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[Tariq Dar]

PDF won’t display. Please wait…

If you are getting this message while viewing a pdf in a browser, you are most likely trying to open a Dynamic XFA (XML Form Architecture) PDF. To view such pdf documents, we recommend you to download the file locally and open it either in Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat.

How to check PDF is created in LiveCycle Designer:

- Open a file in Acrobat/Reader. Click on File > Properties. Once you get the properties dialog box check, click on Description tab, check Application and PDF Producer. 

Dynamic XFA PDF/Form:

Dynamic forms are based on an XML specification known as XFA, the “XML Forms Architecture”. The information about the form (as far as PDF is concerned) is very vague – it specifies that fields exist, with properties, and JavaScript events, but does not specify any rendering. This allows them to redraw as much as necessary, with Sub-forms repeating on the page, sections appearing and disappearing as appropriate, the ability to pull in form fragments stored in different files, and objects re-arranging as you (the developer) dictate.

This also means that some features of Acro-Forms and flat PDFs are lost.

XFA Forms cannot be annotated. Reader (or Acrobat) cannot know whether all your custom code may change the layout. As such, without any render data, and a chance that the render data may be drastically altered on the fly, local annotations cannot be implemented. An annotation only has a sense at an {x,y} location, but if the item you annotate changes location, your annotation becomes meaningless, if not misleading.

XFA Forms cannot have their pages extracted. There is no render data to determine pages. Change some data in the form, and the layout of the pages may change drastically. You must “flatten” the PDF before extracting pages, thereby losing interactive properties.

XFA Forms cannot be optimised for fast web viewing. There is no render information. Data at the end of the document may affect displays on the first page of the document.

For more information about Flat and Dynamic PDF: http://blogs.adobe.com/an_tai/archives/172

Working with Dynamic PDF’s: http://www.adobepress.com/articles/article.asp?p=2158443&seqNum=3

Also, editing XFA forms: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/edit-xfa-form.html 

* Change in support for Acrobat and Reader plug-ins in modern web browsers

[aprilmfergurson]

I do not have the option to download this. The ONLY option I have is to click the link which just goes right back to that same error message. PLEASE tell me how to fix this. I have to fill out this form!!!

[Bernd Alheit]

Use "Save link as"

[esle28357875]

This does not seem like the correct solution.  We have employees at our company, accessing the same .PDF in IE 11 and some people can open the file and others cannot.

[justin-q-taylor]

Whether they can open it in the browser depends on whether the browser has the Adobe Acrobat reader plugin installed (which almost all browsers except IE11 have stopped supporting), and also possibly on their security settings for that particular website (should be a "trusted site"). Whether they can open it once downloaded depends on what program they are using to open it. They should make sure the newest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader is their default for opening .pdf files.

[donnah21032782]

How is this article helpful? How do you download the file locally when you can't open it? I am trying to open an IRS form and receive this message. I cannot go any further. I tried another site to download a form, get the same message. I do not want to uninstall this version and find an older version to install just so I can get a couple forms. There must be a better fix?

[justin-q-taylor]

Right click the link to the file and click "save target as" or whatever similar option comes up for your particular browser.

[tjdavid81561]

We are having this same problem, but not when user's try to open the PDFs from a web page.  These are attachments to emails, which I have instructed all of my users to save to their local machine before attempting to open.  I see the same exact behavior whether they try to open them with Adobe Reader DC (2015.006.30499) or Adobe Acrobat DC (2015.006.30499).

That said, can I please not get a bunch of responses telling me how to open the file in a browser?  I have seen a lot of back and forth on this matter, but still with no explanation as to what is the root cause of the issue.

Please, if you have something new to add, I would love to hear it.  We have tried every single "solution" proposed in this thread, and we are still unable to open these files.  It only seems to happen with the interactive (fillable form) PDFs.

Thank you.

Tim David

[Saje77]

This is not a solution for me. I have to print from my phone, by sending it to a WiFi printer. It won't open when I download it on my iphone, even when I use the reader app. It won't open from Gmail. I can open it when I download it at home on my Mac but when I try elsewhere... no luck. 

I frequently have this problem. It's very frustrating. The solution is not to find a computer and download it. That's incredibly limiting. 

I'm going to assume that there is no solution for this as I've looked off and on, for several years. 

[dula05]

Hello,

I wanted to share with you that I recently had this issue and was able to solve it by turning off "enable protected mode at startup" which is found in edit>preferences>security (enhanced)

Cheers

[Mfanafuthi]

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If this message is not eventually replaced by the proper contents of the document, your PDF
viewer may not be able to display this type of document.

You can upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Reader for Windows®, Mac, or Linux® by
visiting http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.

For more assistance with Adobe Reader visit http://www.adobe.com/support/products/
acrreader.html.

Windows is either a registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Mac is a trademark

Answer not helpful to me. This is SARS electronic interaction between SA taxpayers and the Revenue Authority. I must do electronic submission. In other words, the system sends the electronic message. It is not like you want to download a pdf document. I must complete required details on the electronic system and submit back to SARS

[Test Screen Name]

Like it or not, they have made a PDF document and you have to download it. As has been said: not sure why you find it unhelpful.

When you see this message download the file you see (the one with the message) on Mac or Windows, to your desktop. (If you don't know how, please tell us your system and browser).

Start Acrobat Reader.

Open the file from your desktop.