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A
Anonymous
December 7, 2016
Question

File type keeps changing from *.pdf * to *.pdf.* (note the extra dot at the end of file type)

  • December 7, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 4977 views

I have recently discovered some of my PDF files backed up on a flash drive, have changed their file type from ".pdf" to ".pdf."

Windows 10 does not recognize them as "Adobe Acrobat" anymore and indicates the file type as "pdf." (note the dot after pdf)

If I change the file extension from ".pdf." to ".pdf", the file looks good but can no longer be opened by acrobat reader. They get reported as corrupted.. bla bla..

This has happened not to all my files but to several of them in each folder.

Does anyone know what has happened to these files, and if they can be fixed; if so how?

Thank you.

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    1 reply

    ~graffiti
    ~graffiti
    Legend
    December 7, 2016

    Sure sounds like they are corrupted to me. I'm assuming you are seeing this using Windows Explorer when you look at the drive?

    Generally, corruption cannot be fixed. I have seen third party software touted as something that works to fix these files but I don't have any that I have used personally or would recommend.

    If you open one of the bad pdf files in a text editor (like Notepad), can you copy and paste the first few lines of code there you see here?

    malekz201 wrote:

    If I change the file extension from ".pdf." to ".pdf", the file looks good but can no longer be opened by acrobat reader. They get reported as corrupted.. bla bla..

    Can you clarify what you mean by this? What do you mean by "looks good"? What looks good?

    And by "no longer be opened", does that mean you could open them with Reader until you removed the period or something else?

    I just want to be sure we didn't miss anything important here.

    A
    Anonymous
    December 12, 2016

    Thank you ~graffiti for your questions and comment.

    1) Recently spending a lot of time, I was able to replace some of the "corrupted" files with the good ones. I'm sure I still have many more and as soon as I found one, I will report the header file (the first few lines of code as they appear in a text editor).

    2) By the file "looks good," I mean once I rename the file and remove the extra dot  from the file extension at the end, i.e. from ".pdf." to ".pdf" obviously Windows thinks the file is a valid pdf file and shows the Adobe Acrobat icon for it. This is what I mean by it looks good; it looks like a good pdf file. But obviously I cannot open it by Acrobat Reader.

    ~graffiti
    ~graffiti
    Legend
    December 12, 2016

    Ok. When you find more, let us know.

    malekz201 wrote:

    I mean once I rename the file and remove the extra dot from the file extension at the end, i.e. from ".pdf." to ".pdf" obviously Windows thinks the file is a valid pdf file and shows the Adobe Acrobat icon for it.

    Ah. Ok. Good to know. That is simply your systems file associations saying that it is a pdf that should open in Reader. It won't know or check whether it's actually a valid pdf.

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