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Challie013
Participant
June 6, 2023
Question

Invalid tree node and problem reading document (14) on unchanged PFD

  • June 6, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 2698 views

When trying to open PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro I get a notification that "The document's page tree contains an invalid node" and then "There was a problem reading this document (14)." This PDF used to open fine and has not changed. It also opens fine in Preview.

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2 replies

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Test Screen Name
Legend
June 6, 2023

If you are able to share the PDF publicly, someone might be able to analyse it and see what is wrong. Otherwise, probably not - it isn't a well known issue.

C
Challie013Author
Participant
June 6, 2023

I've attached the PDF here. Thanks!

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
June 7, 2023

Hmm. Well, the PDF is certainly wrong, and some PDF viewers will fail, others will not notice. 

How did this happen? I would look closely about how this PDF was joined together. Page 1 (the cover) was probably joined to the other parts of the PDF using some app. Look how that was done, and try joining with a different app. 

 

Here is the technical stuff: the pages of a PDF are stored in a "tree", which is used to find particular single pages in the tree. Each part of the tree has a "parent" which some apps will use to move around the tree quickly (by going back a little way, instead of searching the whole tree). In this PDF, page 1 has a correct parent, but later pages have a wrong (broken) parent. Acrobat complains after page 1. Edge shows all pages. Other apps may show blank pages, hang or crash.

 

C
Challie013Author
Participant
June 6, 2023

To clarify, I am asking if anyone has a solution.

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