Recovering Data From a Corrupted PDF File

Your work can go haywire if an important PDF file stops opening. If you’re facing issues or getting errors while opening a PDF file, then do not worry. If the files are backed up, then it is fine, but if you haven’t backed up the data, it can be a horrendous situation when your PDF file gets corrupted. Luckily we have a few tools and techniques that can help you in recovering or repairing a corrupted PDF file. It is worth noting that sometimes you’ll only be able to recover parts of the data, then you’ll need to try rebuilding the rest. Let’s dig into some of the ways by which you can recover data from corrupted PDF files. Check for Errors in Your PDF Reader The PDF file may not always be the culprit. Chances are, it might be the PDF reader program that you use causing the problem. Adobe Acrobat Reader is the most commonly used PDF reader worldwide. Adobe was the creator of the PDF file-type back in the 1990s, the format soon gained the spot of an open standard by 2008. You can perform some easy troubleshooting if you’re using the Adobe Acrobat Reader. It would be best if you make sure that the app is running in the latest version. Go to the help tab and then select Check for Updates. If found, it is recommended to install the updates right away. Or else you can click on the Repair Installation option to repair the program files if they’ve become obsolete. Using Alternative PDF Readers Though most of the PCs have Adobe Acrobat Reader set as their default PDF reading softwares, there are a bunch of other options worth your try. Sometimes using an alternate PDF reader can solve the issue. Foxit Reader and Sumatra PDF are two excellent PDF reader alternatives that you should give a try. Both of these are free softwares available for download. Alternatively, you can also go with Okular or Evince. Many PDF files that do not open in any other softwares can be read by these two softwares as they use an entirely different PDF rendering method. Restoring to a Previous Version Windows has an automatic backup feature that backs up all your files. If your PDF file used to open before but has recently started to cause issues, it may have got corrupted. You can use the backup feature of Windows to look for an older version of the PDF file. Go to the settings and then click on Update & Security, there you can find the Backup option. It is worth noting that you can only use this feature if you’ve previously enabled backup on the device. You can use this feature to roll back to a previous non-corrupt version of the PDF file. To do so, you need to locate the PDF file in File Explorer and then right-click on the file to select the option saying “Restore previous versions”. It will show you a list of all previous versions of the file that have been backed up by Windows. Using PDF Repair Software If rolling back to a previous version of the PDF file didn’t help, you can check out a few PDF repair tools. These tools look for the issues within the PDF file and then try to resolve them. We have a couple of web-based tools that don’t require any installation to work. You can simply upload the corrupt PDF file to their sites and then it will try to repair the file online. Repair PDF, PDF Tools Online, PDFaid are some of the best online tools out there. You can even try FileRepair1, which is a specialist program that will perform a detailed scan of your PDF file and then try to resolve issues with the file. Extracting Data from Corrupted PDF File If any of the above methods don’t work, you can try to extract the bits of data that have not gone corrupt. You can do so by converting the PDF file into a text document. An excellent choice to do this is by using an online application by Nitro called PDF to Word Converter which can convert the corrupt PDF file into a Word document and then you can extract the text from the document. Extracting images from a corrupt PDF file is a cumbersome process, and that will require you to follow a separate guide. Hopefully, you are able to recover your PDF by following one of the above methods. The least you can manage is to recover elements of the PDF file, which is better than having nothing. It is a good idea to always have a backup for your data. Harry Williams is an inventive person who has been doing intensive research in particular topics and writing blogs and articles for Tekwire on Norton Products , Mcafee Products , Webroot Products and many other related topics. He is a very knowledgeable person with lots of experience. To get in touch with the internet security service provider, just dial 844-479-6777. SOURCE : Recovering Data From a Corrupted PDF File, Tekwire