Adobe Acrobat Reader DC could not open because it is either not a supported file type or because the

Report · Jul 14, 2023

Hi,

We have been receiving this error and from researching, there seems to be quite a few posts about it but not much of a fix although this is an issue with Adobe so I'm hoping someone can help.

We recieve this error when trying to open some PDF's for example, when opening a PDF from a USB or one downloaded from OneDrive (A full copy downloaded, not a sync'd version)

If we try to open these same files with a different PDF reader, it works without issue.

In the case of the USB, if we move the files to the PC/Laptop then it works so I'm assuming this is some sort of security option within Adobe to not open files from unknown sources maybe?

Either way, the files are not corrupt and are definitely PDF's as they work in other readers.

Is there any advice or fix for this?

Report · Jul 14, 2023

Must be some kind of permissions issue with the USB drive. It's probably set as read-only and Reader is trying to create a temporary file or something, and it's failing. If it works when you open the file from the local computer, then do that (or change the permissions for the USB drive, if you can).

Report · Aug 12, 2023

I am getting the exact same error message. I am trying to open PDF sewing patterns, some of them I have owned for years.

The person who replied to my query on Twitter said this:

your computer is attempting to use Adobe Reader to open a secure ePub or PDF book. Secure ePub and PDF books are only compatible with Adobe Digital Editions (ADE), they will NOT work with Adobe Reader.

I received these through email and some of the stores on Etsy are no longer open. My post has received a LOT of likes from other women - my guess is they are having the same problem.

Thanks for any help you can offer.