The file is damaged and could not be repaired

[E***@adobeforums.com]

I’ve created a PDF file using Adobe Acrobat 7.08 Professional. This file can be opened on my computer which is running Windows XP Professional. When I put the same file on my server (running Windows Server 2003) it can also be opened using Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0. However, when I provide a link to the file from a webpage, I get the following error when trying to open the file from a different computer through Internet Explorer: “The file is damaged and could not be repaired.” I’ve put PDF files that I did not create on the server and have been able to open them from a different computer using Internet Explorer. Any idea about possible solutions to this problem?

[W***@adobeforums.com]

Did you move it to the server location with FTP. If so, be sure it was done with binary transfer. A PDF file is a binary file, not a text file, though much of it can be read as text.

[E***@adobeforums.com]

Thank you for your reply! I moved the file to the server via FTP, a shared folder, and directly with a USB jump drive. All created the same error message. Is it possible that something is wrong with a setting in my Adobe Acrobat (when I create my PDF files) that is causing this? I can put a PDF up on the server and get access to it with no problem if I didn't create it myself. I can also open files that I create directly on the server. I only get the error message when trying to get the file through Internet Explorer (6.0) from a host computer.

[J.R. Sanford]

Try right clicking the PDF link and "Save Target As" and save it locally. Open the file.pdf from that download directly in Acrobat (or Reader).

Can you supply us the URL where this file is so we can test it on our computers?

[E***@adobeforums.com]

Here is the message that I get when I try the "Save Target As" option..."THere was an error opening the document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired."

The URL is <http://hwemudua.psychology.siu.edu/LabTools.htm>

Thanks!!!

[E***@adobeforums.com]

Here is the full link:

<http://hwemudua.psychology.siu.edu/Procedures/Exp_Timeline.pdf>

[W***@adobeforums.com]

What I am experiencing is an incomplete download. It gets to 9kB and stalls. That starts sounding like a server problem. This is not uncommon with Apache if you are running Norton Antivirus. I had to disable Norton for Apache to download files correctly (there may be a work around, but I never found it). Do you have any other PDF files that are smaller just to test that idea? If so, load them the same way and see if there is a problem. If not, then start checking out your server. Even as I type this, the download is stuck at 9kB. Bill

[graffiti]

It downloaded fine for me but I get the same error as the OP when I attempt to open it in Acrobat or Illustrator.

The total file size I get is 12kb.

[E***@adobeforums.com]

That's wierd. The file is a temp file and is only 5.7 kb. I know of one person that can open this temp file without problem and they used a MAC and was not running internet explorer. It may be specific to internet explorer.

[graffiti]

Just an FYI. I'm running a Mac with OS X. I get the same results (corrupt file) no matter what browser I use and whether I try to view it in the browser or if I download and try to open.

[M***@adobeforums.com]

I could open the file without error on Mac OS 10.4.x

[M***@adobeforums.com]

well, make that "I could" It opened for me about a half how ago, but tried the link again jsut now, and it won't open. Something happening on the server side?

[J.R. Sanford]

This file has got to be damaged. I tried opening on both my Macintosh and Windows and got the exact same error as you did (even with Reader 7.0.8). Contact the PDF creator and ask them to email you the document.

[M***@adobeforums.com]

Hmm, well, just realized I opened it in a yet unreleased version of Acrobat 8, but doesn't open in Acrobat 7.

So, attached file has been resaved in 8, and now opens in 7. Still doesn't explain why the file is getting munged, but it could be upload corruption.

[W***@adobeforums.com]

Looks like you may have to go back to the original file first and see what is happening. Have you tried to download the file you posted and do a file compare (FC in the CMD window) with the original file. If they are not the same, you definitely have a server or upload issue.

[M***@adobeforums.com]

Ah, open the original file in a text editor. After the %eof, there is a bunch of web html and javascript code in there. No wonder 7 can't open it. Acrobat 8 strips it all out because it's not supposed to be there. Genius!

[W***@adobeforums.com]

When I tried it I was using Mozilla and not IE. It seems you are the only one using IE, so the browser is not the issue. It sounds like a server issue. I will try again and see if I get a different result.

I just tried agin in Mozilla and it froze Mozilla. I opened FireFox and downloaded it, again getting a corrupt file of 9kB again.

You might find it instructive to look at it in WORD. On line 29, I get

%%EOF
< !DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd" >

I am not that good at reading the raw PDF. You could probably even use debug to look at this one, being so short. It does not look right to me. It definitely looks like there is something failing in your server, or you really did not do a binary transfer to the server (I think I remember you said you did). It is acting like a bad upload.

Bill

[graffiti]

Mac Preview opens it but it's blank other than the word "temp" on the top left hand corner of the page.

[E***@adobeforums.com]

I would like to thank everyone for your work on this. Based on your responses I was able to find out that the problem was with the server and not the PDF files. In short, the server was putting the default footer (used on the web pages) onto the PDF file, thus adding HTML code to it. Somehow, Mac OS could open it and IE running on a PC could not. Once the default footer was disabled from the folder holding PDF files, they all opened fine via IE.

Thanks Again,

E. Obasi

[googneil]

I've created a PDF file using Adobe Acrobat 7.08 Professional. This file can be opened on my computer which is running Windows XP Professional. When I put the same file on my server (running Windows Server 2003) it can also be opened using Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0. However, when I provide a link to the file from a webpage, I get the following error when trying to open the file from a different computer through Internet Explorer: "The file is damaged and could not be repaired." I've put PDF files that I did not create on the server and have been able to open them from a different computer using Internet Explorer. Any idea about possible solutions to this problem?

I don't know the cause of this problem. Just had the same problem
accessing a file at
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/CLIA/downloads/certofcomp.pdf
for example.

I have read on other sites that different OS/browser combinations will
open the file.

I was able to do so on my machine by opening MS Word, then opening the
document using the URL above. It asks what encoding to use, pick the
default windows encoding, then save the file as a text document.
Change the file name to *.pdf. Then Adobe will open it. Go figure.
Maybe Word strips out the extra crap mentioned in posts above?

Incidentally, the file produced this way is significantly smaller than
the file generated by "Save As..." from Internet Explorer.