Knowledgebase

Question:

Why do I get error messages when I attempt to open certain files?

Symptoms:

Error messages such as those detailed below may be present:

• "Code: 0x82140002
  Description: Error [PDF Structure 40]: Invalid file format"
   
• "Code: 0x82142717
  Description: Error [PDF Structure 40]: Invalid property type"
   
• "Code: 0x821427B1
  Description: Error [PDF Structure 40]: Invalid reference table (xref)"

Answer:

The error message:

• "Code: 0x82140002
  Description: Error [PDF Structure 40]: Invalid file format"

means the file is not a PDF document. (Please note that this is possible even when the extension is .pdf).

The error messages:

• "Code: 0x82142717
  Description: Error [PDF Structure 40]: Invalid property type"

and

• "Code: 0x821427B1
  Description: Error [PDF Structure 40]: Invalid reference table (xref)"

mean the file is damaged. For example, it may have been corrupted when it was copied or not have downloaded fully from a remote location. The original file could also be corrupted or damaged for other reasons, for example Mozilla Firefox can cause this in cases where the PDF file is larger than its cache limit.

Resolution:

Non-PDF Files

Please note that PDF-XChange Viewer is designed to open and edit PDF files. Although PDF-XChange Viewer can create PDF files from alternative formats, it does not contain the functionality to open those formats. Additionally, it should be noted that PDF-XChange Editor has superseded PDF-XChange Viewer, which has been discontinued. PDF-XChange Editor contains the functionality to open a wide range of file formats, and upgrading to this application should resolve the issue. It is available here.

Damaged Files

The first option in the case of damaged files is to attempt to copy/download them again in order to ensure that the issue was not a procedural error.

If PDF-XChange Viewer is opening a file within Mozilla Firefox and one of the above error messages are returned then it is possible that the file exceeds the cache limit. There are several methods that can be used to resolve this issue:

All versions of PDF-XChange Viewer from build 52 and all versions of PDF-XChange Editor include the option to download files as streams, rather than use the Firefox cache method to download files. This will resolve the issue, but please note that viewing very large files may affect performance.

• The latest version of PDF-XChange Viewer is available here. 
• PDF-XChange Editor is available here.

Alternatively, the size of the Mozilla Firefox cache can be increased:

1. Open Mozilla Firefox.

2. Press Alt to launch the toolbar.

3. Click Tools.

4. Click Options.

5. Click the Advanced tab.

6. Click the Network tab:

7. Select the Override automatic cache management box and enter a figure in the number box. (N.b. 100MB has been successful for most users who reported this issue).

If none of the methods above are effective then please contact us at support@pdf-xchange.com