OT: damaged PDF files

Yes - seeing similar. Probably half a dozen files out of a few hundred. I have had problems opening files with both Reader 8 and full version Acrobat

1. Problem seems to be right at the start - ie no progress at all, a message like "corrupt file cannot open" or similar is given. It may be an Adobe problem or just some corrupt files (being made by some freeware pdf writer utility?)

Post one to abse. I don't use Adobe products, because they are buggy bloatware. Foxit viewer and CutePDF work fine and fast.

John

A viewer is not useful if the file is "damaged". Some of them were found on the web, and others came from respected companies like Manchester. The headers and initial part of "good" vs "bad" look different; PDF-1.2 for OK, PDF-1.4 for bad on header line. After 2nd "comment" line, a good PDF might look like:

See my answer to John Larkin; i suspect it is a "PDF writer" that is doing the dirt.

Adobe seems to cop out at the slightest opportunity whereas Irfanview at least tries to have a go and if it fails tries to describe the problem.

This has also been discussed in the last few days in a local newsgroup here. The thing that was apparently making most jpeg readers barf was the compression used. Re-saving the jpeg with 'standard compression', rather than 'lossless compression' has been claimed to work.

?? (huh?)

What do jpeg images have to do with unusable pdf's and likewise, what does Irfanview have to do with pdf's?

Seems like, at best, a parallel issue. By 'Adobe' are you talking about Photoshop?

Oops, nothing. Put down to a Brain Phart. :)

Where are you "seeing" those files? If they're downloadable from the 'Net, post a link and we'll see.

robert

After Illustrator-10, I swore I would never buy another Adobe product. EVER! Then Photoshop Elements came out...

I'm still PO'd at Adobe. Their solution to the clearly busted Illustrator-10 product was to get the latest version. Another $400 bucks or so. They would not fix the problems I, and several other thousand people were experiencing, if you put any credence in their own User Forums. --Which they REMOVED after it became a bitching ground for Illustrator-10 bugs! There is a special place in Hell for companies like this...

I've not seen any Acrobat problems, except the occasional self-sign issue when someone is using one of those 3rd party signature verification services. I have vers 8 and 5. 5 seems to work the best overall. IMO. -mpm

I can't tell if I can't access the files.

This reminds me of questions like "tell me what's wrong with my inverter."

John

We deal with a lot of pdf files on the datasheetarchive and see many ways pdf files can become unreadable. Setting 128-bit encryption can often cause problems for older readers, also running programs/scripts to re-generate the meta data can corrupt files. This happens when a program tries to re-generate a pdf which contains a popup, or a missing font notification.

Another problem is when a website uses a script to feed users the pdf file. PHP, ASP etc have a default timeout period of around 60 seconds so if the web server is slow the pdf file you receive is cut short. This usually only happens with larger files.

If you have problems i would also suggest saving a file to your hard disk before opening it. Sometimes Adobe can be buggy when opening files directly.

Just a few ideas!

PDF = Adboe Acrobat.

-- Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell Central Florida

PDF = Portable document format. Invented by Adobe, but is commonly created and read ny non-Adobe software.

Adobe software is reputed to produce crappy PDFs, and Adobe readers (starting from v.5) are buggy bloatware.

robert

Yes, I know, but he was asking which Adobe product uses .PDF files.

I have tried reader 4.0 and 7.0 as well as GSView; they all barf. Only GSView tells what is wrong (no %%EOF and indicates file is too short). A dumb text editor verified that.

??JPEG?? These are PDF files.

All of the bad ones i have received wer from Manchester, regarding pressure vessels.

I think i posted a good one and a bad one on ABSE like you suggested... ...and some of the earlier responses seem to verify that fantasy.