PDF and Preview related problems

Question

PDF and Preview related problems

Hi:

A user in our office (MacBook Pro, v10.5.6) is having difficulty viewing and creating PDF files. To wit:

--Opening a PDF file results in a morass of symbols throughout.
--Opening a PDF file may show exclamation points substituted for tab characters.

Some other files appear to be just fine using Preview, and occasionally the latter of the two above will open and appear to be just fine and dandy. The files appear to be just fine on another Mac.

The two files appear correctly when viewed with Adobe Reader 9.0.

Also:

--Creating a PDF file may result in exclamation points substituted for tab characters.

I tried a full system software archive and install...no luck.

I tried deleting the Adobe Reader and Preview preferences files...no luck.

I dragged and dropped a copy of Preview (v4.1) from my computer to hers...no luck.

I created a Second User, and the previously mangled PDF files open and appear to be just fine. I can also create PDF files that are true to their source document (no exclamation points for tab characters). I did only limited testing of this; however I did use the files above and created a new PDF file using the original source document. No problems.

I don't believe this is a missing font problem.

So that makes me think there's something wrong in the user's home directory with Preview and the PDF creation process. Some preference file or something.

Before I go ahead and move my data over to a new home directory...

1. Has anyone seen this before?
2. Has anyone fixed this before?
3. How do I know which files to move to the new home directory and which (corrupted ones) to leave behind..if that indeed is the fix?
4. How do I know that the creation problem doesn't extend beyond this user, and that I wasn't just lucky when Second User's PDF-created file was fine?

TIA,
mm

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Jan 26, 2009 4:18 PM

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Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jan 26, 2009 5:40 PM in response to Mike Matthews

You need to resolve the conflict/corruption in the original account. This can be a laborious process, but is guaranteed to resolve the problem. While logged into the newly created account (if it's an admin account; otherwise create a new one), backup the bad account's folder (to another volume, partition, or disk), delete the bad account, selecting the save data option (which is stored in /Users/Deleted Users/ as a disk image), recreate the bad account using the same username/password combo, log out and back into the recreated original account. Run Preview and, If the problem's solved (which it should be), open the saved data dmg file in /Users/Deleted Users/, open the /Library/Preferences/ folder from the saved data, open the current /Users/restored account/Library/Preferences/ folder, and slowly copy plist files from the saved data folder to the current one that don't exist in it, keeping track of what you're moving to the new account so you can remove them if you encounter problems in the next step. Log out and back in to ensure there's no conflict and things still work correctly. Good luck.

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Answer 2

Jan 27, 2009 3:30 AM in response to baltwo

I don't believe that conflict/corruption theory.

I have a PDF that works just fine with Acrobat Pro 8.1.3 it works just fine.

It does not work with Preview on my PowerBook, Preview on a brand new Power PC or in Safari.

I even tried saving the file as "Acrobat 4.0 and later"

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Answer 3

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jan 27, 2009 9:52 AM in response to Bill Heintz

Start you're own thread, since your problem's different and thread-jacking is frowned upon.

My response was directly related to the OP's comment:

I created a Second User, and the previously mangled PDF files open and appear to be just fine.

Your beliefs have nothing to do with the offered solution.

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Answer 4

Jan 27, 2009 12:11 PM in response to baltwo

Yes. To help sort this out, can any of you open this PDF with Preview?

http://www.ci-plus.com/data/ciplus_device_interim_license_agreement_2008_1216.pdf

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Answer 5

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jan 27, 2009 1:23 PM in response to Paolo Siccardo

That file crashes Preview and if you try to Get Info on it, it crashes the Finder. However, it will open in Acrobat Reader 9. I have no idea why that's so, but suspect that it's a corrupted file, especially since it was made with Distiller for windoze. 🙂

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Answer 6

Jan 27, 2009 2:46 PM in response to baltwo

Yes.

I have the same experience.

Even a supposedly corrupted data file does not justify a crash. Let's hope that Apple devs are aware of this issue so that they can address it in a future release.

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Answer 7

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jan 27, 2009 3:32 PM in response to Paolo Siccardo

They won't unless you send feedback or file a bug report. If you want to report this to Apple, either send Feedback or send bug reports and enhancement requests via its Bug Reporter system. To do the latter, join the Apple Developer Connection (ADC)—it's free and available for all Mac users and gets you a look at some development software. Since you already have an Apple username/ID, use that. Once a member, go to Apple BugReporter and file your bug report/enhancement request. The nice thing with this procedure over submitting feedback is that you get a response and a follow-up number; thus, starting a dialog with engineering.

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Answer 8

Jan 27, 2009 5:56 PM in response to baltwo

Yes,

I am an ADC member. I will file a bug report on this.

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Answer 9

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jan 27, 2009 6:04 PM in response to Paolo Siccardo

As will I. Don't forget to include the crash reports. 🙂

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Answer 10

Feb 4, 2009 10:10 AM in response to baltwo

OK, I got a tip from elsewhere and cleaned up the font cashes and all seems to be well now. Created PDFs look right and previously corrupted PDFs appear to be fixed.

For the record, I used the free Linotype Fontxplorer:

http://www.linotype.com/2631/freedownloadmac.html

One theory behind the cause of the problem was a corrupted Helvetica font due to an application installing a conflicting Helvetica font that was activated, or overriding the system version and installing on top of it.

mm

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Answer 11

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Feb 4, 2009 11:03 AM in response to Mike Matthews

Thanks for the feedback. Good computing.

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Answer 12

Feb 4, 2009 4:54 PM in response to Mike Matthews

Yes, I have now tried the Linotype utility as you suggest (clearing both system font caches + restart and app font caches) but the same PDF still crashes Safari.

I also see the same problem on a clean OS X 5 install.

Did you manage to load the PDF at http://www.ci-plus.com/data/ciplus_device_interim_license_agreement_2008_1216.pdf successfully?

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Answer 13

Feb 5, 2009 11:39 PM in response to Paolo Siccardo

Nope.

--Clicking the link crashes Safari.
--Downloading the file via the contextual menu works, but then crashes Preview when I try to view it.
--Trying to open the fie with a copy of Acrobat 5 ⚠ gives me the error message: "There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired."

So the fault, dear Brutus, methinks lies with this particular document, not with the OS or cache files.

mm

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Answer 14

Feb 6, 2009 9:34 AM in response to Mike Matthews

Yes.

If you try Acrobat 9 it will open fine. This is an OS X Preview.app bug already reported to Apple.

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Answer 15

punarvi

Level 1

0 points

Feb 20, 2009 11:56 PM in response to Paolo Siccardo

Hi Mike,

Thanks a ton for your tip..! i was facing the same problem.

Good job!

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