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baldwinjd Author

Level 1

14 points

Cannot Open PDF Forward From iPhone

Our clients are sending in emails which a few of our users are viewing them on their iPhone. When they forward the message to other users the pdf files won't open. It gives an error message, "There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired". I've tried saving the pdf to the desktop then try to open it with no success and the same error message.I've also checked to make sure the Add-in is enabled.

We are on Acrobat X 32 bit Standard 10.1.10 and Windows 7 x64 Pro/Ult. Outlook is 32 bit version. Any ideas what the problem is?

Posted on Apr 27, 2016 12:53 PM

Top-ranking reply

espinozagv

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Jun 2, 2017 11:07 AM

I found out that in our case it had to do with PDF's containing a space character. If opened on the iPhone it would have the name truncated to the position of the first space therefore leaving out the ".PDF" which is at the end of the file. Because of the missing extension, the phone was unable to identify the document type and wasn't able to open it. A work-around was to us Microsoft's Outlook mail app instead.

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44 replies

Jul 26, 2016 6:08 PM in response to LACAllen

That doesn't change the fact that an email with a pdf attachment forwarded by an iPhone produces an attachment that doesn't open on Windows when the same email forwarded by Outlook Web Access produces a workable PDF on any device. And yet the attachment sent by the iPhone can be opened on the iPhone. That points to an action in the iPhone mail process that "proprietizes" the attachment.

Aug 17, 2016 7:59 AM in response to baldwinjd

Same problem here. PDF's are corrupt after being forwarded from an iPhone (latest patch but also previous patch level). Those same PDF's are fine if forwarded with a different device. This problem seems to have popped up in the last few months for us.

kinjyo

Level 1

4 points

Aug 18, 2016 4:29 PM in response to thorod336

Yeah, it's definitely an issue with iPhone forwarded attachments. The leading text "Eç Š÷~º&" is consistent across multiple file types.

Search for the "%PDF" in the file and you might find your data. I was able to find the "PK" leader for a zip file, and it worked like a charm.

MBER

Level 1

46 points

Oct 9, 2016 4:37 PM in response to baldwinjd

Same problem here. PDF successfully received and viewed in Apple Mail on either iPad or iPhone. I use Office365 as my email provider. If I forward the message and attachment, the recipient cannot see the attachment. Some have suggested Outlook for iOS may be a solution, but the Outlook app is little more than beta and really junky. It's time for Apple to fix this issue that has existed in, at least, 4 versions of iOS.

gcesupp

Level 1

4 points

Nov 30, 2016 6:34 AM in response to baldwinjd

Most off this issue can be traced back to the signature on your ios device. From adobe https://forums.adobe.com/docs/DOC-4621. If you must use a signature that is copied a pasted into ios follow these instructions http://matt.coneybeare.me/the-right-way-to-install-an-html-signature-in-ios-7-ma il/.

Ppwclev

Level 1

4 points

Dec 31, 2016 2:17 PM in response to gcesupp

Greetings,

I have iOS 10.1 mail in use and i see that holding down on the attachment and using quick view works. Using Copy to acrobat also works. However after upgrade to iOS 10.2 quick view only shows first page. We must use Copy to adobe Acrobat to view PDF attachment now until Apple fixes the issue with quick view. This is with PDF as attachment "type/image" or attachment "type/application" sent from any email client.

LACAllen

Level 8

43,500 points

May 10, 2016 11:59 AM in response to admiralperry

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

May 10, 2016 12:19 PM in response to LACAllen

Done. Thank you.

Supes123

Level 1

4 points

May 10, 2016 2:16 PM in response to admiralperry

Same / similar issue apple support is such a pain to even look at.

bigalusn

Level 1

4 points

May 27, 2016 7:10 AM in response to baldwinjd

so no fix yet?

Jun 3, 2016 12:56 PM in response to robertmconrad

We are having the exact same issue here, we use both Nuance and Adobe. The only work around seems to be to install Outlook for iOS.

Lohfert

Level 1

8 points

Jun 17, 2016 2:28 AM in response to baldwinjd

We are using IBM lotus notes and we have the same problem, not always but on occasions .. also if there are more pdf's the first is corrupt and the following pdf's aren't attached.

Jun 17, 2016 6:43 AM in response to James_Joy

My next step is to wipe and restore the device. I will report back with the results once I can get my hands on it.

jrdigg

Level 1

4 points

Oct 23, 2017 5:33 PM in response to baldwinjd

I am unable to send PDF to Android users in text message.. This began when I changed to the iPhone 7 and Xfinity Service.

When I download a pdf or word file I am able to send to iPhone users.

Help!

Cannot Open PDF Forward From iPhone