Participant

Question

There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired.

Forum|Forum|18 years ago
January 24, 2008
31 replies
283251 views

Hi I constantly get the following message when trying to read files:
There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired. I am using Windows XP.

I tried uninstalling the program and reinstalling but this didn't work. I also tried repairing the installation - still no joy.

I would be grateful for any help.
Tess

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L84Dinner

Participant

Hooray hooray for Foxit and for the person who posted that solution. It worked, it worked! Like a charm. Egg on Adobe's face, for sure.

A

Anonymous

I just started having this problem this weekend while trying to open PDF files (tax forms/instructions) from the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. I was using Adobe Acrobat 5.0 on our Mac OS X 10.4.11. Downloaded Acrobat Reader 9.0 and replaced 5.0 as the default application. (Not sure that's a correct use of "application".) Doing so solved my problem immediately.

A

Anonymous

My "damaged file" opens in reader 9 fine, but not in Adobde 5.0. Adobe by now you can

see this problem. Please add some REAL help for us.

MichaelKazlow

Legend

Early versions of Acrobat do not properly report that pdf files created with later versions that are created to be compatible with more recent file format cannot be read with this old version. They report the file is damaged. The upshot is you still need to have a more modern version of Reader to use the file.

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Anonymous

Again - the file opens great in Reader 9 but not in the full Adobe 5.0 progam and I spent how much on?? Yes years back but

Adobe is not cheap software and should adjust the current formats to work with the older programs.

T

terjemi

Participating Frequently

I have the same problem on one my desktop computer. My laptop is able to read the same pdf that gives the error message on the desktop.

I tried to upgrade from Acrobat9.4 to Acrobat 10, but it did not help.....

tm

P

Pasiputes1

Participant

have you tried cleaning your App Data? go start - run - %appdata% - delete reader folder and install it again.

T

tnashcbad

Participant

I have been having a terrible time with the same problem.

I have narrowed my problem to having installed SP3 on my XP system.

I reverted to SP2 and the problem has gone away.

For the complete story of my problem see the thread:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/748316

A

Anonymous

I have same problem

A

Anonymous

I used Foxit Reader 2.0 for my windows 98

You may have to use a newer version if you are using it on windows xp or higher although if you are using xp you can get the newer version of acrobat reader and the problem should go away at least it did for me

Basically you can't read a pdf that was made with a newer version of acrobat reader and try to read it with an older version except for Foxit which works either way

A

Anonymous

I just wanted to add my problem to this post since I have a very similar issue

Everything was fine untill I downloaded my credit card statement which is in pdf format

I have windows 98 so I am using adobe reader 6.0 to open it. I was able to open it the previous month so I am not sure what the problem is

I can open any other pdf files with no poroblems It's just this particular one that doesn't work

I saved it to my desktop and it still doesn't work. Then just out of curiosity I opened it on another pc that has windows xp and adobe reader 9.0 and it works I also tried it on another pc with windows 98 and adobe reader 5.0 and I got the same error

So it seems like it's looking for a newer version although I have no way to proove it

I tried to use the Advanced pdf repair software that someone mentioned here but I could not get the free version to work (it kept crashing)

Is it possible that this file was created with a newer version of adobe acrobat and can only be read with a newer version of adobe reader ?

If that is the case it would nave been better if it would say newer version required or something like that than to say the file is damaged

A

Anonymous

To anyone who has this same problem

Aparently this is adobe's poor attempt of telling you to upgrade to a newer version

However I found a different solution

I was reading a different post on this forum where someone said to use Foxit instead of adobe reader

So I looked for an older version that works with windows 98 and it works

The file that is supposedly damaged and could not be repaired can be opened and read with Foxit and if it's saved with Foxit it can than be opened with adobe acrobat without any problems

Problem solved

M

migro22

Participant

Hi All,

I get this message too; however, only when receiving a .pdf from one particular sender. Plus, we are the only recipient in his email blast that gets this message. Anyone else have these particular conditions? I skimmed through the posts here and I didn't see any viable solutions. No one has the answer???

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AVSmartz

Participant

I see that it has been forever since this issue was addressed but I don't see a solution provided. I get the same thing using Adobe Reader 9.3.3 with Windows Vista (UGH!) and I use Mozilla Firefox; not that this should matter but it does require a specific add-on when installing for some reason.

Anyway does anyone have a solution for this error message. I can open other pdf's on my computer and I can open two recently received emailed pdf's on my wife's computer but I cannot open them on mine.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Steve Scott

B

Bedford1447

Known Participant

I've been having this problem too. I finally decided it was time to research the problem but obviously nothing's been resolved. I have to keep copies of PDFs in a different locations on the network so I won't have to redo conversions to PDF. The OS association thing doesn't work for me. Yoo hoo Adobe designers . . .

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AVSmartz

Participant

I just received two pdf's from someone... both were contained within the same email one opens and the other one gives me the error message.

I was told my issue could likely be related to my Anti-virus software so I uninstalled it and re-installed it - it might have helped, but as recently as 10 minutes ago I experienced the problem again.

I'm not sure how best to communicate with adobe but would have guessed Adobe Support is as good of a place as any.

If you figure anything out please share and I'll do the same!

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