I have a PDF file that I want to read on the iPad

The file works on Adobe Reader on my laptop, but iBooks is unable to display it.
I tried to view it on other readers such as stanza, Cloud reader, and Easy PDF, but they didnt work either.
The PDF is displayed with blank pages, in all of the apps.
Can someone help me out ?

Higher Algebra - Solution.pdf

Originally Posted by foggyeyes6996

I have a PDF file that I want to read on the iPad

The file works on Adobe Reader on my laptop, but iBooks is unable to display it.
I tried to view it on other readers such as stanza, Cloud reader, and Easy PDF, but they didnt work either.
The PDF is displayed with blank pages, in all of the apps.
Can someone help me out ?

OK - a first question. Do other PDF files read OK and is it just this particular file that's a problem? If, suddenly, your iPad is unable to read any PDF file then the solution may be to turn the iPad on and off....using the method below..

However, it really sounds as though there's an issue with the PDF file. The PDF format has evolved over the years and some readers - particularly the 'stripped down' versions on the iPad - can't read some of the newer formats.

But turning the iPad on and off is an easy first step...

OK - so here we go -

The easiest first way to try to solve ‘unexplained’ or ‘unusual’ problems with the iPad is:-

Restart the iPad. Press *and hold* the Power button. After a couple of seconds a slider control will appear asking you to confirm that you really want to switch the iPad off (this is all you’ll be doing). Slide the control to accept. A rotating white ‘bezel’ will appear in the iPad screen as the iPad powers down (it takes a few seconds, just like it would if you were shutting down your PC). When the screen of the iPad has gone completely blank, press *and hold* the Power button for a couple of seconds until the white Apple logo appears and the iPad starts to power up. This takes several seconds, so be patient. During the power up the automatic screen orientation function is disabled, so don’t panic. A few seconds before the power up is complete, the iPad plays a little ‘jingle’ and then you’re back to the Home screen. Restart the iPad’s app and see if the problem persists. Apple (and Forum members) recommend that you power down your iPad at least once a week, just as you might regularly completely switch off your PC. The normal procedure of just briefly pressing the Power button of the iPad merely puts it to ‘sleep’. Most Forum members have found that one of the two methods I’ve mentioned here cure a whole bunch of unexplained problems and are an easy first step to resolving most anything that happens on the iPad.

If the PDF is not confidential, send me a Private Message and I'll send you my private email address and I can try to read the PDF file on my iPad. Otherwise, try to find a non-contentious PDF file that suffers the same problem and send it to me.

We'll try to do whatever we can to help...

Tim
Scotland

Hi Tim,
The problem is only with this PDF. As I said, the file appears in iBooks, but when I open it, all the pages are blank. The file is not confidential, and my second post contains a download link.
other PDFs work fine.
Also, I uploaded the file to Google documents, and am able to view it successfully on both the laptop, and on the iPad, through Google documents.

Further, when i clicked on 'download' in Google Documents on the iPad, it opened a window in safari, where the same problem occurred, ie. all the pages were blank.

OK - I’ve downloaded the document and I’ll look into this - I have a few ideas - probably none of them any good!

Tim
Scotland

Okay. Any luck ?
I tried to edit the PDF using NitroPDF but the whole thing just froze.

Hmm. figured out the problem and the solution.
the document was poorly encoded, so I printed it to file, using CutePDF
Thanks for your time, anyway

Use Save As on your computer's pdf reader to make a new version and try that. There is some kind of compression or image format being used that the iPad's pdf viewer can't handle.

I downloaded and viewed the document using Preview on the iMac. It worked fine. Then I used Save As to create a new copy. When I checked the file info I saw that the original document was only 7.5 MB while the new one was 339 MB.

Then I moved both files to GoodReader and tested them. As you said, the original only shows blank pages. The new file however displayed properly. From this I can only guess that there is some kind of compression going on that the iPad's pdf viewer simply can't handle.

More last minute info discovered as I composed my answer. The file info says the creation software for the original is LuraDocument PDF v2.28. A quick Google search shows that it is PDF compression software. So I guess my theory was right.

Since pretty much every pdf viewer on the iPad uses the built in iOS PDF engine you are unlikely to find an app that will work with the original file. Though if you contact the site maybe they would know of one. Otherwise you are simply going to have to do as I suggested and use Save As in a computer PDF viewer to remove the compression.

Last note: GoodReader does have an alternate PDF engine. But I tested both and neither worked.

Yeah, wouldve done that, but I dont have a Mac.
So i had to download cutePDF, which pretty much did the same thing. My file was 62 MB.

Feel for you. I've used cutePDF before. It gets a ringing endorsement of, ok for free. Still 62 MB is nice as long as it came out clean and readable.