Cannot open pdf. Message says its corrupt or damaged

[rimesa]

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 

[kglad]

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">

[rimesa]

Thank you, next time I will do that. 

[Bernd Alheit]

Can you share the file?

[rimesa]

Sadly not. It is a medical file. 

[mk-will]

@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.

[rimesa]

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]

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

[rimesa]

Meenakshi, this happens to me with various files, all downloaded from my health insurance website (it's a reputable site). Best regards,

[creative explorer]

@rimesa As per @Meenakshi Negi suggested, with Adobe Acrobat, because it created the PDF format, it is very strict about how PDF files are made. If a PDF has anything unusual, errors, or uses features oddly, Acrobat might see it as damaged and won't open it. Other programs like Foxit are usually more forgiving and can often open these less-than-perfect PDF files without a problem. The one thing about Acrobat is about it's scurity features... so with medical PDF with a client's medical records, address, social insurance numbers, etc... yeah, I would stick with Adobe's Acrobat. In Adobe Acrobat Prefrences, it has robust security features that you can decide to turn on or off (Protected Mode, Enhanced Security, Safe Reading Mode). While designed to protect you from malicious PDFs, they can sometimes be overly aggressive and prevent legitimate, but unusually structured, PDFs from opening. I would take one feature off and see if that opens. Close, and try a different feature. It could be just the one or all. 

[rimesa]

Thank you very much, that makes sense. When I receive a new document from my health insurance company, I will try opening it in Adobe Acrobat with the security features disabled.

[rimesa]

It didnt work. This is the message: 

"Adobe Acrobat could not open 'prueba.pdf' because it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged (for example, it was sent as an email attachment and wasn't correctly decoded). To create an Adobe PDF document, go to the source application. Then choose Save as Adobe PDF from the PDF dropdown in the Print dialog".

Later, I tried using the "Privileged location" feature (I put the file as a trusted one). It didn't work either. 

I'm attaching one of the documents, in case it is useful.

Thank you for your help in advance. 

[creative explorer]

@rimesa I wonder, is the PDF a true PDF or was it renamed as a PDF? Sometimes files are mislabeled. If it's something like a .doc or .jpg renamed to .pdf, Acrobat will refuse it. 

When reading your message again, it does suggests the issue isn't about Acrobat's security features being too strict, but rather that Acrobat perceives the file itself as corrupted or improperly created. The 'Privileged Location' feature also wouldn't help in this scenario, as it's designed for handling interactive content within an openable PDF, not fixing a fundamentally damaged one. Check the file size of 'prueba.pdf'? If it's extremely small (e.g., 0 KB or just a few KBs), it's definitely damaged.

Is it possible to go back to the creator who created the PDF, to go back to the original program (like Word, Google Docs, etc.) and 'Save as Adobe PDF' or 'Print to Adobe PDF' again? This ensures it's created in a way Acrobat expects. 

Also, ask the crveator to zip it before sending. Often, this error occurs if a file wasn't fully downloaded or got corrupted during an email transfer. I always tell my students to zip their files to prevent corruption when emailing or uploading to the server (a better chance of not being corrupted)

[Bernd Alheit]

The begin of the file content is not correct.

[radzmar]

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 …