Acrobat reader won't open all PDF files

[Bluesman2008]

All of a sudden, if I email a PDF to my gmail, it won't give me the acrobat logo to use to open it. It just started doing that. Most PDFs will open, but some won't. I tried downloading the reader again but no luck. This is a serious problem because I need access to some PDFs while out and about. Any thoughts?

EDIT: I'm on a GS4 with lollipop.

 

[FoxKat]

We would need to know what they are opening with, are all on gmail not opening or are just some on gmail not opening?

 

[Bluesman2008]

The mails on gmail are all opening. It's just the attachments that are PDFs that won't all open. Some of them will, but the ones I create from my desktop won't. The emails on gmail open with the gmail app.

 

[FoxKat]

OK, I understood that your email was opening but I wasn't sure if all the PDF attachments in all emails weren't opening or just some. If there are some that open and some that do not, I'm going to point to the source of the ones that won't open as the cause. You say the ones you create on your desktop won't open from gmail with the Adobe Reader app, correct?

 

[Jeffrey]

The ones that open in gmail are on the gmail server. I think you need to download the ones you created or email them to yourself.

 

[leeshor]

The mails on gmail are all opening. It's just the attachments that are PDFs that won't all open. Some of them will, but the ones I create from my desktop won't. The emails on gmail open with the gmail app.

What are you using the create the PDFs? This post makes it sound like the problem lies with your PC, not the phone.

 

[Bluesman2008]

I'm using my desktop scanner to scan certain docs to PDF. I then mail them to myself at gmail so I can pick them up if needed on my cell phone. I've been doing that for years and now, all of a sudden, I can't read them as a gmail attachment. Better stated, when I double click on them to open them acrobat doesn't appear as an option to open them.

 

[leeshor]

Do you have another mail account on your phone you could try it with, not G-Mail? It's possibly the implementation of the PDF creation by your scanner that's at fault.

 

[Bluesman2008]

Yes I have another one but I've been having problems getting my emails from that one for some reason. I'll check for emails when I'm out and it's not showing any and when I get home there's 40 of them.

But it's strange, if I create a PDF with the scanner I can open and read it with acrobat on my desktop. Very strange.

 

[Bluesman2008]

Any help greatly appreciated. I've run out of ideas. I've even tried scanning a doc into WordPerfect and then creating a PDF in that, but that won't work either. I'll open in acrobat locally but not in my cell phone.

 

[FoxKat]

Could you possibly post one that you create in the same manner, which is benign as either a link or somehow perhaps using Google drive, drop box or another cloud service so we can test it out and see if it responds the same for us as is l it does for you?

 

[Bluesman2008]

Ok. I think I did this right.

Dropbox - Can t charge fee for trial.pdf

Now I can view this pdf on my pc but my phone won't open it.

 

[leeshor]

All I see is 2 blank pages using my desktop and Foxit Reader.

 

[Bluesman2008]

Strange. I'll have to upload it somewhere else...

 

[FoxKat]

I just tried to open it and got the following error from Adobe.

My gut feeling is that something changed either with the tool you use to create the PDF, or with Adobe. Frankly, this likely is because the Adobe "standard" is now (and perhaps all along), somehow not being completely followed and at some point - usually due to an update to Adobe, the reader said, "nope, I can't deal with this any more".

It's similar in fact to what happens with wireless routers and how they will work fine with one phone but then as of the sudden a new phone can't connect. It's not because the router has failed, our that the phone is the cause. It's usually because the " standard " wasn't being followed 100% with the earlier router firmwares, and the newer phone is adhering more closely to that standard.

This is often due to software (*and hardware), manufacturers trying to avoid paying the Adobe licensing fees to utilize the actual PDF creation code, and instead create a quasi mock-up of code that will "essentially" create a "pseudo-PDF". Adobe knows these packages exist and they will often try to tweak their code to both remain completely compatible with their own standard, while essentially "breaking" the third-party non-licensed applications that try to "ride on the PDF train".

This may not be the cause, but the sudden change from working to not, and the error I got cause me to believe this is the cause. If PDF files created by "licensed" PDF creation software, but will not open those with your application, I would suspect the application to be the fault.