Browsers will not Display PDFs

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I generally use Google Chrome as my browser, but because of the following problem, I’ve tried Edge (and EI 11) with the same unsatisfactory result.

Both browsers will no longer display PDFs in web pages.

Troubleshooting steps taken:

[*]Viewing PDFs was never a problem before 13 January 2017.
[*]On 13 January 2017 Chrome started “Not Responding” whenever I opened a web page. I had not consciously changed anything, or manually updated anything prior to this “Not Responding” problem arising.
[*]Based on a suggestion after “googling”, I un-installed and re-installed Chrome. That resolved the “Not Responding” issue, but thereafter PDFs would not open.
[*]Googling again found a number of suggestions for both Chrome’s and Edge,’s failure to display PDFs, all of which I tried, without success.
[*]”Chrome PDF Viewer” Plugin is Enabled
[*]Chrome does not give me an error message:-(

46439-20170115-Chrome-no-show-PDF

Getting nowhere with Chrome, I then tried Edge (Windows 10 64bit Annivesary Update). Much the same result, although it did at least give me the unhelpful Error Message: “Can’t Open PDF. Something’s keeping this PDF from opening.”

46438-20170115-Cant-open-PDF

Chrome Version 55.0.2883.87 m (64-bit)
My default PDF reader is Foxit PhamtomPDF v8.1.0.1013.

Suggestions for a fix will be appreciated as this problem has totally stopped a research project I’m working on.

Cheers

Trevor

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My guess is to reinstall your stand-alone PDF viewer and let it have all defaults. I use Adobe’s pdf reader, however, whichever one you’re using will be fine. I just now noticed your Foxit pdf reader. Maybe consider having both Adobe and Foxit installed, one is the default “grabber” and the other is simply a stand-by just-in-case.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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Is Foxit PhantomPDF something you need for a specific purpose? (As it’s more than just a PDF reader.) Is it a trial version or did you pay $100+ for it?

There have been two important updates for PhantomPDF since that version. Perhaps you should try uninstalling or updating it?

Chrome and Edge don’t require any additional program or plugin to be able to display PDFs.

Do all online PDFs fail? Try https://stlab.adobe.com/wiki/images/d/d3/Test.pdf

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+1 for Bruce’s suggestion re: uninstalling/re-installing/updating Foxit PhantomPDF.

It sounds like something’s gone wrong with Foxit PhantomPDF and its defaults, i.e. to both make itself the default PDF viewer (thus hindering/stopping both Chrome and Edge from handling PDFs) and to ‘display in browser’.

Does Event Viewer show any relevant errors?

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. Open Event Viewer.
3. When it loads, expand Windows Logs in the left-hand pane and have a look in Application.
4. To make things easier, click on Filter Current Log… in the right-hand pane.
5. Put ticks in the checkboxes for Critical, Warning and Error in the dialog that appears then click on the OK button.

Hope this helps…

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Thanks Guys.

Following your suggestions I found that the problem was site specific. Adobe Test PDF and other googled PDFs works just fine. Accordingly I logged a support request with the relevant web site.

Thanks again

Trevor

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