Adobe Reader won’t load PDF the first time, but will the second time

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Since I last updated Adobe Reader (I’m using Ver. 11.0.2), I’ve noticed some strange new behavior with the program. The first time I click on any PDF file, say on a web page, I get an Adobe window popping up with the following error message telling me that there was an error in opening the document and that the file is corrupt and couldn’t be repaired:

33840-Adobe-fails-to-open-PDF-the-first-time

However, if I close the error message and the Adobe Reader window and click on that same PDF file a second time, it opens perfectly in the Adobe window, and it continues to open perfectly each subsequent time I access it.

Has anyone else experienced this weird refusal of Adobe Reader to behave on the first attempt, followed by perfect compliance thereafter, and if so, is there a way to resolve this issue? Any and all help will be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Al

UPDATE
After going through the first time failure, second time success scenario, I closed the Firefox tab of the page on which I’d clicked the PDF file, then tried again to open the same PDF file. Once again, Adobe Reader failed to open the PDF file the first time, then opened it perfectly the second time, so apparently Adobe’s ability to remember how to open the PDF file is wiped out when the browser tab is closed. That doesn’t help me in the slightest in understanding what’s going on, but I hope it may help others to figure it out.

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You say that you’ve updated Adobe Reader, but have you ever noticed that Adobe Reader just keeps getting Bigger and Bigger with each update?
I finally got tired of AR taking up more and more of my precious drive space, with every update and it still did the same thing…..read PDF files. What’s wrong with that picture?

If a car did that, we’d dump it. So I dumped Adobe Reader. Not the entire company, because I still use several of their products, but just the PDF Reader.

My own solution was to follow the suggestion of my own Software Guru and I downloaded and installed “Foxit Reader”.
It does the same job of reading PDF files, but it does it with a much smaller and faster program and I’ve removed that annoying Adobe Reader Updater.

That’s just one guy’s solution to the problem. I’m sure there will be other responses.

Cheers Mate!
The Doctor

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Hi, DrWho,

I agree. I’ve noticed AR getting more obese and bloated with every version, though I assumed that at least some of that bloat was due to the increased annotation features that AR has been gradually adding. In my (virtually non-existent) spare time, I had started testing PDF-Xchange Viewer a while ago, but got busier and my research efforts faded out.

Although in the short term it would be nice if I could find a quick fix for the “AR Alzheimers” I’m dealing with, I’ll give Foxit and PDF-XV (and perhaps others) a try when life slows down a bit and see if I can find one that will do what I need and allow me to give AR the boot for good.

Thanks for your helpful thoughts on this.

Cheers,
Al

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Interesting update on this issue. I tried loading PDF files into Firefox with PDF-Xchange Viewer instead of Adobe Reader and the same problem occurred: The PDF failed to load the first time, then loaded perfectly in PDFXV the second time, which tells me the problem is not (at least exclusively) with AR.

I next tried loading PDF files from other links on the same web page (one of our company’s own pages), but this time used Internet Explorer, and every PDF file opened first time, every time, with no problems. I then tried loading in Firefox some of those same PDF files that had opened perfectly in IE, and once again the loading failed on the first attempt but succeeded on the second. This would seem to implicate something in the relationship between FF and PDF files, no matter which PDF reader/viewer program I use.

I’m still not sure of the actual source of the problem, but it doesn’t appear to lie with Adobe Reader. Why Firefox is acting up, I don’t know, but I’d like to solve this, as FF is my preferred browser. It’s not a huge issue, but I’d like to get it solved if I can. Any and all help will be appreciated.

Cheers,
Al

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Try ensuring you have the very latest Firefox installed. Or uninstall Firefox and download and install the latest from Mozilla.com.

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I would say FF is to blame here. If you open the downloaded file from its folder, does the same behavior occur?

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Hi, curiousclive and ruirib,

Clive, I do indeed keep Firefox up-to-date, even though it’s tough to keep up with the new “program update every 24 hours” policy that FF seems to have adopted :rolleyes:.

