Trying to open a file in Chrome

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I saw Alex’s post about opening Microsoft files and I wondered if this might help me with my situation.  I received a link from an insurance company to print out some forms – my step-dad passed away and my Mother is to receive his monthly annuity but these form must be signed and returned – so they are quite important.  I downloaded the file from the email but I get various messages saying that it’s unable to download. It says “decoding failed – open in PDF viewer”.  When I click on the PDF viewer it says “Error – Failed to load PDF document”. I do have the file in my Downloads folder but I believe the file is a Microsoft 365 file.  I’m just guessing but that’s what it says in the subject line of the email containing the link.  Is there any way I can open this on my Chromebook?  Alex’s post makes it seem like maybe there’s an app that can be downloaded that would help – but I’m not the most computer literate person so if it could be explained simply it would be greatly appreciated!

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Chromebook should have no issue opening a PDF – it’s a standard file format.
I suspect the file did not download properly. Can you download it on a phone / PC and work on it from there?

cheers, Paul

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I’ve opened many PDF files before so agree that this shouldn’t be a problem.  I tried downloading it on my Iphone – the only options I’m given is to “save to downloads” or “save attachment” – nothing that gives me the option to print it.  So, I opted to “save to downloads” -went into the file folder and while it shows 2.2 mb – there’s nothing there.

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May be a faulty attachment. Can you get them to send it again / download it independently?

cheers, Paul

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I think you’ve already searched but, since I’ve read about it…
There seems to be known display issues for XFA-based PDF forms/documents.
Many companies/organizations use this format to make fillable forms.

Display issues for XFA-based PDF form

“While this file has a PDF file extension, it is not an actual PDF file. Instead, this file is a wrapper for a XML Forms Architecture (XFA) document. XFA is a proprietary file format, and is not a real PDF. There is no PDF content to display.”

Community.adobe:
Certain PDF files can only be opened in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat. When you try to open these files in an alternative PDF viewer, then you will see this error message.
Unfortunately, it’s not easy remove this message and modify the PDF so that it can be opened in alternative PDF viewers. Adobe requires the user to download Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat in order to view these documents.

observed::
>I’m using the “Adobe Acrobat reader for PDF” app on my iphone. I download the pdf file, but cant open it. it keeps saying “this form requires Adobe Acrobat Reader DC for Mac or Windows”…. When I searched in the apple app store, I dont see said app.
>Open it on a regular computer. There are some special PDF files that can’t be viewed on mobile devices.

Well, that’s an unwelcome, problematic format for forms govts., organizations use. I hope you had a laptop lying around. You just have to rely on windows for certain things still.

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Hello and Thank You for allowing me a fewwords. I am currently on a Moto Android phone. My drives are al ways empty and rarely can i click on a PDF file. i can see it but it won’t let me click on it. Today i tried to download printer help and it also only gave me only to option. Neither was to print. My security info keeps getting changed, i got locked out of my account this morning and when i finally got back in i had to confirm i was on a Linex…i had to say yes it was me or it was not gonna let me back in. But i was on this same phone. It is always showing like its to devices. I didn’t even know what Linex a till i got book from library to weeks ago. i keep getting hacked and don’t know how to stop it. So ive been trying to learn. Also this morning i tried to register for account here, it just kept taking me in circles. Apologies for going off subject

[Moderator edit] removed quote format

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