Unable to open PDF

Question

I can't open a downloaded PDF file with Document Viewer. I get:

Unable to open document “file:///home/myuser/myfile.pdf”. File type Perl script (application/x-perl) is not supported

The same file opens fine with Print Preview (GNOME Document Previewer) as well as on my son's Windows 7 box with Acrobat.

What's missing?

And how do you try to open it? It looks like file association is wrong. Did you try to right-click it and choose "Document Viewer"? — Pilot6, May 21, 2015 at 12:27
Yes I did that. I should have said that other PDF's open fine, so it is not the file associations. Thanks — Chris, May 22, 2015 at 13:50
What does file /home/myuser/myfile.pdf say the file is? Are you sure it's a PDF? — waltinator, Aug 17, 2015 at 18:15

Mostafa Ahangarha · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-26 15:38:37Z

1

Based on the information you provided, the mentioned file is a perl application, despite being saved as pdf file.

Just to make sure what is the true type of your file, use the file command like this:

file /home/myuser/myfile.pdf

and make sure it is the result be something like this:

/home/myuser/myfile.pdf: PDF document, version x

answered Feb 26, 2016 at 15:38

Mostafa Ahangarha

4,4087 gold badges36 silver badges51 bronze badges

Add a comment |

1 Answer 1