Adobe Acrobat DC giving error saying file cannot be opened, file damaged

[Dave_Erho]

Hello,

I have a filled-in dynamic pdf that is saved to my hard drive. It was initially saved with information several months ago. I was able to open and edit the form 7 days ago. Today, I tried to open the same form and it gave me an error that said "There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired."

It happens in both Reader and Adobe Acrobat Pro

Why would this happen all of a sudden? It doesn't happen for files of other dynamic pdf forms.

I'm using Windows 8.1 Pro

Thanks

[AnandSri]

Hello DaveErho,Dave Erho

We apologize for the inconvenience caused, as per the description above, you are not able to open a PDF file in Reader or Acrobat as getting an error message that the PDF file is damaged, Is that correct?

Please refer and try the troubleshooting steps from the following KB docs Resolve damaged document error when opening PDF files

Can't open PDF

Hope this helps, and let us know how it goes.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

[Dave_Erho]

Hello Anand AnandSri,

I did see those two KB articles yesterday. However, I do not believe that the issues there are what is causing the problem. The documents were created with livecycle. I did not recently install a new version of Acrobat Pro or Reader. The files worked perfectly fine a week ago. The file type is pdf. Also, I looked at the header for one of the files and there were no extraneous bytes before the %pdf header as far as I could tell.

I had this issue for four different forms that I created. However, 10+ others created the same way still work correctly. None of the files are ever opened, edited and saved through anything other than Adobe Acrobat Pro or Adobe Reader.

Could this at all be related to the recent continuous update released on November 14th?

Thanks,

David

[AnandSri]

Hello David,

Assuming you are using a Windows machine, try to repair the installation files of Reader from Help>Repiar installation.

If it's a Mac machine, then try to reset the  preferences, refer to How to reset Acrobat Preference settings to default.

I have also sent you a private message, please check your email inbox.

- Anand Sri.

[Dave_Erho]

Hello Anand Sri,

I know you already received my email, so I'll await your findings on the files. I wanted to mention that I did try the Help>Repair Installation on both Acrobat and Reader and continued to have the issue.

David

[AnandSri · Accepted solution]

Hello David,

Adobe Acrobat and Reader official update containing the fix for this issue is now available. This update will be automatically pushed to all existing installations of Acrobat and Reader. You may also manually install the update by navigating to Help > Check for Updates.

You may also install the updates manually through https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/release-note/acrobat-dc-november-29-2017.html

Let us know how it goes.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

[Dave_Erho]

Thank you. This update fixes my issue with Reader. As I understood from your email, an update for my version of Acrobat Pro DC will be coming in the next couple of days.

Regards,

David Erho

[AnandSri]

Hello David,

Thank you so much for your time and patience.The Updates of Acrobat Classic 2015 and 2017 is live now. Please check for the latest updates from Help>Check for updates. Install the update and reboot the machine and check with the file.

You can download the updates manually through the URL https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/release-note/acrobat-dc-2015-acrobat-2017-december-01-2017.html

Let us know how it goes.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

[lorneb87540091]

I have the same issue. It's January 2023. Acrobat DC reader. Windows 10.0.19045. Seems like about half of my pdfs won't open. Same error message: "There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired." That said, the same files open just fine on my Macbook. Even on my iPhone. Also they open fine in Chrome.

What is up? Help? 

[lorneb87540091]

I have the same issue. It's January 2023. Acrobat DC reader. Windows 10.0.19045. Seems like about half of my pdfs won't open. Same error message: "There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired." That said, the same files open just fine on my Macbook. Even on my iPhone. What is up? Help? 

[AkanchhaS]

Hi @lorneb87540091 

Sorry to hear that the issue persists.

Would you mind sharing the exact version of Adobe Acrobat you are currently working on? Open Acrobat>help>about Acrobat

Also, regarding the files you have been receiving this error, are these files saved locally on the system, or were they available online and in the Recent view of Acrobat?

~Akanchha 

[lorneb87540091]

Hello Akanchha,

Acrobat Reader Version 22.003.20310.0

Local files, files on my Google drive, and files on my OneDrive. A mix. 

Lorne

[lorneb87540091]

Oh, perhaps I should mention that I also have Acrobat X Pro installed on the same machine; and it seems to have the same trouble with the same files. I can't be 100% sure because I have a lot of pdfs and I certainly haven't tested them all. But the ones I have tested either open or do not open (with the same error message) regardless of whether I use Acrobat Reader DC or Acrobat X Pro. 

Lorne

[lorneb87540091]

Perhaps it bears repeating, I can open any/all of these files with my Macbook (10.14), my iPhone, and even my browser (Chrome) on the same Windows machine where I have Adobe Reader installed. In other words, nothing is wrong with any of these pdfs. 

