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Adobe Acrobat Can Not Open PDF Files

Forum Index > Deployment & Installation > Adobe Acrobat Can Not Open PDF Files
2008-07-23 10:37:02
Lorob1
Registered: Jul 23 2008
Posts: 11

Hello:

My Acrobat Standard (Rev 7.1) can not open files it previously created.

I recently migrated to new Vista PC (Home Premium) and restored several GB of files, including many hundreds (thousands) created with Acrobat Standard 7.0 (updated to 7.1) under XP Pro.

Before reinstalling Acrobat on Vista PC, I first uninstalled the free Reader which came bundled with machine to avoid any conflicts with my legacy Acrobat 7.1. I checked the system to make sure Reader was fully removed.

I then installed Acrobat with no problems, ran the update with no problems, and have also run the Detect & Repair utility. I have also checked file associations and they are correctly set to Acrobat 7.1.

Although I can launch Acrobat with no issues, I can no longer open any of my files created with this same application on my prior machine. Instead I receive an error dialogue: "Acrobat could not open [file] because it is either not a supported file type or beacuse the file has been damaged (for example it was sent as an e-mail attachment and wasn't correctly decoded)."

These files were all created with Acrobat, and stored on PC. This is not a web browser issue. Acrobat is capable of creating and reading new files, but can not read legacy pdf files it created.

Thank you in advance for all assistance in resolving this issue.

Lorob

Lorob

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2008-07-23 11:12:49
#1
gkaiseril
Expert
Registered: Feb 23 2006
Posts: 4307
Adobe did not provide any updates for version 7 to support Vista. You will need version 8 or above to have a supported Acrobat product for use with Vista.

George Kaiser

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2008-07-23 13:09:02
#2
Lorob1
Registered: Jul 23 2008
Posts: 11
Thank you gkaiseril:

I just downloaded the Adobe Reader rev 9 from Adobe site and it will not read any of my pdf files created with Acrobat 7 (and earlier versions). I am still getting same error message even though I am no longer using Acrobat 7.

Can anyone please explain why Reader 9 will not open pdf files created with earlier versions of Acrobat? How do I open and simply read Acrobat created pdf files on Vista System.

Lorob

Lorob

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2008-07-23 13:13:00
#3
Lorob1
Registered: Jul 23 2008
Posts: 11
I should add that I have fully uninstalled Acrobat 7 before downloading and testing Reader 9 on my pdf files.

In view of seriousness (no access to thousands of files) troubleshooting information greatly appreciated.

Lorob

Lorob

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2008-07-23 13:30:44
#4
George_Johnson
Online
Expert
Registered: Jul 6 2008
Posts: 1875
Are you able to copy one or more of those same files to a different machine and open them? Are you able to open PDFs from a different source? You need to determine whether the files have somehow been corrupted.

George
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2008-07-23 14:57:04
#5
Lorob1
Registered: Jul 23 2008
Posts: 11
George:

Thanks for your post.

I have determined that it must be a file corruption issue which must have occurred when the prior XP machine crashed. The files can not be opened even when sent to another PC running XP.

Fortunately, earlier copies backed up to NAS drive can be opened (at least with Reader 9).

Due to the backup methodology that was used, I need to research whether there is an efficient means to restore the old versions without wiping out more recent (non pdf files). The backup was created with a simply "copy" command for te entire directory structure to the NAS. I need a surgical "copy" command that affects only the pdfs. I am looking at thousands of files.

Alternatively, are there are any price reasonable and effective pdf repair utilities? The commercial ones seem very pricey.

In the meantime I wonder if I was too hasty in removing Acrobat 7.1 from my Vista machine.

Thansk again.

Lorob

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2009-05-27 14:55:53
#6
Avril
Registered: May 27 2009
Posts: 6
I too am having the same problems. I installed explorer 8 and since then I have had problems with acrobat. I thought I would uninstall it and reload. I found I could not uninstall as it kept saying there was an application open that was using it. There wasn't. With that I decided to delete the individual files from windows.

I deleted all but one that won't delete. I am in a fix as to what to do. I have already updated to reader 9 but acrobat will not behave. Also reader 9 won't complete the install because of the acrobat problem. What a mess.

Any ideas please.
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2009-05-27 19:00:22
#7
daka630
Expert
Registered: Mar 1 2007
Posts: 1420
Lorob wrote:
In the meantime I wonder if I was too hasty in removing Acrobat 7.1 from my Vista machine.
As George has stated Acrobat 7.x is a "no-go" in Vista. Had you kept it, you'd *not* get proper functionality. For Vista one needs Acrobat 8.1 or better.

Avril,
IE8 appears to be the source of the problem. Your Acrobat install took a hit from it.
You may want to resolve the browser issue first and then address fixing Acrobat.

Be well...

Be well...

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2009-05-28 02:06:15
#8
Avril
Registered: May 27 2009
Posts: 6
hi lorob,

Thank you so much for your reply. I had to install IE8 originally because a microsoft update messed with explorer 7. I couldn't get online at all at the time and luckily I had firefox as a backup and I got online with that to download IE8.

Now of course I have the acrobat problem. What do you mean by solve the explorer problem? What should I do please.? What a carry on. Why Microsoft send out these updates in the first place willy nilly without checking what might happen to our operating systems is unbelievable. I have had hours of trouble when my computer was running perfectly before that.

Anyway, that is my moan for the day. Thank you once again for your advice but I am still a bit confused on what to do.

regards
Avril
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2009-05-28 09:26:24
#9
Avril
Registered: May 27 2009
Posts: 6
Hi Lorob,

Just to let you know that I have been most of the day messing around with acrobat. Anyway, I eventually after many clicks and swear words restarted my computer. I then clicked on the install icon yet again on my desktop for Adobe 9.1. Up until now it would not finish installing without error messages. This time it finished installing and is fine.

I have tried it out and it is working perfectly. I still have the undeleted file that would not go but all is ok. I really do not know what I did but it is ok. I would like to thank you for your advice. All I know is that it all happened after installing IE 8 so be warned eveyone.

Regards
Avril
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