SharePoint PDF preview not working

Len Cardinal (CCSI) 136

We have some PDFs that are not rendering in SharePoint preview windows. Large percent of the text is not visible on the screen. The 'missing' text is actually present in the page source code, but is somehow hidden on the screen (z-order problem?).

The PDF's render fine directly in all browsers, as well as in all PDF editing apps.

We've tried different browsers, different machines, different networks, and in-private/incognito connections. None of this points to a browser specific issue or caching issue.

Has anyone seen this? The issue surfaced about a week and a half ago. We opened a support case with Microsoft but the experience has been bewildering, to say the least.

Allen Xu_MSFT 13,771 Reputation points

2021-08-24T02:22:49.31+00:00

Did you get any prompt error messages when previewing the PDFs?
Len Cardinal (CCSI) 136 Reputation points

2021-08-24T12:57:41.647+00:00

No error prompt. Just missing text.

The text is actually in the page source, it's just not visible. Sometimes, it shows briefly on the screen (<1 second), then it disappears.

I tried inspecting the HTML & CSS but do not have the skills to pinpoint the issue.
Liz Braun 1 Reputation point

2021-09-23T08:02:42.417+00:00

SharePoint pdf preview is not working for us. hoping we get the fix soon!
Len Cardinal (CCSI) 136 Reputation points

2021-09-23T14:46:39.273+00:00

You might want to open a Support case with Microsoft. Perhaps it will help prioritize your tenant's infrastructure for the fix.

But I imagine it will come quickly anyway...
Mike Howard 6 Reputation points

2022-08-16T18:21:29.047+00:00

I had the same problem.
I discovered on another forum that his is caused by the length of the filename. I shortened the filename and sure enough, the preview displays.
Len Cardinal (CCSI) 136 Reputation points

2022-08-16T19:02:46.62+00:00

Interesting. I should have tried that. Microsoft gave me no explanation like that, they just acknowledged it and later fixed it...

That was a year ago. Could be the same issue, resurfacing for you. Or a new issue with the same impact.
Len Cardinal (CCSI) 136 Reputation points

2022-08-16T19:09:13.887+00:00

PS: I just checked some of the invoices that were broken last year. They work OK now. So do newer ones with the same file name length.

So this might be a new issue. I think any exception thrown by all of the JavaScript results in the same result, so my guess is the file name length issue is new.

Accepted answer

Len Cardinal (CCSI) 136 Reputation points

2021-08-27T13:39:50.247+00:00

I have a support case open. Yesterday, MS Support acknowledged the issue, and said they are targeting the end of September for a fix. They 'archived' the case for the time being.

I provided Support a few PDF's that exhibit the issue. It is only some PDF's. These PDF's are vendor invoices sent to us by various companies. We are seeing the issue invoices from specific vendors. I cannot tell what authoring tool was used to generate the offending PDF's. Regardless, the PDF's work fine outside of SharePoint preview.

So we'll have to wait for MS to fix the issue.
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2 people found this answer helpful.
Allen Xu_MSFT 13,771 Reputation points

2021-08-30T02:22:48.783+00:00

@Len Cardinal (CCSI) ,

Much appreciated for your sharing. You can accept your answer. It will be beneficial to others who meet similar issues to yours in this forum. Thanks for your contribution!

weismuller 21 Reputation points

2021-09-13T08:10:36.58+00:00

Hi,

any news regarding this? We seem to have similar issue and PDF's are not opening correctly. Same with you, they are open for about 1sec and after that they turn blank. Open in browser works, but is not effective way to handle these documents.

I didn't find any other place or discussion that related to this problem.

Len Cardinal (CCSI) 136 Reputation points

2021-09-13T14:47:56.34+00:00

No. I still am assuming 'end of September', as MS Support told me.

Are you seeing this with PDF's your organization generates? I wonder if the issue started with whatever framework SharePoint uses to render previews, or if it istarted with PDF generation tools out there. The issue for us is only with invoices from certain vendors. I do not want to ask them what tools they use. But I'd like to reproduce it.

Len Cardinal (CCSI) 136 Reputation points

2021-09-13T14:48:33.827+00:00

PS: I recommend opening your own support case in order to add weight to the issue for Microsoft.

weismuller 21 Reputation points

2021-09-14T06:57:32.453+00:00

Ok.

These are PDF's that are made and scanned by ourselves. Strange is that before summer they all opened normally with preview, but during summer (in August) it was noted that they turn blank after second.

weismuller 21 Reputation points

2021-09-20T09:19:21.417+00:00

FYI, in our end this seems to work now as previously.

Len Cardinal (CCSI) 136 Reputation points

2021-09-20T16:26:13.083+00:00

@weismuller Thanks for the heads up.

IIt appears fixed for us as well! Users will be happy

Omegacron 1 Reputation point

2022-05-06T22:15:12.623+00:00

Did the fix get pushed out in a Windows update or a SharePoint CU? We're having the same issue with certain users, but not all.

Len Cardinal (CCSI) 136 Reputation points

2022-05-06T23:10:52.13+00:00

This was a SharePoint Online issue and fix...

Omegacron 1 Reputation point

2022-05-08T01:24:38.237+00:00

Ah, ok - apparently the issue occurs with SharePoint 2019 Enterprise (on-site) as well. Thanks for the reply, appreciate it!

Len Cardinal (CCSI) 136 Reputation points

2022-05-09T01:58:33.327+00:00

They probably didn't get it into a CU yet...maybe waiting for a customer to raise a ticket. If you haven't already, I would open a support case.
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2 additional answers

Allen Xu_MSFT 13,771 Reputation points

2021-08-25T07:14:31.313+00:00

Hi @Len Cardinal (CCSI) ,

Thanks for your feedback. As per my test, I couldn't reproduce this issue on my end. As a workaround, I would suggest you use open > open in browser to preview the PDF file instead of using Preview button. Also, you can maintain collaboration with Microsoft support to troubleshoot this issue.

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YA 0 Reputation points

2024-03-07T12:07:03.3666667+00:00

We had a similar issue and it turned out the files were uploaded from a zipped/compressed folder, so decompressing them and uploading them again fixed it.
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