And ruirib, I think you’re correct in saying that FF is the culprit. I went to the IRS Forms and Publications site because it has long lists of PDF files to play with, then downloaded a couple of files and tried to open them from the list in Windows Explorer. Sure enough, they opened perfectly, first time, every time, when they had been downloaded, and once they had been opened from Windows Explorer I could then open them the first time I clicked on the same files in FF. However, if I have not previously opened the PDF file and try clicking on it for the first time in FF, I get the following error message in PDF-Xchange Viewer:

33862-PDF-Error-Message

Clearly there is something in FF that makes both Adobe Reader and PDF-Xchange Viewer throw up their hands in frustration the first time they try to load any PDF file from the web, yet allows that same PDF file to be loaded perfectly on the second and any subsequent tries. Who knows, perhaps the next version of FF will correct the issue.

Many thanks for your insightful posts.

Cheers,
Al

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Have you tried the instructions at Mozilla Support: How to disable the built-in PDF viewer and use another viewer?

FWIW, I set it to Always Ask on my machine. When I click on a link to a PDF document, it defaults to Save, where I open it from the folder to which I downloaded the PDF…

I also disabled the Adobe Reader plugin in Mozilla, so that it opens in the native program instead of in a window/tab:

•In about:config change plugin.scan.Acrobat from the default 5.0 to 12.0 (i.e. a number greater than the installed version of Adobe Reader). This is one place where Firefox scans for the plugin.
•Backup (export) and delete the entire registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMozillaPluginsAdobe Reader. This is another place where Firefox looks for the plugin.
•Restart Firefox.

There may be similar registry entries at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMozillaPlugins for other PDF viewers.

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Have you tried the instructions at Mozilla Support: How to disable the built-in PDF viewer and use another viewer?

FWIW, I set it to Always Ask on my machine. When I click on a link to a PDF document, it defaults to Save, where I open it from the folder to which I downloaded the PDF…

I also disabled the Adobe Reader plugin in Mozilla, so that it opens in the native program instead of in a window/tab:

•In about:config change plugin.scan.Acrobat from the default 5.0 to 12.0 (i.e. a number greater than the installed version of Adobe Reader). This is one place where Firefox scans for the plugin.
•Backup (export) and delete the entire registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMozillaPluginsAdobe Reader. This is another place where Firefox looks for the plugin.
•Restart Firefox.

There may be similar registry entries at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMozillaPlugins for other PDF viewers.

Hi, jgstanley,

Thanks for your detailed post. I had indeed been to the Mozilla instructions on how to disable the built-in PDF viewer, as I didn’t like that viewer and wanted to switch it back to Adobe Reader. However, once I switched it over to AR, FF developed a bad attitude and persistently refused to open any PDF on the first try, though it would then always open it thereafter unless the browser had been closed, in which case the problem would recur. I then followed the Mozilla instructions again, this time setting it to have PDF files opened in PDF-Xchange Viewer, but the same problem returned.

Your post, however, got me to thinking, so I again followed the Mozilla instructions, but this time set it back to the native PDF viewer within FF, at which point PDF files opened on the first try, though I did get the following message at the top of the screen:

33867-PDF-issue-1

Then I tried setting FF to open PDF files with Adobe Acrobat, rather than with Adobe Reader, and Bingo! PDF files now open perfectly in FF on the first try.

I’m not sure why FF will cooperate on the first try with Adobe Acrobat, but not with Adobe Reader or PDF-Xchange Viewer, but at least my immediate problem is solved, as I can now open PDF files within FF in a PDF reader that gives me some features I need. If others can figure out how to get FF to cooperate on the first try with Adobe Reader, PDF-Xchange Viewer, and perhaps other PDF readers, that’s great, but for now I’m a happy camper.

Again, many thanks for your suggestion, as it set me to thinking (always dangerous!) and experimenting.

Cheers,
Al

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