“Does anybody know how to repair corrupted PDF files? I created a PDF document on my PC but it became corrupted with all these strange characters. Now when I open the document I get an error message that wasn’t coming up. If anyone can help me I’d be very thankful.”
When a PDF file gets corrupted, you may see incomplete images and garbled characters within the file, or you cannot open the file at all. With different degrees of damage, you need different solutions to repair corrupted PDF files on Mac or Windows computer. Here in this post, we’ll show you 5 ways to repair PDF files and you can selectively choose one to try.
5 Methods to Repair Corrupted PDF files on Windows/Mac
Method 1: Try Another PDF Reader to Open the File
If your current PDF reader failed to open a PDF document, this first trick you can try is using an alternative PDF reader. Just search it on Google and then you’ll find numerous alternatives. Just select a reliable PDF reader to check if it can recognize your file.
Method 2: Repair Adobe Reader
If you are using Adobe Reader, make sure your software is always up to date. To check for updates for Adobe Reader, launch the program and go to Help > Check for Updates.
If this doesn’t fix your PDF file corruption, try repairing Adobe Reader with these steps: open Adobe Reader > click Help >choose Repair Adobe Reader Installation. In addition, you can also uninstall Adobe Reader and then reinstall it to repair some problems with Adobe Reader.
Method 3: Restore Corrupted PDF File to Previous Version
If you have backup for your PDF files, you can try to restore the corrupted PDF file with following steps:
- Right click PDF in Windows Explorer > Properties > Previous Versions.
- Choose a copy from the list of all old versions of PDF files. Click Open, check the file, and click Restore.
Method 4: Repair Corrupted PDF Files with Third Party Software
If all methods above fail to repair you corrupted PDF files, then you may like to use some professional PDF repair software to help you out. Stellar Phoenix Repair for PDF software makes it easy for you to fix most common PDF file corruption issues. It lets you repair corrupted PDF files and restore text data, images and attachments, charts, tables, etc. What’s more, it is also capable of restoring graphs, watermark and digital signatures from the PDF file. Stellar Phoenix Repair for PDF software is available for both Windows & Mac users.
Repair Corrupted PDF Files
If you want to give this tool a try, you can click either link below to download the free trial version of Stellar Phoenix Repair for PDF:
Stellar Phoenix Repair for PDF for Windows>
Stellar Phoenix Repair for PDF for Mac >
Method 5: Extract Data from the Corrupted PDF File
If your corrupted PDF contains important data, you can extract text or image from the PDF. One simple utility program you can try is A-PDF Data Extractor. It allows you to batch extract certain text information within the PDF to XLS, CSV or XML file format.
Extract Data from PDF Files
Click here to download A-PDF Data Extractor >
