PDF not opening

  • Thread starter Thread starter needlove
  • Start date Start date
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needlove

I have been using Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 to avoid the bloated resource hog
that that the later versions have become. I don't veiw alot of PDF's but
sometimes I need to and like to have it available. Are PDF's created with
the latest version of Adobe backwards compatible with earlier versions?

The file I clicked on (extracted from a zip file) to read was the normal red
PDF/Adobe icon (my system recognized it because I have Adobe installed) but
nothing happened.
Maybe, a split second dimming of the icon and a flicker of the cursor, but
it didn't open and no corresponding error was logged in event viewer. I had
used my Adobe installation sucessfully before but have not tried it since
this happened. Not because I'm afaid to, I just haven't run across any PDF's
that looked interesting enough to download.
 
I use Adobe Reader v.6.0.2, once and only once was I unable to download a
..pdf for offline reading because it was locked. It may be that there's an
issue with newer .pdf's and older versions but I can't say so with
confidence.

Adobe does have the older versions available:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=10&platform=Windows

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
Hi Needy - It sounds like you've some association issues. Try doing a right
click, Open With and then selecting the Adobe Reader (with the "Always use .
.. ." box checked).

However, if you're interested in a less bloated reader, you might want to
look at Foxit, here, as an alternative solution:
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/ Recommended.
 
Sun, 8 Jan 2006 22:49:02 -0700 from needlove
Are PDF's created with
the latest version of Adobe backwards compatible with earlier versions?
Click to expand...

Potentially not compatible, depending on the particular features that
the author included.
 
Its to late. I deleted (wiped) the file I couldn't open but the method of
using "open with" and selecting Adobe might have worked -- have to wait for
another one. Adobe 5.0 works fine from IE on the fly. Keeping "Foxit" in
mind though if I do have problems with Adobe.
 
I thought, at first, that you were having the same problem as I had. My
problem was with the latest version, but it was the opposite: I click on a
website to read a pdf and I'd get a little message at the bottom of my screen
that it was loading & then that it was done. I'd wait & wait but nothing
else would happen. Sometimes, I'd find the opened pdf hiding behind my open
window, but usally there was nothing- not the open file & not a window with
an open Adobe Reader. I finally used Add/Remove to get rid of the Adobe
Reader ver 7.0.5 (there was no uninstall with it) and downloaded the program
again. Seems to work now & I didn't do anything to adjust settings. Since
your problem with Adobe Reader is so different, I have no idea whether a new
install would help; you might even have to look around a bit to find the
older version.

Hope someone else on the forum knows enough to resolve this for you; sure
sounds like an association problem.

Dave
 
There had been an occasion or two where I'd seen this happen. After waiting
for a rather long time and not seeing anything, I might leave the room & come
back to find the document on the screen. I wish people would adopt
techniques that give realistic progress info about what's going on when
you're doing a download, etc. Also, I can't figure out how pdf got so
popular; seems like we're stuck with it now. It sure has big files that take
forever to download, especially for those with dialup (I was one of those
till recently). Seems like a Word file would work just fine for most things
and would likely be much smaller; free Readers are available for it as well.
 
digiDave said:
There had been an occasion or two where I'd seen this happen. After
waiting for a rather long time and not seeing anything, I might leave
the room & come
back to find the document on the screen. I wish people would adopt
techniques that give realistic progress info about what's going on
when
you're doing a download, etc. Also, I can't figure out how pdf got so
popular; seems like we're stuck with it now. It sure has big files
that take forever to download, especially for those with dialup (I was
one of those
till recently). Seems like a Word file would work just fine for most
things
and would likely be much smaller; free Readers are available for it
as well.
Click to expand...

The reason .pdf's are used is that - contrary to popular belief - not
everyone in the world uses Windows operating systems and of those
people, not everyone has MS Office (a roughly $400 suite) or MS Word (a
roughly $100 program) installed. Not everyone runs a pc, either.
The .pdf files allow people on different platforms and different
operating systems to open the same file and have that file be the same
for all of them.

For an alternative to Acrobat Reader, try Foxit.
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

Malke
 
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