Downloading PDFs?

Question

Level 1

10 points

Downloading PDFs?

Since upgrading my iMac to High Sierra 10.13.2, PDFs sent to me by email will not download and show as being of 0Kb. How do I resolve this problem?

VIN, iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2010), macOS High Sierra (10.13.2)

Posted on Jan 22, 2018 2:27 PM

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Answer 1

rose_10

Community Specialist

Jan 23, 2018 7:37 AM in response to PogueHall

Good morning PogueHall,

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!
I understand you are unable to open a PDF file that is attached to an email. Is this a specific document from a single email message, or are you not able to open any PDF file? What happens if you email a different PDF document that you have on your computer to yourself?
If you can't access the PDF file from within the email message, try saving the attachment to your desktop. Then right-click on the document and choose "Open With" Adobe Reader or iBooks.
macOS High Sierra User Guide - View, save, or delete attachments
If you are not able to open the PDF file from within the Mail application, then try going to your email account online and see if you can open or download the document from webmail.
PogueHall, if you are still not able to open any PDF file after trying the suggestions above, please reply to this thread with more information about your issue and we'll do our best to help you.
Take care.

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Answer 2

rccharles

Level 6

13,037 points

Feb 1, 2018 3:46 PM in response to PogueHall

You may want to have the user send a "dummy" pdf file. Have them send it to your email. Once you have a failing document, have them send it to a gmail account and see if it works.

Use some other email client. I use Thunderbird, but one Windows 10 user is complaining that certain of my emails are getting junk characters after periods in sentences. If you use imap, you may have as many email clients as you like. All your email is preserved on a host. I think exchange is the same way.

Perhaps you could look at the document in preview.

You could have the sender place the file in a zip archive. If the zip archive opens, you know the file wasn't likely to have been messed with.

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Answer 3

howarduns

Level 2

475 points

Feb 1, 2018 6:19 PM in response to PogueHall

Hi Basil.

Just to confirm. The same pdf files that won't open on your iPad will open on your Mac.

Are the 2 senders whose pdf's won't open on your iPad using a Mac or Windows computer? What email software are they using?

In the past, I have seen a similar issue. Jpeg files (photos) sent from a Mac using the Mail app would not open on a Windows computer unless you used a particular encoding option in the Mac Mail app when sending them.

Howard

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Answer 4

PogueHall Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 3, 2018 7:23 AM in response to howarduns

Hi Howard,

No, the pdf files won't open on either my iMac or iPad. That's my issue. I was able to circumvent the problem by getting the files sent to me by Dropbox. Those came through and opened perfectly.

The 2 senders are using Windows computers to the best of my knowledge but I don't know what email software each has.

Basil

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Answer 5

PogueHall Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 29, 2018 12:24 PM in response to rose_10

Thank you for these suggestions. I could not make any of them work.

The problem seems to affect PDFs sent from two sources only as I can open other PDFs from elsewhere. The problem started in mid-December 2017 after I upgraded my iMac to High Sierra. However, these PDFs will not open on my iPad (iOS 11.2.2)

If I mail a PDF document that’s on my computer, I can open it without difficulty.

Trying to open with iBooks or Adobe Reader is unsuccessful. I get the attached message from Adobe Reader.

I have already tried using Preview and other methods without success and I cannot open the file from webmail. It shows as having 0 bytes.

For the record, my name is Basil, not PogueHall.

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Answer 6

PogueHall Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 1, 2018 12:05 PM in response to howarduns

Hi Howard,

The error message says: "Adobe Acrobat Reader could not open 'Finance Notes - YTD Statement@November 30 2017.pdf' because it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged (for example, it was sent as an email attachment and wasn't correctly decoded)."

As far as I know there is no difference between the two senders other than their respective locations, Toronto and Regina. No one else getting the material from Toronto is experiencing these difficulties.

Yes, I am using the Mail app on my iPad as well as my iMac.

Basil

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Answer 7

howarduns

Level 2

475 points

Jan 31, 2018 6:09 PM in response to PogueHall

Hi Basil.

The error message wasn't attached.

What is the difference in the 2 sender's whose .pdf files you can't open?

Are you using the Mail app for your email on your iPad?

Howard

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Answer 8

howarduns

Level 2

475 points

Feb 3, 2018 5:55 PM in response to PogueHall

Hi Basil.

This could be caused by the way that the email and attachments are formatted by their email software. The information at this url for the Windows version of Outlook might help. The person on the PC needs to make the changes. Have them check for email encoding options in settings.

For some reason, I can't post the url here in its entirety. Add https:// in front of it.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/278061/email-received-from-a-sender-usi ng-outlook-includes-a-winmail-dat-attasupport.microsoft.com/en-us/help/278061/email-received-from-a-sender-using-outlo ok-includes-a-winmail-dat-atta

I have experienced a similar problem going in the opposite direction; sending photos in jpeg format using the Mail app on my Mac. People on Windows PCs couldn't open the photos. In the Mail app, I had to change my settings under the Edit drop down menu.

Edit / Attachments / Always send Windows-friendly attachments.

Your colleagues using Outlook on their PCs may need to do something similar to this.

Howard

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