Diagnose protected files and import errors

Key takeaways

• Docsi removes no password protection and bypasses no rights.
• Open and permissions passwords are different kinds of protection.
• Create an unprotected working copy with your own access rights.
• Limits such as 25 MB and 500 pages prevent incomplete reading.
• Docsi treats source content as data, never as instructions.

Open the file independently

Open the affected file in its intended application. If that also fails, start with the source. Check that downloading completed and the extension matches the actual format.

A readable file can still contain restricted or unsupported content. Check individual pages or tables rather than inferring success from an opening cover page.

Continue with an accessible copy

1. Record the exact error and affected file name without confidential content.
2. Using your own access rights, export an accessible copy from the source application.
3. Test the copy separately in Docsi.
4. Compare page count and material content with the original.

Find the problematic source in PDF packages

Merging reports protected or damaged PDFs. Check files individually and restart with the correct package. Preserve insertion order; describing a different order in the request does not sort files.

Keep original and working copy distinguishable

Give the accessible copy its own name and retain the original. Record which application created it and what you checked. Re-exporting can change page size, form fields or other special elements. Compare at least the first and last pages and affected special regions. Successful import proves Docsi could read the copy, not that every property of the original survived.

For support, use format, size, exact error and a non-confidential description. Share a sample file only deliberately after reviewing it. Document passwords and licence keys do not belong in a general issue report. Avoid changing protection, naming and content simultaneously; one accessible test copy makes the cause easier to trace.

Which kind of protection applies

PDFs have two kinds of password: an open password encrypts the file, and without it the file cannot be read at all. A permissions password allows opening but restricts printing, copying or editing. Office files can likewise be encrypted with a password or merely protected against editing.

Docsi bypasses none of these mechanisms and rejects encrypted Office archives. That is intentional: protection should stay in the hands of the authorised person. If you have the password, you remove the protection in a copy yourself.

Common error messages and their causes

If a file is larger than 25 MB or a PDF has more than 500 pages, Docsi rejects it instead of reading it incompletely. Excel workbooks with macros, external links or embedded programs are rejected too. Office files are also subject to limits for the ZIP archive they contain: at most 2,000 entries and 64 MB unpacked.

Docsi rejects text files with the wrong character encoding or binary content. And if the file extension does not match the content – a renamed file, for instance – Docsi checks the actual file signature and reports the mismatch.

Creating an accessible working copy

In Word, Excel and PowerPoint, you remove a password under “File → Info → Protect Document → Encrypt with Password” by clearing the field and saving. Save under a new name first so the protected original is kept.

For PDFs, use your PDF program’s security settings, provided you have the right to do so. If the protection does not allow changes, ask the person the file came from for an unprotected version. Mark working copies in the file name, for example with “_working-copy”.

Rescuing damaged files

If a file does not load and cannot be opened in its original program either, it was probably damaged during download or copying. Download it again or ask for it to be sent again. If it opens in the original program, save it again there; that fixes many minor errors.

As a last resort, exporting to PDF from the original program often helps. The PDF then contains the visible content with a text layer, even if the original structure is lost.

Why Docsi is strict about files

Files from emails or the web can be manipulated: archives that inflate many times over when unpacked, paths that break out of a folder, or macros. Docsi’s limits and checks prevent such files from causing harm or blocking the app.

In addition, Docsi always treats the content of a source as data, never as an instruction. If a document says something like “Ignore all previous instructions”, Docsi does not carry it out. Your request stays authoritative, whatever the files contain.

A worked scenario

An example: you want to analyse four project PDFs together, but one of them cannot be added. In your PDF program you see it has a permissions password that prohibits copying. You ask the sender for an unprotected version and receive it the next day.

Until then you analyse the three accessible PDFs and have the result note that the fourth is still missing. With the new version you complete the analysis in the same conversation. You file the protected original unchanged; the working copy has “_unlocked” in its name.

Checklist before sharing

Before you continue with a working copy, settle these points. That keeps the original’s protection intact and makes sure you work with the right file.

1. You have the right to remove the protection in a copy.
2. The protected original is stored unchanged.
3. The working copy is marked in its file name.
4. The file is below 25 MB and 500 pages.

Key terms explained

Open password

Encrypts a file; without the password it cannot be read.

Permissions password

Allows a PDF to be opened but restricts printing, copying or editing.

Working copy

A separate copy for further work, so the original stays unchanged.

Macro

A program embedded in Office files. Docsi rejects files with macros.

File signature

The first bytes of a file, which reveal its actual type regardless of the extension.