What causes this error? The document could not be saved. There was a problem reading this document (114)

Question

I have read the previous discussion about this error and I would like a more specific answer to this question.

I have noticed the the error numbers are different but the error message is the same? What are the factors that would change the error number?

I have several users who have come across this error when attempting to save a PDF document.

The users get the PDF file from a web based client who uses a spoon.net plugin.

What basically happens is they pull up the web based client and the files becomes available there. From there, they "print" the files as an Adobe Acrobat file.

Once the file is "printed" as PDF they edit the file and then they go to File > Save As ( the option Save is grayed out) > they enter a file name and hit SAVE.

Most of the time, I would say 98% of the time, they are able to save it successfully with no problems. There are some files, though, that are getting an error once they hit SAVE. The Error they get is "The document could not be saved. There was a problem reading this document (114)". This happens to all of the users, pulling the same exact file to save. Even I get that error when I try it on my end pulling that same exact file. This leads me to believe that the error is isolated to the file itself. This file is also retrieved from that same Web based client just like the other ones. Repairing or updating Acrobat doesn't fix it. Using a different computer or different version of Acrobat doesn't fix it. So far we have not found any fix to this. We have found a workaround BUT this workaround does not save the Bookmarks which is necessary for our users. The workaround is to "print" the file instead of saving it. I have reached out to the provider of the Web based client and they keep referring us to Adobe Acrobat.

I just really need to understand what causes this error so we can try to find a more permanent solution to this instead of a workaround.

Thanks!

Karl Heinz Kremer · Accepted Answer

Of course they do, it makes their lives easier because you have to run around and proof them wrong

Based on that message, I would assume that the file is corrupt. A PDF file can become corrupt either at the time it is created (in which case the PDF generator would be to blame), or it can get corrupted along the way by software that is trying to modify the PDF file. There is a very small chance that the file is actually OK, and the problem is Acrobat, and something in Acrobat triggers this error message. Based on my experience, in most cases, it's the PDF file that is to blame. Unfortunately, without the file it's impossible to say. Because you cannot share the file publicly, I would suggest that you work with somebody (which unfortunately means paying somebody) after signing an NDA, this way you can determine exactly what's wrong.

One thing you can already do is to find out what software created the PDF file: Bring up the document properties dialog and look for the "Application" and "PDF Producer" information on the "Description" tab. This should list what application exactly created the document. Sometimes both fields are empty, which kind of tells you how confident the makers of the software were about the quality of PDF produced...

Karl Heinz Kremer · Answer

Whenever you get an error that references an error number, you can usually get more information about that particular error by holding down the Ctrl key when you click on the OK button on the dialog. The error message you get at first is for people who don't know about the internal structure of PDF files. The error you get when holding down the Ctrl key is more technical. You see the same generic error message for a lot of different error conditions, but again, the Ctrl key gives you access to more information. Most people would only get confused by this lower level message.

If this happens with the same file on a number of different computers, then you are very likely correct, this has to do with that specific file, and the most likely reason is that the file is corrupt. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about that - besides complaining to the people who make the software that writes the original PDF file.

If you can share a file that causes this problem, we might be able to dig around in the file a bit to figure out what's wrong (I cannot promise you anything, if it gets too time consuming, I would have to bail).

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