Cannot open .pdf file - says not supported or file is damaged... HELP!

[smithfast]

I receive PDF files on a daily basis from many different people, and never have an issue opening them. However, one of the contacts I regularly get emails from, has PDF files that I cannot open. The following dialog pops up when I attempt to open it:

"Adobe Acrobat reader could not open '[filename].pdf' because it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged (for example, it was sent as an email attachment and wasn't correctly decoded)."

I contacted the sender and made them aware of our problem. They said they send similar files to all their other contacts in the same manner and no one else has a problem with opening them. I have my acrobat reader up to date with the latest version, and my account is active. I have no idea why I cannot open the file. I did, however, try to right click on the file on the email, and it doesn't give me an option to "open with...", only to "save as..." which saves as a webpage.

What is the issue here? And how can I fix it?

[AnandSri · Accepted solution]

Hello Smithfast,

We're sorry for the delayed response and inconvenience caused. The error comes when a PDF file is corrupt or damaged and Adobe Reader tries to open it, but when it finds that there is an issue with the PDF, it throws the error.

It seems that the email server has corrupted the file by encoding it incorrectly. Please ask the original sender to zip the PDF file, or share it using cloud storage like Dropbox or Google Drive or Adobe Send instead of email.

You can also refer and try the suggestions from the following Adobe article and discussions Resolve damaged document error when opening PDF files

Adobe Reader could not open a pdf file - either not supported file type or file damaged

Is it a Mac or Windows machine and what is the version?

What is the dot version of Adobe Reader installed? To identify, refer to Identify the product and its version for Acrobat and Reader DC

Let us know how it goes and share your findings.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

[tenesor80]

Hello

I have a pdf file that I can't open, I have followed the instructions to send it to myself via google drive but it gives me the same error.

Can't open the file. I need the file.

How can I fix this problem ??

Thank you.

[AnandSri]

Hi Tenesor,

I am sorry for the trouble you had, are you getting the error message with one specific PDF file or is it with all the PDF files?

What is the version of Adobe Reader or Acrobat installed? To identify, refer to Identify the product and its version for Acrobat and Reader DC

Are you on a Mac or Windows machine and what is the version?

If it is specific to one PDF file, is it possible to share the file with us so that we can test it at our end? Share the file by direct/private message only How Do I Send Private Message

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

[nathant6758536]

Hello,

I am having the same issue where I created a fairly large PDF (56MB) and saved it, but now when I try to open it I get the following error:

"Error 2 opening file.

Could not open '221123-001B_Booster PS (Working Copy).pdf' because it is either not a supported file type or the file has been corrupted.   For example, it was sent as an e-mail attachment and wasn't correctly decoded."

Is there a way that I can get this fixed so that I do not have to recreate the entire PDF file?

Thanks,

Nathan Tyson

[bmiss]

I am still having this issue and have not seen a reply posted anywhere on this site. I'm more than a little frustrated. I get files on a fairly regular basis from various vendors and occassionally have this issue. I cannot necessarily ask or expect them to change what they're doing, but if I'm going to make a request, I have to know what I'm requesting. I don't know what is causing the issue. Is it on the sender side, my side, what?????

[km_dilli]

If you just want to view the contents of the file then you can use this method, it worked out for me. You need to know basics of programming. If you are using windows then open command prompt or terminal if you are using mac/linux. Ensure that you have python installed. open python in cmd/terminal and run the commands to read a file. you need not install any other packages

file = open('file path along with extension','r')
print(file.read())
file.close()

your pdf file will open. if you have a C/C++ compiler installed you can use it as well if you are familiar with c/cpp programming. The interface might not be good but it will work.

[Bernd Alheit]

In this case you will see the same as when you open the file with a text editor like Notepad.

[km_dilli]

yes...but you can still give it a try to open the file

[Bernd Alheit]

Have you done this?

[km_dilli]

Yes it worked out for me. I have tried it on windows 8.1(home edition) and windows 10 (enterprise edition).

[Mbomvu]

Please assist me to the file 

[try67]

We need more information to be able to help you. We're not mind-readers.