Troubleshoot viewing PDF files on the web

Common symptoms when you can't view a PDF on the web:

• 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

Try resetting the display preference in your browser to clear up the viewing issue.

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.

To make sure you're using a 32-bit version of Internet Explorer, follow these steps:

Reader or Acrobat could be damaged. Repairing the installation is a quick troubleshooting safeguard.

Choose Help > Repair Installation.

You can also repair your Acrobat or Reader installation using the Windows Control Panel.

If none of the solutions in the previous sections solve the issue with viewing PDFs, you can try the following advanced steps.

Make sure that the Adobe PDF browser add-on is enabled.

Make sure that the Adobe PDF browser add-on (nppdf32.dll) is enabled.

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.

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.