Unable to open 5mb PDF file

Question

Hi!

We are having some issues when attempting to open a PDF file larger than approx. 5 mb. All PDF files 5 mb or less opens without problems. We have set the "Browser file handling" to "Permissive".

We are able to open other file formats larger than 5 mb (i.e Powerpoints, word/excel docs)

Sharepoint 2010 SP1 installed. SQL server is running SQL 2008 Standard R2.

Answer 1

Just noticed I get an error in the SP2010 crawl log for the same pdf files that I cannot open: "Exception from HRESULT: 0x80072EE2". We are using Adobe iFilter for pdf crawl.

Answer 2

Could this be a SQL issue? Or maybe a browser handling issue?

I find it hard to believe that SQL is causing this since a normal file download works (send to - download a copy and then select open).

Answer 3

Hello Christian,

The General Settings option on the General Settings drop-down menu lets you view and modify the following settings for a Web application

Browser File Handling

You can specify whether additional security headers are added to documents that are served to Web browsers. These security headers specify that a browser shows a download prompt for certain types of files (for example, .html), and to use the server's specified Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) type for other types of files.

The Permissive setting specifies that no headers are added. The Strict setting adds headers that force the browser to download certain types of files. The forced download improves security for the server by disallowing the automatic execution of Web content. By default, the setting is Strict

Run the below command and check the status of the document library if it is set to strict or permissive

$w= get-spweb http://url of document library
$w.Lists | select BrowserFileHandling,Title

Run the commands mentioned below

#Get Document Library
$docLib = $w.lists["Shared Documents"]

#View all properties/methods of the Document Library and you'll see that BrowserFileHandling is a property
$docLib | Get-Member

#See the current BrowserFileHandling setting for the Document Library
$docLib.BrowserFileHandling

#If you need to change it from Strict to Permissive
$docLib.BrowserFileHandling = "Permissive"
$docLib.Update()

Thanks,

Raj

Answer 4

Thanks for your suggestion Raj,

I've checked the BrowserFileHandling and it returns Permissive (which is also set in the Central Admin - Manage Web Applications - General Settings).

When I open 3 mb pdf files or smaller they are opened directly in the browser, but when I try a 4-5 mb file or larger i get a timeout. If I instead of just clicking the file choose "Send to - download a copy" from the dropdown menu I am able to download and open the file just fine.

For some reason we are simply unable to open pdf files larger than 4-5 mb. As mentioned above a 20mb powerpoint opens without problems and we also get crawl errors in the Search Service Service application on the same pdf files that we are unable to open

Answer 5

Hello Christian,

Try installing this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2459108 though it talks about HTML files

Consider the following scenario:

• You set Browser File Handling to Permissive for a web application in the General settings page in SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.
• You create a document library, and then upload an html document.
• You open the html document in the browser.
  
  Note You are not prompted to download the html document and it is rendered in the browser.
• You select to include the content when you save the SharePoint site as a template.
• You use the template to create a new SharePoint site in the same web application.

Answer 6

Similar symptoms, but for HTML instead of PDF files.

Tried to run the hotfix anyway, but it says it's already installed.

Answer 7

Hi!

We are having some issues when attempting to open a PDF file larger than approx. 5 mb. All PDF files 5 mb or less opens without problems. We have set the "Browser file handling" to "Permissive".

Can you eloborate "some issues".  Is there any error shown on screen or does it hang?

---

Thanks & Regards,
Kamlesh | Blog | Twitter | Posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Answer 8

Hi!

We are having some issues when attempting to open a PDF file larger than approx. 5 mb. All PDF files 5 mb or less opens without problems. We have set the "Browser file handling" to "Permissive".

Can you eloborate "some issues".  Is there any error shown on screen or does it hang?

---

Thanks & Regards,
Kamlesh | Blog | Twitter | Posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

In the browser we just get a timeout, no error message. Regardless of the browser used.
This is when trying to render the PDF in the browser, but downloading the file and then opening it works just fine - as explained in my 4th post.

Server logs do not show any errors on this, except Search Service application errors when trying to crawl these files.

Answer 9

And is this behavior happening from all the Client Computers? 

Whats the behavior of this on other browsers like Firefox, Chrome?

---

Thanks & Regards,
Kamlesh | Blog | Twitter | Posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Answer 10

Yes, we have tried opening the files from multiple client computers and from the SP server itself - all of the browsers time out (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, IE), providing no error.

When opening a 3 mb file it only takes a second or two and then the pdf is displayed in the browser (works in all browsers). So I guess it's something on the server side.

We have installed all the windows updates and are running SP2010 SP1.

- IIS version: 7.5.7600.16385

- SQL 2008 R2 Standard

- Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard SP1

Answer 11

Is there any specific pattern that these PDF files follow?  Are these some kind of Online PDF Forms? What tool have you used to author these PDF files? Is it possible for your to share a sample PDF from your server, which we can try?

Did you try uploading a simple 5mb PDF and tried to load it for viewing?

---

Thanks & Regards,
Kamlesh | Blog | Twitter | Posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Answer 12

Thanks for your suggestion,

However, the only pattern I've found is the fact that they are all larger than approx 4mb. I've tried PDF's generated from our scanner, Word, InDesign etc, and there seems to be no difference.

I've also tried to upload the same 4,5 mb pdf file to a different site collection/web app and it fails to open as described above on all the web apps/site collections.

I also created a 5 mb jpeg and uploaded to the same web apps/ site collections - no problem opening that file in the browser.

Answer 13

Hello Christian Egeland,

Are the PDF files password protected?

Answer 14

Hi,

The PDF files are not password protected

Answer 15

As it turns out this issue was caused by a third party solution (Muhimbi PDF converter). We might have had a corrupt install.

After retracting this solution we are now able to open all pdf files independent of file size directly in the browser.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

Answer 16

HI! I know it's been a while, but I'm curious if you got it to work with Muhimbi PDF converter installed. I'm having the same problem, but we need the PDF conversion functionality so simply retracting the solution isn't an option for me.

Answer 17

Hi,

Sorry but we closed the project quite some time ago.

I can't remember but I think we ended up with a farm redeployment :(.

Answer 18

Imports System.IO
    Declare Function ShellExecuteA Lib "shell32.dll" ( _
     ByVal hWnd As IntPtr, _
     ByVal lpOperation As String, _
     ByVal lpFile As String, _
     ByVal lpParameters As String, _
     ByVal lpDirectory As String, _
     ByVal nShowCmd As Integer) As IntPtr

Private Sub Button13_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button13.Click
 Dim DocName As String

        DocName = TextBox2.Text + ".pdf"
        ShellExecuteA(vbNull, "Open", DocName, vbNull, "E:\pictures", SW_SHOWNORMAL)
End Sub