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Jay5C5A
New Participant
September 12, 2020
Question

Unable to open PDF report in acrobat reader

  • September 12, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 12171 views

SQL Server Reporting Services  2019  report exported to PDF  and able to open in all browsers, but unable to open acrobat reader. It’s working fine in SSRS 2016.

 

While open the PDF in acrobat reader getting this message “There was an error open this document .The file is damaged could not be repaired

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

R
Richard_ASU
New Participant
March 23, 2022

Our group at Arizona State University is having the same problem with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) 2017 when exporting reports as PDF files.  Adobe Acrobat DC version 2022.001.20085 on Windows 10 is unable to open those files, stating: "There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired."

 

 

Based on @Dov Isaacs comments, I am able to remove the text after %%EOF in the affected files and am then able to open them.  But this is not something we can ask our customers to do.  This was not a problem with SSRS 2012, even though the same text existed after the %%EOF line.

 

I am attaching three files generated by a third party vendor's application:

 

  1. rptheader2012.pdf: a test PDF file export using SSRS 2012 which opens in Acrobat DC.  The PDF file version looks like it is 1.3.
  2. rptheader2017.pdf: a test file created by the same application using SSRS 2017 which will not open in Acrobat DC.  The PDF file version seems to be 1.7.
  3. rptheader2017-edited.pdf: a copy of the second file where I removed the text following %%EOF. This file does open in Acrobat DC.

 

Does Adobe have an expected time when an update will be made available that will fix this problem since Dov mentioned he was able to "successfully open this file on the Adobe Acrobat Mobile Reader for iOS"?  This is affecting our reporting services server upgrade schedule.

    A
    Alexandru27063669qikf
    New Participant
    November 10, 2022

    Hello everybody, any update for this issue?

    Thank you,

    Alex

    A
    Andy5E22
    New Participant
    February 8, 2021

    No solution to this issue as of Feb 2021?

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov Isaacs
    Brainiac
    February 8, 2021

    When no sample file is supplied such that we can analyze what's going on, it is impossible for anyone to determine whether the issue is a problematic PDF file or a problem in the software. If @Jay5C5A  would be willing to provide a sample, we could try to assist.

     

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
    Dov Isaacs
    Dov Isaacs
    Brainiac
    February 9, 2021

    OK. With some of my comrades here at Adobe we have found the problem.

     

    In fact, the file you provided does not conform to the ISO PDF file specification which states:

    The last line of the file shall contain only the end-of-file marker, %%EOF.

     

    This particular file contained some JavaScript and HTML after the %%EOF. And that is strictly non-kosher and could be indicative of other corruption in the PDF file. A “fixed” copy of the file is attached!

     

    The fact is that the other viewers (including Adobe's own mobile and web-based viewers seem to be lenient about this error and after opening the PDF file, search backwards to find the %%EOF characters. We will investigate further and see whether we can add some “leniency” to our desktop products (or at least provide better diagnostics).

     

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
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