I have links to PDF files in my html pages (created using FrontPage). The files open fine when the user has Adobe Reader 6.0 on their machine.
The files do NOT open fine when a user has Adobe Reader 5.0 on their machine.
It is not consistent with every file and the error message is not consistent across users.
One user is seeing that Adobe attempts to open and then the error message: "Adobe Acrobat 5.0 has encountered problems and needs to close."
One user is seeing the message about being unable to find Adobe Reader.
Here's the interesting (well, to me) part.
If those same users on the same machines, open the files by double-clicking on them from Windows Explorer OR if they open Adobe Reader 5.0 and then do a "File , Open" operation, the files open fine in Adobe Reader 5.0.
I have tried renaming the PDF files so there are no spaces or strange characters.
The files range in size from 48K to 4MB.
I have tried changing the hyperlink properties to open the PDF in a separate window.
I tried redistilling to an earlier version, even though the document properties on the original files indicate that they are compatible with 5.0.
I created the PDFs by exporting from PageMaker. The job settings do include image compression.
I'm stumped. Does anyone have something else for me to try?
TIA,
Michelle
I have found similar results when using html links to PDF. It seems it is especially problematic if you are using frames - html links in one frame to open PDF in another. First PDF opens okay, sometimes even the second will open okay, but by the third everything locks-up.
Another observation is that once a user opens a PDF in a browser window then closes that window, Acrobat continues to run in the background as a process. Sometimes the next html to PDF link will fail to open the PDF. Stopping Acrobat using Task Manager will allow the user to then retry and usually opens the PDF properly.
One of the most reliable methods I have found is to use one PDF to open another via the javascript method - "getURL('another.pdf')" but this is not always a practical solution to implement.
One suggestion you might try is to use the PDF Optimizer function in AA6 - this seems to help improve the reliability of loading PDF over the web.
Hopefully, there will be an opportunity for most users to finally catch up to the new PDF 1.5 standard and all have a compatible Reader before another new standard is introduced !
Hi, Ben.
Thank you for such thorough information.
I am not using frames so I don't think that is the problem.
Your second observation is something I will look into.
I did select "optimize for fast web view" selected in my job options for the initial conversion. If you are referring to a different setting, please advise.
I may end up just asking readers to download the latest reader; I just hate to put that burden on something trying to access help, if I don't have to. (I'm creating help system.)
Thank you,
Michelle
Update: The problem has been discovered! It has to do with using image compression in the job options when I first exported the .pmd files to Adobe PDF.
I redistilled without any compression, and users with 5.0 can view the PDFs via the HMTL page link. My files are too big for my purposes now, though, so I will have to make Reader 6.0 a requirement, afterall. It's nice to know what the problem was, though.
Credit for this resolution goes to Thomas A. Rowe who responded to my post on the Microsoft FrontPage Newsgroup forum with the suggestion to check the compression.
Michelle
Michelle,
It would be nice to know exactly what compression settings you were using that caused problems for your Reader 5 customers, just to help other users faced with a potentially similar problem. As I recall there are several compression alternatives. Do all compression settings except none produce problems for your users?
Cheers
Ian
UPDATE: It's security not compression!
Ian, funny you should mention that. After posting, I started to look into the different settings. In doing that, I discovered that compression was NOT the culprit. It was the security settings after all. As part of my initial PDF creation process, I had added security compatible with 5.0 to all the files using Acrobat 6.0.
My very first test to discover the issue with the 5.0 Reader had been to remove security. The PDFs still didn't open so I ruled out security. [I had removed the security and saved the updated files using Acrobat 6.0.]
As I was trying to figure out the compression problem, I started working on two machines. One machine had Acrobat 5.0 on it. In testing combinations and recreating my initial process, I discovered that removing the security settings in files that the 5.0 Reader couldn't open using Acrobat 5.0 and then reapplying them using Acrobat 5.0 solved the problem.
Michelle
You can achieve the same thing by opening and applying the security in Acrobat 6 and then saving the file. Then use PDF Optimizer or Reduce File Size to make the compatible with Acrobat 5 and later - or whatever versions you want.
This may be worth trying to save you time flicking between versions/machines.
Hi, Jonathan.
Security settings prevent me from making any changes. I am unable to reduce the file size. Also, my reduce file size setting before setting security was for 5.0 and later.
Michelle
Am I missing something here - if you set the security then you can change it, no?
Also, my reduce file size setting before setting security was for 5.0
and later.
If you want to do this in 6 then you should be setting the security first and then reducing the file size. This will make sure that the PDf has the security set and will also make sure it is Acrobat 5 compatible.
If you reduce the file size and then apply security in Acrobat 6, it will return to being an Acrobat 6 compatible PDF.
I set the security so no changes can be made to the document. I can not then reduce the file size, because the file is locked. As you pointed out, trying to reduce the file size first (to be Adobe 5.0 compatible) does not work.