Unable to save word file to pdf due to information protection, fyi the file was word.doc, only after convert to .docx then it can be saved as pdf, why this issue occurs, is this a known issue....?

Dear Harish, Kancharla,

Have a good day and welcome to Microsoft Q&A Forum!

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We understand how inconvenient it must have been to encounter restrictions when attempting to save a Word document as a PDF, and we appreciate the opportunity to investigate and clarify the cause for you.

After reviewing the scenario, it appears that the issue arises due to the file being in the older .doc format, which is the legacy format used by Microsoft Word 97–2003. When files are protected using Microsoft Purview Information Protection such as applying sensitivity labels certain limitations apply depending on the file type.

In this case, the restriction you're seeing when saving to PDF is an expected behavior. Older Office formats like .doc, .xls, and .ppt do not fully support Microsoft Purview sensitivity labeling and protection features. These legacy formats lack the technical capabilities required to embed and enforce modern protection policies.

To explain further, Microsoft puts it as follows:

“This error usually means that the file you're working with is in an older Office format for example, .doc, .xls, or .ppt instead of the newer formats like .docx, .xlsx, or .pptx. Microsoft Purview labels only work with modern Office file formats, and unfortunately, the older formats aren't supported for labeling.”

Once the file is converted to the modern .docx format, which is based on XML and supports Microsoft’s latest compliance and protection features, the system is then able to apply the necessary security policies correctly allowing you to save the document as PDF as expected.

For your reference, Microsoft maintains an updated list of supported formats for sensitivity labeling here: Office file types supported for sensitivity labels

We hope this provides clarity on the behavior you're seeing. If you have additional legacy documents, we’d recommend converting them to modern formats either individually or in batches to avoid similar issues in the future. We're more than happy to assist you with this or with any further concerns related to information protection.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there's anything else we can help you with.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".     

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.