Can't view pdf in Quickview

puddytootoo · Post by **puddytootoo** » 2007 Jan 20, 23:20

I am trying to view pdf files in Quickview but can't get the feature to work. I have install two differnet versions of Adobe iFilter (4.1 and 6.0) but still don't see any thing the normal view. I have also read both the quickstart guide and the user's manual but must be missing something somewhere.

What am I missing?

Thanks!

James

p.s. I'm using XP Pro and the latest version of x2.

fgagnon · Post by **fgagnon** » 2007 Jan 21, 02:19

What do you see in the draft view?
What is your setting for byte size limit for extracting Thumbnails ?
( on Tools | Options... | General tab. )
What is the size of the .pdf files you are trying to look at?
What version of the Adobe reader do you have?
Can you view the .pdf files with the Adobe reader?

PS - FWIW - I'm using the Adobe pdf IFilter 5.0 with Adobe reader 7.0 with no problems on XP-pro SP2 with x2 v1.6.5.3.

puddytootoo · Post by **puddytootoo** » 2007 Jan 21, 02:46

What do you see in the draft view?

With some pdf's I see text (unformatted), and with others it appears to be more like binary data

What is your setting for byte size limit for extracting Thumbnails ?
2000000

What is the size of the .pdf files you are trying to look at?
Various sizes from 32k up to 1.5mb.

What version of the Adobe reader do you have?

Version 6

Can you view the .pdf files with the Adobe reader?
Yes

In the Normal view I see just a gray, blank screen.

Post by **nikos** » 2007 Jan 21, 08:56

the draft pdf preview is what you already saw, unformatted text, so there's no mystery. Sometimes the pdf ifilter fails so you end up with "binary data". Can you see any pattern in those files that fail? E.g. what pdf version are they? (this is found in the first line of the PDF when you open them in editor2, eg %PDF-1.2)

the "normal" tab should load the adobe reader as in internet explorer. Which IE version do you have and can you preview PDF files in it?

puddytootoo · Post by **puddytootoo** » 2007 Jan 21, 20:00

All of the pdf files show as pdf-1.4 in editor2. The ones with only text show up ok in preview; the others (which may have graphic objects or were the result of a scan) show the binary characters.

Actually I use firefox, but IE 7 opens pdf files OK.

Thanks for helping!

puddytootoo · Post by **puddytootoo** » 2007 Jan 25, 00:34

Here's what I have tried. I have removed both the iFilter 6.0 and iFiter 4.1. Then I reinstalled the iFilter 6.0. Still no view of PDF in the Normal tab; it just stays gray (blank).

I do have the full Acrobat 6.0 Standard program installed in addition to the Reader if that would make any difference. I can remove and reinstall it if that might prove to be any benefit.

Is there anything else I can try, or anything I can do to collect information that might be helpful in finding out what is wrong?

Thanks!

fgagnon · Post by **fgagnon** » 2007 Jan 25, 01:09

hmmm...
sounds like we have similar configs using Firefox but having IE7 installed.

Only differences are that I have Ifilter5.0 and I do NOT have full Acrobat.
I suppose you could try to uninstall Acrobat as an experiment; but that's up to you -- I have no idea whether it would make any difference.

Not seeing the problem myself, I have little else to contribute.

Post by **nikos** » 2007 Jan 25, 10:13

i don't know what's wrong either but try this:

quit x2, and open regedit (see registry.txt for info on editing the registry). Under the key xplorer2_UC.global you must add a string value and name it szActiveXExtList. Add *.pdf as its text content and see if it helps

puddytootoo · Post by **puddytootoo** » 2007 Jan 25, 15:22

Nikos,

A little progress--maybe. I added the registry entry, and now when I click on a pdf file I get the file download security warning dialog that I got with Microsoft Office files with options to open, save or cancel. But unlike the Office files, there is no checkbox to always perform the same action (or whatever it says). The only choices are the open, save or cancel. I have tried them all and continue to get the dialog when I click on a pdf. I have also switched the default open application from Acrobat Standard to the Acrobat Reader with the same results.

I have looked at the internet security settings in Explorer 7 to see if there is anything obvious that I can change to make this work but don't know enough about what's there.

Thanks for sticking with me on this!

Post by **nikos** » 2007 Jan 25, 15:53

see this thread: http://forum.zabkat.com/viewtopic.php?p=29587
you should investigate a bit the registry keys under the office documents (eg *doc) and their difference between *pdf to see what you need to change in the registry

btw after you click "open" does it load ok in the quickview?
you can also try opening pdf straight in IE7 perhaps you'll get the checkbox there?

puddytootoo · Post by **puddytootoo** » 2007 Jan 25, 16:19

I'll have a look at the registry entries later.

btw after you click "open" does it load ok in the quickview?

No, it doesn't show in QV at all.

you can also try opening pdf straight in IE7 perhaps you'll get the checkbox there?

Do you mean using the file open dialog in IE7? From there, I have to select All Files to see the pdf files, and then they open in Acrobat 6, not IE. Is this normal? I see the same behavior on Firefox. Now I also see that trying to open a pdf from an html link in IE doesn't also brings up the dialog instead of just opening the file. So I must have messed up something there. Maybe it's not seeing the iFilter.

Post by **nikos** » 2007 Jan 25, 16:34

the IFilters are not related. They only affect the draft text extraction inside xplorer2. Now the problem that you can't see pdf within IE is exactly the same as in x2. The other day i wasted nearly a whole day reading about these things and didn't end up with anything concrete... perhaps you'll have better luck, perhaps contacting adobe support? tell us what you find!

Robert2 · Post by **Robert2** » 2007 Jan 25, 18:11

Greetings--
I am not sure this relates to the current topic but on my system and in the xplorer² "Quick View" pane, PDFs were being displayed as expected in the "Draft Preview" mode. However, the xplorer² "Normal Preview" only showed a grey background and the PDFs were displayed externally in the Adobe Reader own window.

This was until I checked "Display PDF in browser" in the Adobe Reader "Preferences" dialogue ("Edit | Preferences...", "Internet" category). After this, the PDFs got displayed in the xplorer² "Normal Preview" pane as expected.

Hope this helps.
Robert

puddytootoo · Post by **puddytootoo** » 2007 Jan 25, 19:29

Thanks, Robert. That box was checked in mine but made no difference.

But the problem does seem to be resolved now, but I can't say for sure how or why. :roll:

I received some info on an Adobe support forum that there was a security update to Reader 6 and suggested that I upgrade to Reader 8. So I uninstalled Reader 6 (and all associated updates) and tried to upgrade to 8. Didn't work. I had a system restore point from this morning and reverted the system back to it and then went at the reinstall again.

This time I have Reader 8 and pdf's display OK in IE7 and Firefox. Then going to xplorer and checking QV, it appears to be working. :P

So I'm thinking that the problem was related to a security update in Reader Version 6 but there may have been other issues as well.

Thanks to all who have worked with me on this!

James

zabkat support forum

Can't view pdf in Quickview

Can't view pdf in Quickview

Re: previewing PDFs in xplorer²