Troubleshooting PDF Files Not Opening

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Last updated: Oct 24, 2024 by Ashley Mattingly
3 min read

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. Each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, graphics, and other information needed to display it. This article is intended to help troubleshoot problems opening PDF’s from multiple. sources like Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader and various web browsers.

View PDFs in an Internet browser

When trying to open up PDF files they may not always open up correctly or the internet browser may display a blank white screen after trying to open up the PDF file. The following checklists were created to help solve these two problems. Take note that some PDF’s use security features that may not run in older versions. Also, these checklists were created using the latest Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat. These checklists should work for Adobe Reader 9.0-10.1.3 and Adobe Acrobat 9.0-10.0.

Updating to the newest Adobe Reader & Adobe Acrobat

Open PDF directly in Reader or Acrobat

  1. If the PDF appears as a clickable link, you can often save the file to your desktop and open it directly.
    • Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (macOS) the link to the PDF file.
    • Choose the appropriate save or download option.
      • Microsoft Edge: Save link as…
      • Mozilla Firefox: Save Link As…
      • Google Chrome: Save link as...
      • Safari: Download Linked File
  2. Make sure Adobe Acrobat Document is selected for the file type, and save the file.
    • If you don’t see a Save As dialog box, your browser could have opened a separate downloads window and downloaded the file automatically.
  3. Locate the saved PDF, and double-click the file to open it.
    • If your browser opened a downloads window, double-click the PDF in the downloads list.

Checking for recent updates for Adobe Reader & Adobe Acrobat

  1. Open Reader or Acrobat.
  2. Choose Help.
  3. Check for updates.

Repair Reader or Acrobat

  1. Open Reader or Acrobat.
  2. Choose Help.
  3. Repair Adobe Reader Installation or Repair Acrobat Installation according to the program you are using.

Enable the browser plug-in

  1. Viewing PDFs within a browser requires that the Adobe PDF plug-in is enabled.
    • Safari (macOS)
      • Acrobat X and Adobe Reader X support viewing PDF files inside the Safari browser on macOS
        • Note: If you don’t have Acrobat or Reader, or haven’t installed the PDFViewer plug-in, then Safari shows PDF files using the macOS PDF viewer.
    • Google Chrome (Windows)
      • Google Chrome has a built-in PDF viewer enabled by default.
    • Internet Explorer (Windows)
      • Internet explorer has a built-in PDF viewer enabled by default.
    • Firefox (Windows)
      • Firefox has a built-in PDF viewer enabled by default.
    • Microsoft Edge (Windows)
      • Microsoft Edge has a built-in PDF viewer enabled by default.

Can’t View PDFs On The Web

  1. Restart your computer and try opening the PDF again.
  2. Open a local copy of a PDF in the web browser.
  3. Download the PDF again.
  4. Delete temporary Internet files.
    1. Internet Explorer
      1. Select the gear icon.
      2. Select Internet Options.
      3. In the Browsing History area of the General tab, click Delete.
      4. Select Temporary Internet Files and deselect all other options.
      5. Click Delete.
      6. Click OK when prompted.
      7. Click OK to close Internet Options.
      8. Try to download the PDF again from the website.
    2. Firefox
      1. Select the three lines at the top tight of the page
      2. Select Options.
      3. Once in Options choose Privacy & Security on the left side of the screen.
      4. Scroll down to History and select Clear History…
      5. Deselect everything except Cache.
      6. Click Clear Now.
      7. Try to download the PDF again from the website.

  5. Try a different PDF to check if opens it.

    If Acrobat or Reader can open another PDF, then the web server that is trying to deliver your PDF could be configured incorrectly.

  6. Remove multiple versions of Reader or Acrobat, and then reinstall the latest version.