- A blank page in the web browser
- A red X icon
- A broken-link indicator, such as a red square, a blue triangle, or a blue circle
- Error: "The Adobe Acrobat/Reader that is running cannot be used to view PDF files in a web browser. Adobe Acrobat/Reader version 8 or 9 is required. Please exit and try again."
To solve some of the most common PDF-display issues, follow the instructions below in this order: Update Reader or Acrobat, fix issues with the PDF, check the browser settings, repair or reinstall Reader or Acrobat.
Adobe releases free security updates quarterly. Make sure you update your version of Reader or Acrobat to the latest release. The updates often include fixes to common problems. Download the latest free update.
Often, just refreshing the page in your browser allows the PDF to load fully.
- Hold down the Shift key and press the
Refresh or 
Reload button in the browser.
Try viewing a different PDF. For example, see if this sample form displays in your browser. If Acrobat or Reader can open the sample form, then the other PDF could be damaged or the web server could be having problems. If possible, contact the individual or company who manages the website.
Determine if your web browser can open a PDF from your local hard drive rather than from the web. For this test, you need a PDF saved on your computer.
Certain conditions on your computer, such as security settings or browser cookies, can prevent you from viewing a PDF. Often, the fastest solution is to try to open the page using a different browser. Try any of the following browsers that you have not already tried:
Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Apple Safari
For a list of compatible browsers for Reader and Acrobat, see Compatible web browsers.
Some websites display better in the Compatibility View of Internet Explorer. The Compatibility View displays a page as if it were in an earlier version of the browser.
For instructions on how to switch to this view, see Fix site display problems with Compatibility View.
Restart your computer, then open the web page again. Restarting clears the computer memory and memory cache. Simply restarting your computer frequently resolves display issues.
Clear the browser cache (sometimes called temporary Internet files) to ensure that you're viewing a fresh version of the page.
Be careful when selecting the options. Clear only the browser cache. If you clear all temporary Internet files, you could delete the cookies that contain login information and preferences. Most browsers let you choose the type of content you want to delete.
For instructions on clearing the browser cache, refer to these articles:
Firefox: Delete browsing, search, and download history
Chrome: Delete your cache, history, and other browser data
Internet Explorer 8 through 11: Viewing and deleting your browser history
Internet Explorer 7: Delete webpage history
This procedure applies only to Windows Vista users with Internet Explorer 9 or earlier.
Acrobat and Reader are 32-bit applications on Windows. If you try to open a PDF in a 64-bit version of Internet Explorer, the PDF opens in stand-alone Acrobat or Reader, not in Internet Explorer.
Note:
Only Reader 10.1 or Acrobat 10.1 and later support Internet Explorer 9.
Reader or Acrobat could be damaged. Repairing the installation is a quick troubleshooting safeguard.
If none of the solutions in the previous sections solve the issue with viewing PDFs, you can try the following advanced steps. Or you can contact Adobe customer support to continue troubleshooting.
Note:
If the button says Disable, then the add-on is already enabled. This button toggles between Enable and Disable, depending on the status of the selected add-on.
Enable sets the Adobe PDF Reader add-on to open PDFs in the browser.
Disable turns off the add-on so it does not open PDFs in the browser.
Make sure that File reads "nppdf32.dll" and "Adobe Acrobat Plug-In for Netscape."
If this entry is not available, install the latest version of Reader or Acrobat.
Create a user account that has the same permissions as the account you use when the problem occurs. Or create a local administrator account. If the problem doesn't recur when you log on to the new account, then the original user account could be damaged.
For information on setting up a user account, refer to the following resources or contact your network administrator:
Windows XP: To add a new user to the computer
Windows Vista/7/8: Create a user account
Mac OS X: Set up users on your Mac
If the PDF file is 4 MB or larger, ask the provider to optimize the PDF file. For information about optimizing PDF files, see Optimizing PDFs.
Disclaimer: The registry contains system-related information that is critical to your computer and applications. Before modifying the registry, be sure to make a backup copy of it. Adobe doesn't provide support for problems that can arise from improperly modifying the registry. Adobe strongly recommends that you have experience editing system files before you modify the registry. For more information about the registry, see the Windows documentation or contact Microsoft.
- The default path for Reader is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\AcroRd32.exe".
- The default path for Acrobat is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe".
Note:
If Acrobat or Reader isn't installed in the default path, make sure that the key's (Default) value points to the actual location.
For a video demonstration of the procedure, see Check the correct registry path.
If the above registry item doesn't exist on the system, do the following:
It is possible that this key is damaged, is pointing to an obsolete version of Acrobat or Reader, or is pointing to a third-party PDF viewer.
Disclaimer: The registry contains system-related information that is critical to your computer and applications. Before modifying the registry, be sure to make a backup copy of it. Adobe doesn't provide support for problems that can arise from improperly modifying the registry. Adobe strongly recommends that you have experience editing system files before you modify the registry. For more information about the registry, see the Windows documentation or contact Microsoft.
If you are a webmaster or have administrative rights to a website, configure the web server to send content-type headers of 'application/pdf' for PDF files. For instructions, see the documentation that came with the web server, or see this Microsoft support article.
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