Apple Intelligence now features Image Playground, Genmoji, Writing Tools enhancements, seamless support for ChatGPT, and visual intelligence.

Apple Intelligence has also begun language expansion with localized English support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Learn more >

You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: nikhilfromhamburg
nikhilfromhamburg Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

PDF file embeded in MS Excel

I am not able to open PDF file embedded in an excel. I got the excel file from my customer and it has a PDF document that I cannot open. I see an error message "Cannot open the source application for this file" when I try to open the embedded PDF file. This is on mac book pro. However, if the same file in my windows laptop is working well. I have this issue on multiple files that I receive in same pattern. Is there a solution at all? Please help.


Regards

Nikhil Hosurkar

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Apr 14, 2021 9:35 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Leanne_68
Leanne_68
User level: Community Specialist

Posted on Apr 15, 2021 11:22 AM

Hello nikhilfromhamburg,


Thanks for reaching out to us in Apple Support Communities about opening embeded files in an Excel document, we're happy to help by looking into this more! 


When Excel files are created, the embedded files are often designed be opened with specific applications. In the case of PDF files, they typically call for Adobe Acrobat. If you don't have Acrobat installed on your Mac then you may receive this error message. One thing you can try is to change the program that's used to open the embedded file. This can be done by clicking once on the embedded file, then hit command + i on your keyboard, this should open a window with the option for "Open with:", change that to Preview and then try opening the embedded file one again to see if that helps.


Let us know how that goes.


Best Regards.

View in context

Similar questions

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Leanne_68
Leanne_68
User level: Community Specialist

Apr 15, 2021 11:22 AM in response to nikhilfromhamburg

Hello nikhilfromhamburg,


Thanks for reaching out to us in Apple Support Communities about opening embeded files in an Excel document, we're happy to help by looking into this more! 


When Excel files are created, the embedded files are often designed be opened with specific applications. In the case of PDF files, they typically call for Adobe Acrobat. If you don't have Acrobat installed on your Mac then you may receive this error message. One thing you can try is to change the program that's used to open the embedded file. This can be done by clicking once on the embedded file, then hit command + i on your keyboard, this should open a window with the option for "Open with:", change that to Preview and then try opening the embedded file one again to see if that helps.


Let us know how that goes.


Best Regards.

Reply

PDF file embeded in MS Excel

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up