Today PDF files have been standardized and we use them either for official or personal documentation or to host any type of interest that we do not want to be modified. The problem comes when it is impossible for us to open PDF files on our mobile . But, there is no need to worry, since we will be able to access them in one way or another on an Android mobile.
And although you cannot work with a format as widespread as PDF on your smartphone, it is something quite frustrating. Fortunately, it is easy to determine both the reasons why this is happening and to find an immediate solution to your problem. In the event that we find a protected or blocked file, we will also have a solution to fix this specific ‘failure’.
Why doesn’t it open
There are basically 3 reasons why you are unable to open a PDF file on your mobile phone . So we will explain them to you and see if it has a solution on Android or not. Anyway, later on, we will see the most effective ways to access this type of files on any mobile with the Google operating system.
Is damaged
One of the first problems we will face will be the fact that PDF document is corrupted . In this case, this type of document cannot be opened even on computers, not only on your mobile, if it is corrupt. This is due to a saving error or due to certain code in the file format that can make the document incompatible with the device itself.
These cases usually occur when the file is not downloaded correctly and the best way to know if the problem is with the file or with the mobile is to try to open it on another device.
Is encrypted
The second case will be that the document in PDF format is encrypted. This usually happens in certain circumstances. Therefore, to be able to open them, it will be necessary to have the password with which it was encrypted or even use decryption tools. Therefore, if at the time you put a password, it will be very difficult for you to access it. Also, if it is encrypted it will result in a blank window.
Does not support PDF format
Another of the last reasons why we will not be able to open a file with this format will be because the app cannot support them for a compatibility reason . In other words, applications sometimes interfere with the basic functions of a phone, preventing it from working properly. So we must go to the following solutions in order to try to enter these files on our Android phones.
Fix the problem
After seeing the three main reasons that will cause us more than a headache by not being able to access the files in PDF format , it is the perfect time to know the different methods that we will have at our disposal to be able to open them on an Android mobile and what don’t give us one more problem from now on.
Try a PDF web editor
Before going to fiddle with the mobile, the best thing is to go on to try to open the PDF file through an online PDF viewer or editor to verify if the file is really accessible, that is, we will check if it is the fault of the document or directly from our phone.
To do this, we can try to use one of the many PDF editor that populate the Net by attaching the document directly from the phone’s memory. If it doesn’t open, the document is damaged. If it opens, the problem is indeed in our mobile phone.
Update the PDF reader
Many Android phones already have a native PDF reader, or use Google Drive directly. However, if in your case you started using another reader that you downloaded from the Play Store to be able to read these types of files, but it is now that you have started to have problems. The most recommended option in this case will be to update the app that is responsible for reading these documents.
On the other hand, if you do not have any update or it still does not work after downloading it, we will have to go on to try another PDF reader app. To do this, we leave you two options available and totally free from Google Play that you can download from the following links:
Use Google Drive
Normal PDFs are opened directly from your phone’s download manager, however, there are some alternatives to view them as we have already mentioned, such as Google Drive or One Drive , two of the Mountain View company’s apps that present compatibility with this type of files.
To do this, you will simply have to locate the file that you had downloaded from the file manager, select it and, in the application options, select with which application you want to open the document on your Android phone.
However, the solution to all your problems is in the Adobe Acrobat Reader app, the quintessential program for viewing PDFs on any computer. If you have not tried it, here is its link to the Play Store:
If you have the app installed on your mobile and you still cannot open the PDF, the first thing of all is to update the app to the latest version and, if the error persists, you can try to download the file again because, along the way, it has been damaged and that may be the reason why you can not open it. Although, you will always have the option to try another reader.
Restart the mobile
We are going with the last solution that we will have at our fingertips, in addition to being one of the simplest that you could find with the key to fix this problem. The truth is that, if you have not turned off the phone for a long time or, at least, we restart it, it is the perfect time to do it. More than anything, because the error could be that some internal process has been ‘frozen’, causing the system not to be able to open these types of files. So, try letting it rest for a couple of minutes and then turn it on again. Surely, this failure should not continue to occur afterwards.