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xiangtian_2217
December 1, 2025
Answered

PDF iFilter 11 - CreateInstance Error in Windows Service & Commercial License

  • December 1, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 541 views

I want to use Adobe PDF iFilter 11 in a Windows Service to extract text from PDF files. I have two questions:
**Technical Issue:**
I get error 80004005 (E_FAIL) when calling IClassFactory.CreateInstance() in our test Windows Service. The same code works with PDF iFilter 9. The service runs as LocalSystem and properly initializes COM. What could cause this failure? Are there restrictions for using PDF iFilter 11 in third-party services?
**Licensing:**
Is PDF iFilter 11 free for commercial use in third-party applications? If a license is required, where can I get pricing and licensing information?

Correct answer Souvik Sadhu

Hi @S. S,

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it. I'm planning to switch to PDF IFilter 9. However, I'm encountering an issue: PDF documents generated with PDFium that contain images cannot be parsed. Have you encountered this or have any suggestions to resolve it?

Thanks

 


Hi @xiangtian_2217,

 

Thanks for the response.

 

Since the PDF iFilter was released back in 2010 and has been End of Life for a long time now, I may not have the most concrete solution you are looking for.

 

However, I did my research and could find certain limitations that you might have encountered with:

 

  • No support for image-only PDFs (scanned PDFs without an OCR text layer)

  • No support for some modern compression schemes (JPEG2000, JBIG2 variations, Flate streams produced by certain libraries)

  • No support for objects that use XObject-only layouts where no text operators exist

  • Problems with PDFs missing a ToUnicode map

  • Incomplete support for incremental updates

  • Does not load or invoke OCR, therefore, cannot extract text from images

 

So, if your PDFs generated

  • embed a bitmap or vector as the page content

  • do NOT include any real text operators (Tj, TJ, etc.)
    → iFilter 9 will report the document as “empty”, or fail to parse it.

 

You may see issues with the result.

 

You can check the documentation for further reference: https://adobe.ly/4iIkFWw

 

I hope this provides some clarity on the issue.


Regards,
Souvik.

1 reply

Souvik Sadhu
Community Manager
Souvik SadhuCommunity Manager
Community Manager
December 1, 2025

Hi @xiangtian_2217,

 

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for the trouble with using the Acrobat PDF iFilter.

 

To answer your question:

  • Yes, there are practical and support restrictions:

    • Acrobat/Reader iFilter 11 is not supported as a generic COM component inside third-party Windows Services.

    • It is meant for Windows Search/SharePoint hosts.

  • The E_FAIL likely comes from:

    • Unsupported host context (custom service under LocalSystem),

    • Possible bitness or permissions mismatch.

  • For a supported solution, use Adobe PDF iFilter 9 (64-bit) or another text extraction library specifically designed for server use.

 

Regarding licensing, I have limited knowledge of the redistribution and usage of the PDF iFilter in third-party applications.

I suggest reaching out to the solutions team for a better understanding of the matter.

 

 

Hope this gives some clarity.


Regards,
Souvik.

X
xiangtian_2217Author
December 2, 2025

Hi @S. S ,

     Thank you for your response. I would like to use PDF iFilter 11 in my third-party applications. Could you please let me know how to reach out to the solutions team?

 

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