Being able to open a PDF file directly in the browser makes it very easy to search for and view information on the Internet. There are times when links to PDF files do not open up the file properly and you are not sure of where the problem lies. Our article looks at some possible explanations and how to resolve the problem.
Portable Document Formats are one of the most versatile and secure documents that very rarely give problems in transferring information and are not easily susceptible to virus or other malicious attacks. Occasionally though, you may face minor problems while trying to view PDF files, especially if you are trying to open it from a link placed on a website. For example, you may be browsing the Internet using Internet Explorer or Firefox and may come across a PDF file that you would like to open and view. However, when you click on the link, after a brief period of activity, the browser only shows a blank white screen or the browser may not be able to open the PDF file at all. If the file is corrupt, then you may have to try restoring the file but before that there are a few other solutions that you could try to implement.
1. You could begin by disabling the ‘View in Browser’ feature in the Adobe Acrobat Reader you are using (This could also be called ‘Web Browser Integration’ in some versions). This will force the Adobe Reader to not open the PDF file directly in the browser but in a separate window. Most of the times, this should fix the problem.
2. While the above solution should work for most browsers, it may not for Internet Explorer. IE for instance could actually open a separate window but only display the same blank screen with an image in the top left corner. This problem arises because Microsoft Internet Explorer uses the Acrobat Control for ActiveX to display PDF documents and other browsers do not. The solution here would be to deselect all major browser options and restarting the Internet Explorer.
3. Another simple solution would be to download the file you are trying to view on to the hard disk and then opening it directly using Adobe Reader. If this does not work and you suspect a corrupt PDF, it will also be easier to restore the file using third-party tools such as Advanced PDF Repair from DataNumen.
4. Some PDF files, particularly those created with the latest version of Adobe Acrobat use security features that may not run in older versions of Adobe Reader. You might want to delete all the older versions and install the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
5. You might also want to confirm that the problem you are facing with the PDF file is not with that specific file alone. For example, you could go to the Adobe website and see if you could open a PDF file from their site. If it works, then obviously the problem lies with a particular file and you could try contacting the webmaster of that site for assistance.
6. The PDF file that you are trying to view could be very large in size. Not only will the browser take a long time in downloading and then opening the file (showing you only a blank screen) till it does so, there are greater chances that the downloaded file gets corrupted due to network interruptions. You could again use Advanced PDF Repair to fix very large corrupt PDF files.
Source by Alan Nice
Resolving Problems That Occur Viewing PDF Documents