August 8, 2018 Blog FileMaker AdobecontainerFileMaker 17interactive containerPDFPreviewSSLtroubleshootingWebKit Why Can’t I View PDFs? Have you ever run into issues with PDFs not displaying in FileMaker Pro? Does your interactive container field show a loading bar or empty box when you know the field contains a PDF? I’ve run into this issue in two different environments, and found that there can be two different causes. In this blog I’ll share the solutions that worked for me. If you’re having PDF container woes in FileMaker Pro on MacOS, the likeliest cause is that WebKit is using an Adobe plugin to render PDFs instead of Preview. FileMaker uses WebKit to render WebViewer and interactive container layout objects, and appears to be incompatible with Adobe WebKit plugins and vice versa. Acrobat 8’s info page does state that, “PDF viewing is not supported for any WebKit-based applications other than Safari.” Acrobat 8 is from 2006, but this could still be the case in 2018. The issue stems from two files, AdobePDFViewer.plugin and AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin, that get added to your Mac’s Internet Plug-Ins folder when you install Adobe Reader or Acrobat. Removing these files should let you view PDFs within FileMaker again. Here are the steps from TSGal at FileMaker: “Remove the following two Adobe plug-ins: [Hard Disk] -> Library -> Internet Plug-Ins -> AdobePDFViewer.plugin [Hard Disk] -> Library -> Internet Plug-Ins -> AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin Relaunch FileMaker Pro, then access the hosted file. FileMaker Pro should now use Preview controls for the PDF inside the interactive Container field.” If you’re having trouble getting to the Library folder, follow these steps: Open a Finder window. Press Shift Command G on your keyboard, or select Go -> Go to Folder… Enter the following path: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins If removing those plugins didn’t resolve the issue, or if you’re running FileMaker Pro on Windows, the issue may be caused by an unverified SSL certificate. The FileMaker Server 16.02 release notes state, “Clients may not be able to access container data in hosted solutions when your FileMaker Server installation is using an unverified certificate.” To remedy this issue, confirm that your SSL certificate is configured correctly on the server and that the certificate authority that issued your certificate is still trusted. Next, ensure that users are connecting to FileMaker Server using the domain name associated with the server’s SSL certificate. If their remote connection has been configured to use the server’s IP address or local host name, FileMaker Pro will likely view the connection as insecure. Most features of FileMaker Pro will work over an insecure connection, however container data like PDFs may not be accessible. These steps should address your PDF issues for versions 15 through 17 of FileMaker Pro. If you’re running into a different issue, try searching through our other blogs or reach out to us to learn how we can help. By Ian Harris
11 Comments Bertram Tigges Posted on 9:54 AM - November 12, 2018 We (German based company with 90,000 PDFs stored in a Filemaker Container) had exactly the issue described by you after having installed Adobe Acrobat today (macOS 10.14.1 with FM Server resp. Filemaker Pro Adv. 17.0.2.). Your solution worked perfectly: after deleting AdobePDFViewer.plugin and AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin all the PDFs could be seen again. Many thanks to you!!! Zane Posted on 2:20 AM - December 18, 2018 Thank you Elsa Victoria Aristizábal Posted on 8:19 AM - April 17, 2019 I had this problem from quite some time without being able to fix it. Your solution worked fine. Thank you. The only thing I miss from the solution with Acrobat is the possibility to send an email or print the pdf from the container field. Carolus Posted on 8:11 AM - July 9, 2019 I have a related question. I’ve also deleted the local plugin. But how do I solve this problem with webdirect access? As an admin I can see the interactive contents in the container. However, if I’m accessing the dbase through Webdirect … there again is the ’empty’ frame of the interactive container. David Weiner Posted on 11:51 AM - July 10, 2019 Hi Carolus, It’s hard to tell what could be causing this, although I can tell you PDF interactivity should work the same on a Mac both under FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Webdirect. If you’re using Windows, you can have one of several different PDF rendering engines installed, and some will work with FM and some won’t, so it’s possible that your browser is to blame. We’d be glad to set up some development time to help you work through the issue. Feel free to get in touch through the Contact Us link above! Eric Posted on 4:50 PM - September 29, 2019 Also very important was making Preview the default PDF viewer, going to Layout mode, selecting the container, and in the Data inspector, selecting the radio button to optimize viewing for JPG. If Interactive Content is chosen, it just keeps crashing. Eric Posted on 5:01 PM - September 29, 2019 Ok, reset container Data radio button to Interactive Content as I realized I need the capability to view CAD PDFs. Reselected Adobe Reader DC as the default PDF viewer. Now it works fine. No more crashes. Go figure. asikqq Posted on 7:24 AM - October 20, 2019 Excellent write-up. I absolutely appreciate this website. Continue the good work! Moe Posted on 9:07 PM - December 24, 2019 I had read a similar solution but could not find the offending files in the location indicated. After reading this article it occurred to me to search for the file and low and behold, I found them (even though they were not visible in the internet plugins folder! I deleted them and it works now 🙂 Tim Posted on 3:11 PM - June 26, 2020 Removing those two plug-ins from Adobe just fixed it for me in 2020! So it’s still a cause. Thanks for posting this! Karen Posted on 1:53 PM - July 16, 2020 Ditto for working still in 2020. Thank you very much for posting this! Really saved the day.