I can find is that for some reason, it made it compatible with Adobe 7 and up while the others were made for Adobe 6 and up, though I didn't do anything different when saving them all. And if I try to edit this PDF in Acrobat 8 and go to Document -> Examine Document... it says there's "Annotations and Comments" when I never added such and these are not present on the other 2 forms. I've tried removing the above stuff it found but the errors still persist. I've also tried saving it as being compatible with Adobe 6 and that didn't change anything. I've tried removing the textareas that had the name of Comment1, Comment2, and Comment3 (even though they were standard textareas and not an actual comment area or something) and that didn't do anything. The final thing I've tried is embedding the fonts (or not) and both ways change nothing.Any suggestions based on that information? Thanks!

Is there no one else who's had a similar problem? Please help if you can. Thank you.

I am struggling with the same issue, I believe it has to do with licensing. You have to upgrade to Livecycle ES or something I think. If someone could clarify this, that would be great.

Well, maybe, but then why would the other 2 forms I did work just fine but not this one? It's just a strange issue all around. At least there's more people out there with this issue. :)

So, with your other forms you didn't start with an underlying PDF, correct? Did you double check to make sure that the underlying PDF form has all the fonts embedded too?

I started with an underlying PDF on all 3 forms. I didn't double check to see if the original PDFs had the fonts embedded or not. I will do that though and replace it in my form and see if that helps or not. Thanks.

Your suggestion led me to the solution! At least in my case. This is what I did:

1.) I took the underlying PDF I was using to create the form, opened it in Acrobat, went to Document -> Examine Document... and removed any annotations and comments and such there. Then I saved that as a new file. There were no fonts to embed.
2.) Went into my form that was still using the old underlying PDF. While in LiveCycle Designer, I went to Edit -> Replace Artwork... and chose the PDF I just saved. It replaced the underlying PDF in the form.
3.) Then I saved the form as a new file and made sure to embed any fonts.
4.) Then I opened up that new file in Acrobat, gave it the Adobe Reader rights and viola!, it works without the errors popping up now!

I don't know why I didn't think to try this before, but I thank you so much for helping me get to this point. Much appreciated! Still a bit strange that when I tried to remove the annotations and comments before, after the form was created, it said it worked, but I guess it really didn't. Doing it BEFORE the whole form process seems to have done the trick. :D

What a great suggestion to use the Document --> Examine Document feature in Acrobat prior to importing a PDF as artwork in LiveCycle. You can also find hidden text and deleted hidden page content, which may be causing the issue as well. FYI -- The PDF Optimizer can help with this as well.Thanks for posting back!

Actually, I use the PDF Optimizer after the form is created and before I do the Adobe Reader rights thing. But still, yes, I'm glad I found out about that function. :)

I'm having the same error message pop up on a form I created in LiveCycle, and I've tried opening it in Reader to "Examine Document", but that menu item is grayed out -- not available. I also tried going to Edit --> Replace to see if i could replace the artwork, but that menu item is also grayed out.I created this form from scratch in LiveCycle, and all fonts are embedded. It does have an e-mail submit button, a jpg logo, six text fields, and 3 drop-down fields.

Any suggestions?

I just tried removing the jpg logo and the e-mail submit button and re-distributed the form. Still got the "this action is not permitted" error message.

Also, there is no security on the form.

Just to be clear, I don't believe Reader has the ability to do the Examine Document or Replace, it was Acrobat. Did you try Acrobat, or just plain Reader?

Sorry -- yes, I tried opening it in Acrobat, but Examine Document is not available.

I found the original Acrobat file for this form, and when I tried to run Examine Document, I got a message stating that the form contained an Adobe XML form, and that such documents cannot be optimized.

I created a pdf in Acrobat, checked the fonts (all verdana and in the properties pane it says clearly they are EMBEDDED.

Created submit (email) button, made sure font used was also verdana.

I'm working on a Mac PRO.

The submit button works fine UNTIL I use Firefox, IE, or Opera, then it gives me
This Operation Is Not Permitted.

I'm ready to scream.

Has this problem EVER been resolved with any other workaround OTHER than the font issue (which should have worked)

Thanks for any help here!

My Examine Document is grayed out as well... Where should I go as an alternate? Thanks!

I am having the same issue- basic form with no graphics designed in Word 2007. Times New Roman font only. Seems to be able to submit when opened in Acrobat 8 pro but not when opened in reader 9. Perplexing.

I was having the same issue. I opened it in LiveCycle Designer 8.2, changed the compatibility to Adobe 6, fixed a few field display issues and saved it. Then I opened in Adobe Pro and .) Then I opened up that new file in Acrobat, gave it the Adobe Reader rights and the error is gone.

Good luck

Did you check to make sure the fonts were embedded in your PDF created from Word? You can check under File > Properties > Font tab.

I created a form from scratch using the Form Wizard in Adobe Live Cycle using Adobe Acrobat 9. When I open the form it says 'This operation is not permitted.' I click on it twice and it goes away. People can then complete the form and submit it using the email submit form that appears because I have 'distributed' the form. I have also added a submit by email button on the form that is not 'distributed.'

I have checked and all of my fonts are embedded.
I tried 'examining the document' and that option is grayed out and not permitted.
I tried saving it in Adobe 6 or later and that doesn't fix the error message.
I checked my security and it says 'No Security'.
It is saved as a pdf to open in a browser.

Any other ideas on how to make this error message go away?

Thank you!!
Debbi