[lorneb87540091]

Hello Akanchha,

Do you have any update for me on this issue? Need more information from me? Is there something I can try to fix it? I really need to find out why there is this issue opening these pdfs, and then apply a solution.

Thanks

[lorneb87540091]

Hello?

[lorneb87540091]

Do you have any other questions? Something for me to try? 

[AkanchhaS]

Hi @lorneb87540091 

I apologize for not being able to follow up with you. Thank you for sharing further details and your findings with me.

I see that on the problematic machine, you have both Acrobat Reader's latest version and Acrobat X installed. 

Since Acrobat X is a very old version of the Acrobat series, so there might be a conflict between having the latest Reader and Acrobat X.

I would not recommend uninstalling Acrobat X, as once it's removed, there's no way of getting it back.

Hence, we'll try removing Reader once. So uninstall Acrobat Reader using this cleaner tool.

And see if your 

https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/cleaner.html 

files are opening with Acrobat X fine or not.

Thanks,

Akanchha

[lorneb87540091]

I used the Cleaner tool to uninstall Reader, restarted, then tried opening the same pdf with Acrobat X. Same error message. So I uninstalled Acrobat X (no worries, I have the original software and activation key). I then reinstalled Reader DC from the Adobe site. Tried opening the same pdf with Acrobat Reader DC. Same error message.

[lorneb87540091]

BTW, I posted to another answer, this new issue: 

Acrobat Reader DC on my Windows 10 machine is pretty much useless now. Either I get "Insufficient data for an Image", or I get "There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired." Sure, sure. Yet every other program I have everywhere else can open it just fine. 

 I can open the same pdfs on my MacBook using Preview, or Acrobat X (10.1.9), or Acrobat Reader DC (2022.001.20112), or on my Windows machine with Chrome . . .

[AkanchhaS]

@lorneb87540091 

Sorry to know that the issue persists

Insufficient data for an image, try the troubleshooting steps suggested here: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/insufficient-data-image.html. This might help you fix the earlier error. 

• Also, if you have any security software installed on Windows, try disabling it for a while and then access the same file.
• If the file is saved on an external device, save it locally and check back.
• Otherwise, create a Hidden user account on Windows and run the Acrobat Reader. It could be a problematic user account. 
• Install the optional patch and update your Reader app: https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/index.html 

If nothing works, share the file and following logs with us. 

CC logs https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-log-collector.html  share them by uploading them to cloud storage (any)

 Procmon Logs: [Windows only]

https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/acromonitor.html

~Akanchha

[lorneb87540091]

Thank you. Looking into all this.

[lorneb87540091]

Thank you for trying to find a solution. Here is where I am at:

"Insufficient data for an image, try the troubleshooting steps suggested . . .".

1/ Zoom settings, page display, fit page, all have no effect.

2/ Alternate solutions such as Redact, Sanitize, even Save as Optimized PDF are not available in Acrobat Reader.

3/ Security software disable. No effect.

4/ Yes, opening local files. No effect.

5/ Different user account, no effect.

6/ Optional patch installed. No effect.

Nothing is working. I actually stopped using my Windows machine altogether because I used Acrobat all the time and about 1 out of 10 pdfs will not open. Can’t work like this.

So, with the log collector tool, I uploaded logs. Here is the message:

“The following file has been uploaded on Adobe LogCollector Portal “File: AdobeLogs_20230306_033627_557-win-GS.zxp

“Please use the above filename as a reference when contacting Adobe Customer Care.”

(Do I need to contact Customer Care now?)

I also collected the process monitor logs while trying unsuccessfully to open two pdfs. One was the “Insufficient data for an image” error, the other was: “There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged  . . . “ message.

These are not isolated files. I have 10% of my pdfs that will not open. Yet all open with any other application (Acrobat or Preview on Mac), Adobe Acrobat extension in Chrome on Windows, etc.

What do I do with the ProcessMOnitor log file? “Share the files and logs with us”, you wrote. Who and where is “us”? Got an email address I can share them to?

Thanks.

­­­­­­­­­­

[lorneb87540091]

@AkanchhaS 

What do I do with the ProcessMOnitor log file? “Share the files and logs with us”, you wrote. Who and where is “us”? Got an email address I can share them to?

[AkanchhaS]

Hi @lorneb87540091 

I apologize for the delay in following up on your response. Can you please re-collect the logs?

Once .zxp file is generated, upload it to any cloud storage (SharePoint, Onedrive, etc.) and share the link with us.

We'll download it and forward it to the engineering team for further investigation.

Thanks,

Akanchha