Can't Display PDF's

Things I have tried

I’ve created a folder inside the vault I’m using to store all my personal files. In this case it’s a PDF file. When I create a note I add a link by typing [[mylink]] to the PDF file. Good so far. When I click on the link the file is visible briefly then turns blank (grey) almost instantly. You can see the images in the thumbnails but not in the main viewer. What am I doing wrong?

What I’m trying to do

I’m trying to view a PDF file.

3 Likes

This has been fixed in the latest installer update.

Update your installer.
Just download a new version from the website, no need to uninstall the old one.
(Installer updates are sometimes necessary to update some dependencies and are noted in the changelog)

Thanks Joel, but that didn’t work for me. My installer version is 0.14.6. I’ve tried several files (there are 1000’s). Some did open, so I’m not sure if the problem is the file itself or Obsidian. All the files open outside of Obsidian. Many of the PDF’s were created with Nitro Pro so that might also play a role in this problem.

@diamondknife Hi. did you figure out what was the problem? i am facing this issue too.

pdf’s work in adobe reader, but obsidian is not able to display them. I updated obsidian, even downloaded the installer again and installed. nothing seems to work. anyone has any solutions? @joethei I even removed all the community plugins to see if they are the problem. its the same. even with safe mode ON. the pdfs are not visible.

Please help.

Welcome to the club. Here are some hints and discussions:

I’m still getting exactly what your image shows. I toyed around a lot. I was able to get some to work by only adding one PDF file per note (this is a little better but still doesn’t work on some other PDF’s). Further, as soon as I add a 2nd PDF to the note, both PDF’s show the grey screen. I’m stumped.

1 Like

+1
I have the same issue.

The thread is not going anywhere.

I suggest you to:

  1. Download and reinstall obsidian
  2. Enter safe mode (that means disable third party plugins), use the default theme and restart obsidian.

If you are using Grammarly, or some other app that overlays over other apps’s ui, try to disable it and see if it helps.

If it is still not working, open a bug report, follow the bug report template, attach a screen recording of the pdf not working under the above conditions and a copy/link to the pdf affected.

1 Like