Who is this article for?

Users trying to interact with PDF files.

No special access or permissions are required.

You may occasionally encounter issues when attempting to open or edit PDF documents. These issues can arise due to file corruption, automation failures, or folder-specific restrictions.

This articles outlines a systematic approach to identify and resolve these issues.

1. Issue

When attempting to open a PDF file, the system displays an error message stating that the file could not be opened. The error suggests that the file is either not a supported format or has been damaged.

2. Investigation

There are several steps you can take to confirm the scope and root cause of the issue in case you need to get in touch with us for further help.

2.1. Verify scope

To verify the scope of the issue:

1. Determine whether the issue is affecting a single user or multiple users.
2. Check if other documents within the system open successfully.
3. Identify the current status of the problematic document (e.g., “Edit”, “Published”, “Archived”).

2.2. Run automation

Next, run the document automation process.

If the issue persists:

1. Observe and document any error messages that appear.
2. Record the timestamp of the error.
3. Try accessing earlier versions of the document to determine if the issue is isolated to the current revision.
4. Attempt to replace the current revision with a previously working version to restore functionality.

2.3. Check for file corruption

Finally, check for file corruption.

To check for corruption:

1. Download the file locally.
2. Open the document using a text editor (e.g., Microsoft Word).
3. If the file fails to open locally, it is likely corrupted.

3. Solution

3.1. On-premise users

To resolve the issue, ask your IT Administrator to restart the application pool and system services.

This may resolve backend service-related issues affecting document access.

If the issue persists, the document may be corrupted. Copy the contents into a new document and upload it to the system.

Avoid including macros or embedded scripts unless necessary.

3.2. Hosted users

To resolve the issue, open a ticket with us for further investigation.

As a workaround, copy the contents into a new document and upload it to the system.

Avoid including macros or embedded scripts unless necessary.