Error Opening Adobe PDF Files

[mcsdesign1966]

Hi...

I have suddenly had an error appear whe opening most PDF files - "There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired."

Subsequently I'm unble to open these files. I'm on a Mac platform with OS X 10.8 and am using Adobe Acrobat version 10.1.4.

The files are mainly downloaded / saved to my desktop through Safari. These are PDF files that I've previously been able to open but all of a sudden can't.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated! ...thanks!!

[Test Screen Name]

Try opening them in Preview. Does that work?

[mcsdesign1966]

Thanks for yout response,

I've just tried to open in Preview and get the following message "The file “Report.pdf” could not be opened. It may be damaged or use a file format that Preview doesn’t recognize." (and am unable to open the file). 

[Guest]

Have the same problem. Can't open pdf's from the Web in Preview, Reader or Acrobat Pro after upgrading to 10.8 from 10.6. Says:

"There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired."

[Test Screen Name]

This is worrying; it suggests something has actually broken your PDF files.  dave0123, mcsdesign1966, there's something I'd like you to try. Please start TextEdit.  Pick one of the smallest PDF files, and use File > Open in TextEdit.

What you see is expected to be unreadable junk. But there's good junk and bad junk!  After opening it, please copy and paste the FIRST FEW lines (make sure it's the first few) into a forum post and maybe this will tell us something.

[mcsdesign1966]

Thanks for offering your assistance with this one mate... I appreciate it!

As requested, this is the first part of one of the files that won't open, as seen in Text Edit:

%PDF-1.3

%‚„œ”

33 0 obj

<<

/Type /XObject

/Subtype /Image

/Width 1504

/Height 2712

/BitsPerComponent 1

/ImageMask true

/Decode [0 1]

/Filter [/CCITTFaxDecode]

/DecodeParms [ <</Columns 1504 /Rows 2712 /K -4 /BlankIs1 true >>]

/Length 3166

>>

stream

The rest of it is prety much gobbly gook and ASCI stuff - the kind of stuff that get's me stumped!

Just another discovery with this problem - I've discovered something interesting with my mobile phone bill, which I view as a PDF file in a safari window on my phone provider's website. I right clicked on the phone bill displayed in the Safari and used 'save as' to save a copy of this to my desktop so I could later open in Acrobat Pro and print, as I always do, however when I go to open that file from my desktop, the error occurs and can't open. HOWEVER - I discovered an option through the phone company website to open the file in 'Acrobat' within a Safari window, which I did. It adds Acrobat toolbar menu etc within the Safari screen and displays bill in PDF format as if in Acrobat. I then saved a copy of the file from this view on my desktop, and now That One I can Open! There is anoter distinct difference too - the unopenable files display on my desktop as the 'PDF icon' and the one of the phone bill that I can open displays as a 'Preview Icon' (as they all should).

Hope this all makes sense and may point to something further?

Once again - thanks for the help!

[Test Screen Name]

Ok, that is correct as far as it goes. That's what PDF files all look like at the start.

But, it seems something has damaged other parts of the file. That seems certain, since multiple software from different companies is failing. Something to do with the Mountain Lion upgrade? I hope not, but it is something in common.

Here's something to check out.  Pick one of these files you know well, and which you downloaded a long time ago. Now, check the modification date in Finder. Is it recent? Ok, check another, is it the same sort of time? If so, probably something/someone wrote to those files at that time. Can you remember what was happening then (e.g. was it when Mountain Lion was installed, or something else?)

Meanwhile, the chances of being able to recover the files is slim. Time to look at your backups.

[Test Screen Name]

Hi dave0123, mcsdesign1966,

I have one more thing. Can you double check this actually happens in Acrobat or Adobe Reader? Start the app, use File > Open.

I found this page http://www.iceni.com/blog/?p=468 . It's confusing but it does show you aren't alone.

[mcsdesign1966]

For me, it's in Adobe Acrobat Pro v10.1.4 - This came with my purchase of Adone CS5.5, and of course, has just been updated with software updates over time.

Thanks for the link - all seems to to be relevent to the issue I'm having. My only concern is that it refers to this as being a fix for 'Adobe Reader' rather than 'Adobe Acrobat Pro'. If I delete the two files and download the updated version from Adobe website, is this going to fix my software (Adobe Acrobat Pro). I'm guessing it's one in the same thing so may not have any impact?

The other concern is that when I go to the Adobe site where the upgrade / downlod is that the link points to, it mentions it's 'Adobe Reader 10.1.4.... I already have Adobe Acrobat 10.1.4 - is this the same?

Thanks!

[mcsdesign1966]

ohh... what the heck - I got impatient and I'm trying the fore mentioned now - I'll let you know the outcome!

[Test Screen Name]

I felt that the page was interesting, but not necessarily reliable, so I wouldn't recommend following the steps on there without more research. Still, let us know how you get on!

[mcsdesign1966 · Accepted solution]

ooops... too late - I felt it was fairly straight forward and legitimate considering I could have still recovered the files I deleted from my library, and the download was from the official Adobe site...

Anyway - completed this process with SUCESS!!

This actually works - deleting the original two files from the Internet Plug-Ins folder and then Downloading Adobe Reader 10.1.4 from the Adobe site. What's best is, I'm far from technically minded, yet found this simple to complete!

I tested the Phone Bill PDF I mentioned earlier, and another file 'Report' (PDF) which were both saved from the Internet straight to my desktop. Both previous files still do not open, however, the newly saved copies of these files open just fine again!

Thanks mate for putting me onto that link - it worked a bloody treat!!

Cheers!

Michael

[Rootsfinder44]

I am having the same problem, but I am still on OS X Lion 10.7.4. It started when I installed Adobe Reader 10.1.4. I will try to determine if the Mountain Lion link instructions are applicable for Lion, as well.

[Rootsfinder44]

This resolved the problem with OS X Lion 10.7.4 and Adobe reader 10.1.4. Thanks!

[j_lowder]

I have similar results trying to open "saved pdf's".  When they are opened in the browser (Safari) they are readable, but after being saved they cannot be opened with Adobe or Preview.  I get the message "There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired."

I'm using Adobe Acrobat Pro 9.5.2.

This has been a recent problem for me for approximately 2 weeks.  I have many pdf's saved previously that open without a problem.

What exactly is involved in "saving" the files?  I would assume that it has to do with Adobe due to being saved as a pdf.  Is there a component from OS X (my current 10.8.2) which could cause or contribute to the error?

All help is appreciated.  I've spent many hours on various forums trying to get this resolved.

[Rootsfinder44]

Turns out the fix was only temporary. The problem came back the next time I restarted Safari.

I did, however. find another workaround for the problem. I deleted the Adobe Plugins and did not replace them. Safari now uses Preview to open and save pdf files. I have no problem reading or printing the files saved by Preview.  The Acrobat reader seems happy with them now. The problem has not returned after restart or reboot. I'll wait and see what happens with the next release of Adobe reader ans/or Safari.

[Guest]

I think this is particularly troubling if this keeps happening every time an update is made.  Fortunately for me the _responses file I had made just a few weeks ago and had intended on using for all of 2013 didn't have a lot of information in it yet.  I had also made a backup .csv document about a week ago, and still have most of the original forms that were submitted.

I had to just delete the original _responses file, create a new one with the same name in the same folder, and I've had to reenter a few of the forms I've received.  Hopefully I'll have time to go back later this afternoon and enter some more, although I'm sure I've lost one or two.  I'll also remember to save csv backups as often as I can.

Not only does this waste time it's extremely frustrating and annoying.

If the survey people are watching, this is the sort of thing that would make me "unlikely to recommend Adobe to a friend."