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PDF not rendering right in firefox

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I have a PDF file I created on my website and noticed that in FF it is not rendering the images correctly (specifically the background image) The file renders fine in IE and Chrome but not in FF, which produces a lot of odd lines in some images and the background. I have had several people check this for me and they have the same problem, the PDF will just not show correctly in Firefox, even one person that tried it, FF will not show any pictures for her on the PDF. Did not know where to post this, as it is not really a question but an observation.

Shy

I have a PDF file I created on my website and noticed that in FF it is not rendering the images correctly (specifically the background image) The file renders fine in IE and Chrome but not in FF, which produces a lot of odd lines in some images and the background. I have had several people check this for me and they have the same problem, the PDF will just not show correctly in Firefox, even one person that tried it, FF will not show any pictures for her on the PDF. Did not know where to post this, as it is not really a question but an observation. Shy

All Replies (6)

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Shyannes said

I have a PDF file I created on my website and noticed that in FF it is not rendering the images correctly (specifically the background image) The file renders fine in IE and Chrome but not in FF, which produces a lot of odd lines in some images and the background. I have had several people check this for me and they have the same problem, the PDF will just not show correctly in Firefox, even one person that tried it, FF will not show any pictures for her on the PDF. Did not know where to post this, as it is not really a question but an observation. Shy

Here is a pic of the PDF in FF (notice the white lines in the background, they are not there in the original nor in IE or Chrome)

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The latest development version of the built-in PDF viewer is available as an extension. You can check out this version to see if it works better than the version shipped with the current Firefox release.

Latest development version of the PDF Viewer (pdfjs) extension:

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Did not help, lines are still there where they should not be.

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Hey Shyannes,

It is rendering differently because IE uses the Adobe reader plugin to display PDF's and Chrome uses a custom PDF viewer. Firefox also has a custom PDF viewer (different than both IE & Chrome).

Firefox users can view the PDF using Adobe reader by following these steps:

  1. Click on the Download button (the one to the right of the print button).
  2. Change it from Save file to Open with: Adobe Reader
  3. Click OK.

Hope that helps. -Curtis

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I am sure this is helpful for those that are computer savvy like myself, but most readers of my PDF newsletter on my site are not. So it will not help them much, heck I spent 10 mins. in chat last night explaining to them what a URL is, most still did not understand. I will pass the info on anyway just in case, telling them this is only a problem if they are a FF user, or that they can use IE or Chrome if they like so it renders correctly.

Thank you


Hey Shyannes, It is rendering differently because IE uses the Adobe reader plugin to display PDF's and Chrome uses a custom PDF viewer. Firefox also has a custom PDF viewer (different than both IE & Chrome). Firefox users can view the PDF using Adobe reader by following these steps:
  1. Click on the Download button (the one to the right of the print button).
  2. Change it from Save file to Open with: Adobe Reader
  3. Click OK.
Hope that helps. -Curtis
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Perhaps as part of distilling the PDF, the background is split into numerous separate horizontal images (attached screen shot shows selection boxes around them in Acrobat XI). For some reason, Firefox PDF viewer is putting a hairline space between them and you see the white background showing through.

My only guess as to the possible reason is some kind of rounding error in sizing or placing the image tiles in the viewer, but whatever the reason, fortunately your actual content does not appear to be affected.

As a workaround to make it less annoying, perhaps you could try a black page background color behind the background images. Not sure what the source application is, so I don't know whether that is an option.