Can’t Save PDF Files After Editing? Here’s the Fix!

Published 2021-11-14

Cannot save PDF files after editing? Well, yes, that can be frustrating. Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. If you see the following message being displayed on the screen, you may not be able to save your PDF file right after editing it:

“The document could not be saved. The file may be read-only or another user may have been using it. An error was encountered when saving the document”.

PDF (Portable Document Format) is one of the most concrete and reliable document formats that keep the content and formatting of the file intact, no matter on which device you access the file. When mentioning PDF, Adobe Reader becomes our go-to pick for managing or editing the document. Isn’t it?

Image source: Adobe

Handling PDF files on Windows is not as tricky as you think. This issue may get triggered due to a variety of reasons:

Using an outdated version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Misconfigured storage settings.
Restricted admin rights to modify the file.
File in read-only mode.

Use A Powerful PDF Management Software To Fix The Issue!

To avoid common issues that occur while handling PDFs and to save PDFs after editing you can use Advanced PDF Manager the right PDF Management Program for your Windows. Using this powerful yet lightweight package that offers a plethora of modules you can manage PDFs in a breeze. The PDF Manager holds the potential to open, read, create, merge, split, move, print, protect, save, and more.

You can even reorder the PDF pages, remove the unnecessary ones and duplicate certain or entire PDF documents according to your needs. It’s a wonderful application that provides an excellent PDF reading experience, all thanks to its set of multiple viewing modes.

Want to know more about Advanced PDF Manager? Feel free to check out the website:

However, if you don’t want to use an alternate tool, don’t worry. In this post, we’ve listed a few simple solutions that you can use to fix the “Can’t save PDF files” issue on Windows devices.

Let’s get started.

How To Fix Cannot Save PDF Files After Editing

#1 Update Adobe Acrobat Reader

Using an outdated version of Adobe Reader can lead to several issues that may not allow you to save your PDF file on Windows.

To make sure that you don’t run into any kind of errors or trouble while using PDF on any device, download the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader tool and install it on Windows.

Head on to Adobe Acrobat Reader’s official website and then hit on the “Download Acrobat Reader” button to get started.

Once the installation process gets completed, reboot your device and then check if you’re still facing similar issues while saving the document.

#2 Change the Storage Settings

If the storage settings of your device are not compatible with Adobe Reader, here are a few quick changes that you can make to get past the issue. You can enable the “Show online storage when saving the files” option so that Adobe offers you a choice to save your documents online.

1. Launch the Adobe Acrobat Reader tool on Windows.

2. Now, open the PDF file that you need to edit and save. Tap on the “Edit” option placed on the top menu bar and then select “Preferences”.

3. In the Preferences window, tap on “General” and then check on the “Show online storage when saving files” option. Hit on the OK button to save the recent changes.

4. After making the above-mentioned change in Adobe’s storage settings, try saving your document again to see if you’re still experiencing issues.

#3 Enable Fast Web View on Adobe Reader

Tried the above-listed hacks and still cannot save PDF files after editing? Well, here’s another troubleshooting method that you can try.

1. Launch Adobe Reader, click on Edit> Preferences.

2. From the left menu pane, select “Internet” and then check on the “Allow fast web view” option.

3. Hit on the OK button to save changes.

Once you enable the Fast Web View option in settings, the webserver will only send the requested page, rather than the entire PDF.

#4 Run this Program as Administrator

1. Open File Explorer on Windows and then navigate to this path:

C:/Program Files(x86)/Adobe/Acrobat Reader DC/Reader

2. Locate the AcroRd32.exe application from the list, right-click on it and select “Properties”.

3. In the Adobe Acrobat Reader’s properties window, switch to the “Compatibility” tab.

4. Check on the “Run this program as an administrator”.

5. Hit on the OK and Apply buttons to save changes.

6. Launch Adobe Acrobat Reader, open the file that you need to save after editing, and check if you’re still facing the same error.

Conclusion

Was this post helpful? You can use any of the above-mentioned solutions to fix the “Cannot save PDF files after editing” issue on Windows. And yes, don’t forget to share with us which solution did the trick for you. Feel free to use the comments section.

Good luck!