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Question

Cannot open pdf. Message says its corrupt or damaged

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
July 2, 2025
4 replies
2009 views

I cannot open a pdf file. I receive a message error saying the file it is either damaged or not supported. That's not true as I later opened it using Foxit PDF Reader.

Adobe Acrobat

Architecture: arm64

Processor: Apple M3 Pro

Build: 25.1.20529.0

AGM: 7.1.15

CoolType: 10.0.3

JP2K: 4.0.2.54782

MAC Sequoia 15.5

radzmar

Adobe Expert

Looks like some application left some extra text to the beginning of the file content, which is why the PDF is structured incorrectly. You can fix this in this case by opening the file in an text editor and remove everything before %PDF-1.4 …

rimesaAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you very much, everyone. It is an original and legitimate PDF file downloaded from the website of a reputable health insurance company. In any case, I will ask them if the problem originated with their company.

As for the fact that the application seems to leave some extra text at the beginning of the file content, I followed your instructions, deleting everything before %PDF-14, and I was able to open it using Adobe! Thank you very much. That's one more reason to ask the insurance company.

Notwithstanding the above, what continues to strike me is that I can open the original file in Foxit PDF Reader without making any changes.

radzmar

Adobe Expert

It is perhaps a little more lax with the PDF standard than Acrobat.

M

mk-will

Adobe Expert

@rimesa

Is the PDF you are trying to open stored locally on your hard-drive or is it stored on a network/cloud storage?

If network/cloud storage: try copying it to your local hard-drive and try to open it.

If that works it is a network related problem.

rimesaAuthor

Participating Frequently

Stored locally in my hard drive.

What is striking is that I was able to open it with the free Foxit PDF software, but I couldn't open it with Adobe Acrobat, which I pay for.

Thank you for your help.

Meenakshi Negi

Community Manager

Hi rimesa,

Thank you for reaching out, and sorry about the trouble caused.

Please check if the issue occurs with a particular file or other files. If the issue occurs with a particular file, there might be an issue due to which it appears to be corrupted. While other applications may not check, Adobe Acrobat is stricter about file integrity.

You may try a few troubleshooting steps to see if that helps:

- Try repairing the application installation. In Acrobat, go to Menu > Help > Repair Installation.

- Ensure that the application is updated to the latest version. Go to Menu > Help > Check for updates.

- Try recreating the PDF in Acrobat if you have the source file available.

Let us know if that helps.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

Bernd Alheit

Adobe Expert

Can you share the file?

rimesaAuthor

Participating Frequently

Sadly not. It is a medical file.

kglad

Adobe Expert

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.

<"moved from using the community bugs">

rimesaAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you, next time I will do that.

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