pdf files appears blank - were OK in Adobe Acrobat in Windows XP

Asked by linhurst

Binary package hint: evince

Single blank page shown in thumbnail, Evince and XPDF. Affects some but not all pdf files while running Ubuntu 9.04.

Some pdf files are multiple pages when viewed in Adobe Acrobat 7.0 under Windows 2000 & XP. All display normally.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/evince
Package: evince 2.26.1-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: evince
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-11-generic i686

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu evince Edit question
Assignee:
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Solved by:
actionparsnip
Solved:
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Last reply:
Revision history for this message
linhurst (linhurst) said :
#1
Revision history for this message
Pedro Villavicencio (pedro) said :
#2

Thanks for the report Ivan, but which pdf?.

Revision history for this message
john_hannah100@hotmail.com (john-hannah100) said :
#3

How to fix this?

 Bug #389182: pdf files appears blank - were OK in Adobe Acrobat in Windows XP

Revision history for this message
john_hannah100@hotmail.com (john-hannah100) said :
#4

I cant read a single pdf file in the Ubuntu pdf reader. It is really serious as I have to reboot to Win XP to read these common files. I would really like to stay off MS systems.

Revision history for this message
linhurst (linhurst) said :
#5

Thanks John, mine may be a different problem as I can read most pdf files OK in Ubuntu. I have a large number of pdf files. The majority work just fine.

There is just one company that I have about 32 invoices from over the last 3 years and all of the pdf invoices are blank in Jaunty. I can see all these invoices from XP and W2k. I tried XP with MS Office installed and with just OpenOffice just in case it was something to do with installed fonts (just an idea as on properties in Evince I noticed that fonts were not embedded in the pdf). Both worked fine. I can see all the invoices in Adobe Acrobat 7.0 & Adobe Acrobat 9.0 in several different Windows installations.

Next step I tried on a different installation of 9.04 & another in Mint Gloria. All of the pdf invoices are still blank. So three different Jaunty based installs all have the same problem hence the bug report. As they are all reasonably fresh I don't think it is something I have done.

Things I have not tried yet: When I get time I hope to try on an old laptop running Xubuntu Intrepid 8.10 (Jaunty and Gloria will not install but that is a separate problem). I also have Hardy, Fiesty and various other Linux boot CDs. As I have only tried on Jaunty I cannot yet say whether this is the only one where I have a problem.

Revision history for this message
Best actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#6

Try installing acrorad from medibuntu repos. Yes its bloated but it may yeild a different result.

Revision history for this message
linhurst (linhurst) said :
#7

First this works so thank you so much for your help actionparsnip. This was not straightforward so I will provide the full details of what I did in case it is of help to others:

Tried Xubuntu Intrepid 8.10, Fiesty Ubuntu and AntiX-M8 all with the same problem so clearly this is not a problem limited to Jaunty. I was not feeling very optimistic at this point!

Following a search I could not find acrorad but did find acroread. I guess this what was meant?

I followed the instructions under "Adding the Repositories" in
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

then

sudo apt-get install acroread

with the following result:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package acroread

after some more searching I followed the instructions under

"Third-Party Software Tab - Adding Canonical Partner Repositories" in
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu

followed by

sudo apt-get install acroread

and a 63.4M download (see what is meant by bloated) but it did work and I can now view all of my pdf files.

Revision history for this message
linhurst (linhurst) said :
#8

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#9

Sweet move dude. Thanks for the details. This may help others :D

Revision history for this message
john_hannah100@hotmail.com (john-hannah100) said :
#10

Thank you so much for your help. I have now installed Acrobat Reader 9 and made it the default program for opening pdf files.

Cheers,

John.

John Hannah B.A.Hons., M.Sc.

> To: <email address hidden>
> From: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #74686]: pdf files appears blank - were OK in Adobe Acrobat in Windows XP
> Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:39:32 +0000
>
> Question #74686 on evince in ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evince/+question/74686
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> actionparsnip proposed the following answer:
> Try installing acrorad from medibuntu repos. Yes its bloated but it may
> yeild a different result.
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

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Revision history for this message
john_hannah100@hotmail.com (john-hannah100) said :
#11

Thank you so much for your help. I have now installed Acrobat Reader 9 and made it the default program for opening pdf files.

Cheers,

John.

John Hannah B.A.Hons., M.Sc.

> To: <email address hidden>
> From: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #74686]: pdf files appears blank - were OK in Adobe Acrobat in Windows XP
> Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:24:06 +0000
>
> Question #74686 on evince in ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evince/+question/74686
>
> Status: Needs information => Open
>
> Ivan gave more information on the question:
> Thanks John, mine may be a different problem as I can read most pdf
> files OK in Ubuntu. I have a large number of pdf files. The majority
> work just fine.
>
> There is just one company that I have about 32 invoices from over the
> last 3 years and all of the pdf invoices are blank in Jaunty. I can see
> all these invoices from XP and W2k. I tried XP with MS Office installed
> and with just OpenOffice just in case it was something to do with
> installed fonts (just an idea as on properties in Evince I noticed that
> fonts were not embedded in the pdf). Both worked fine. I can see all the
> invoices in Adobe Acrobat 7.0 & Adobe Acrobat 9.0 in several different
> Windows installations.
>
> Next step I tried on a different installation of 9.04 & another in Mint
> Gloria. All of the pdf invoices are still blank. So three different
> Jaunty based installs all have the same problem hence the bug report. As
> they are all reasonably fresh I don't think it is something I have done.
>
> Things I have not tried yet: When I get time I hope to try on an old
> laptop running Xubuntu Intrepid 8.10 (Jaunty and Gloria will not install
> but that is a separate problem). I also have Hardy, Fiesty and various
> other Linux boot CDs. As I have only tried on Jaunty I cannot yet say
> whether this is the only one where I have a problem.
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

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Revision history for this message
linhurst (linhurst) said :
#12

Just in case it is still relevant sometime between June and August 2011 a system update fixed this problem for me with Evince. I can now read all these problem pdf files without using Adobe Acrobat. At last the bug has been fixed.

After a long time with Google I feel this may have been a problem with font substitution rather than specific to just pdf files? Problems were also reported with OpenOffice, Web sites etc with font substitution. The LIBERATION and msttcorefonts equivalents were available on my system so either should have worked OK. I understand Adobe Acrobat does not use the same system font substitution?

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evince/+bug/389182