A file on the system is vulnerably delicate. It can get damaged due to inconsistency in system software, hardware, or issues with the application using which it is created. Adobe Acrobat PDF file can get damaged due to variety of reasons and here we are going to discuss one amongst those.

Problem:

“I have Adobe Acrobat 6 Standard. I received some documents in the form of PDF files through emails. The PDF was fine till opening and filling the required fields but when I tried to save it, an error flashed on screen stating “The Document could not be saved. There was an error reading this document (109)”. After this I am unable to save the changes made to the PDF file.”

Discussion:

The problem shared above will not be encountered by the user when the PDF file is opened. Reason being, Adobe Acrobat or Reader ignores small issues with the file and display its content. However, when the user tries to save the changes made to the file, it checks out for any issue and responds to it through message. To get detailed information about the error, hold down the CTRL key and click on the error message (this idea works perfectly for any kind of error reverted by PDF file). Nevertheless, the error itself does not manifest the actual problem!

To get more information about the PDF document, go to ‘File’ menu and choose ‘Document Information’. This will give data like which application is used to generate the PDF file or if the files are modified using any non-Adobe application.

Although, it’s possible (generally, unlikely to happen) that the PDF file is opened with an older version of Acrobat or the Reader. Since, with every new release, features are added to the Adobe where possibility is the PDF specifications do get changed. Such issues may cause a PDF file inconsistent.

Basically, Adobe publishes PDF specifications using which anybody can create a PDF document. But the PDF spec consists of around 1100 pages and is very complex. So, the possibility is whoever created the PDFlib has made an error that is interrupting smooth functioning of PDF. There are chances that the developers have tested the PDF file with lower edition and opening it with a higher edition is causing problem.

Solution:

Inconsistency in smooth functioning of an application can happen due to variety of reasons. Acrobat error 109 resulting in restriction to save changes to the PDF is one of the consequences of PDF corruption. In order to work around the situation, the idea that can be adopted is to recover damaged PDF into a healthy PDF file. This can be done using either online services that promises to fix the files or third party PDF recovery software applications.