PDF’s not opening in iOS 13.1.2

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Level 1

17 points

PDF’s not opening in iOS 13.1.2

Ever since I’ve updated to iOS 13 PDFs in mail attachments do not open. When I tap on them as before I get a pop-up menu asking me if I wish to save it or some other option.

What happened to the functionality of just tapping on the PDF and having an open within the email attachment?

I have noticed that the icon that represents the PDF no longer says PDF on it it is simply three horizontal lines on the icon. Perhaps another app has taken the place of the PDF reader that is built-in to Apple mail on the iPad. Any idea what app uses three horizontal lines on it’s a icon?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Posted on Oct 10, 2019 9:16 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

supportme2 Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 11, 2019 10:09 AM in response to tand1

I figured out the issue on my iPad. This may or may not work for you. I began selectively deleting apps one by one thinking that one or more apps was acting as some kind of default pdf reader and causing the issue related to not being able to open or read PDFs. When I deleted the Alibaba app, don’t ask me why, I was able to download and open pdf’s again. This issue may or may not be singular to that particular app, but so far that seemed to fix the issue. Other apps might cause this too. I don’t know. Hope this helps.

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Answer 2

Oct 11, 2019 2:29 PM in response to supportme2

You are an absolute legend!!!! This one was killing me because I have a lot of PDF reports. Iphone IOS 13.1.2. Tried removing my other PDF readers but no help so gave up. Now I removed Alibaba and BANG, I can read PDFs the simple way again both in mail and in my files app. Massive THANKYOU!!

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Answer 3

QuickPost

Level 10

103,365 points

Oct 10, 2019 9:18 AM in response to supportme2

Hello,

PDF files should still open in place using Quick Look. For some reason yours is not working. Try using Apple Books to view this PDF until this problem has been resolved. I highly encourage you to submit a bug report to Apple using the following link.

Product Feedback - Apple

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Answer 4

supportme2 Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 10, 2019 9:46 AM in response to QuickPost

Unfortunately there is no option to open the PDF in Books. The only options available are to send the PDF in either mail or message the PDF. Other than that all that is offered is the ability to save or print the document.

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Answer 5

supportme2 Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 10, 2019 11:25 AM in response to QuickPost

Unfortunately, there is no option to add books or any other applications using the above mentioned solution. When I tap more there is no list of applications to choose from. Prior to upgrading to iOS 13 everything worked perfectly. I’m not sure if this is now a new preference to use the quick look feature that has somehow been turned off or something else?

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Answer 6

Oct 10, 2019 5:45 PM in response to supportme2

iOS 13.1.2 - when trying to send a pdf via email a totally different file is sent. I have used this facility many times before this release and have not encountered this problem. Does anyone have a solution?

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Answer 7

tand1

Level 1

9 points

Oct 11, 2019 9:30 AM in response to supportme2

I have the same issue. After the upgrade to 13.1.2 all PDF attachments do not open in the generic iPhone mail app. However, the same PDF attachments do open in the gmail app on my iPhone.

Any idea?

Thank you.

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Answer 8

supportme2 Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 11, 2019 3:57 PM in response to David AppSup

Glad to help!!! Apple community has helped me out more times I can remember. It’s nice to give back. Very frustrating until I was able to figure it out. I hope Apple is watching and lets the developer of the Alibaba know of the bug.

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Answer 9

Zander1

Level 1

4 points

Oct 11, 2019 6:36 PM in response to supportme2

This is a big problem and needs prompt attention by Apple. PDFs open with the text line blurred and not readable. I doubt there is a business in the world that can tolerate that. No public communication and tedious workarounds offered. This is core email function that we’ve reported through tout the hospital.. thanks you Apple for making work and patient care difficult. Very sloppy engineering and very defensive passive public response.

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Answer 10

supportme2 Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 12, 2019 8:13 PM in response to David AppSup

I haven’t bothered to reinstall. Perhaps there was something in pre iOS 13 Alibaba saved data that caused the glitch a preference or some other Bit of data. I can only relate to my experience that before I removed Alibaba I could not open any pdf on any device it was installed on. Good to know it is working for you. i might try if I need Alibaba in the future. Good feedback.

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Answer 11

Oct 15, 2019 4:13 PM in response to supportme2

PLEASE help!! I’m having the same issue: unable to open mail attachments, and I don’t have Alibaba. I tried deleting and reinstalling my mail accounts, a soft reset on my phone, and I spent 2 hours on the phone with 2 different apple tech support staff members who could not figure out a solution.

I also cannot open the attachments in my Gmail App or AOL app. Everything worked fine before the iOS 13.1.2 update. I just updated to 13.1.3 hoping that would solve the problem, but no luck.

Any other suggestions?

Thank you.

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Answer 12

supportme2 Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 15, 2019 4:18 PM in response to iPhoneUser216

Here is what I did to find out that Ali Barbara was the app that was causing the problem for me. When I would click or tap on a PDF to open it would bring up the menu associated with other apps that might be able to open this document. For me there was no option other than to print, save, or There was the Alibaba app as one of the choices to open a PDF. I knew that was wrong and subsequently deleted it. In your case you might go and scroll down and look at what apps you have to choose from from the sub menu that pops up when you tap or click a PDF. In my case it revealed itself. Hope this helps in someway.

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Answer 13

Oct 15, 2019 4:38 PM in response to supportme2

Thank you for the suggestion. When I hold down the link to the PDF attachment, the occasionally the option to open in Seat Geek would appear, so I tried deleting that App. Unfortunately it didn’t work. Once the option to open in Books appeared, immediately after I re-downloaded that App after reading some suggestions to try using Books to read the PDF attachments. Unfortunately that didn’t work either. I can locate the attachments in “Downloads” on my phone but cannot open them through that file either.

When I tap on the attachment it takes me to my open page or home page in Safari. So frustrating.

I appreciate your advice!

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Answer 14

supportme2 Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 15, 2019 6:02 PM in response to iPhoneUser216

I still believe it’s an offending app causing the problem. It may be trial and error from here. Restart and try to see what, if any, additional apps appear in the pop up. Also try and log out of you iCloud account and re login. Sometimes that resolves the problem. Make sure you quit all apps before restarting your device. I find that helps too.

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Answer 15

Oct 15, 2019 6:12 PM in response to supportme2

Thank you, SupportMe2.

I tried deleting ever app as each subsequent one was listed- Seat Geek, Books, Kindle, Files, Dropbox, Drive, until finally the message said “open in ... “ and there was nothing. For some reason the link for the mail attachment treats it like it is a link for a webpage and keeps bringing me to Safari.

I have not tried signing out of iCloud but will attempt that suggestion.

Thank you again.

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PDF’s not opening in iOS 13.1.2

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