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PDF import behaving strangely
Hello everyone,
I might be having a brain fart, so humble apologies in advance if I'm missing something very obvious.
Recently I am unable to import PDF files into Xara DP X.
From what I know the method used to be File > Import... or File > Open... However if I do this the program starts to think for a couple of seconds and eventually outputs an HTML placeholder (?) object on the page that displays the system's PDF file icon as a bitmap. If I select the icon, it displays a Widget submenu (?)
It has done this with all PDF files that I tested so far. None of the contents of the PDF is loaded into Xara. It used to work fine. I'm not sure what causes this and since when this change occurred. I'm very confused.
Could it have something to do with a recent patch? Can anyone confirm this strange output behaviour or is it just me? Again, it might be just my brain being on vacation.
I'm using Xara Designer Pro X 19.0.0.63929 DL x64 Mar 3 2022
On Windows 10 Pro, version 20H2
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
For what it's worth, I have just done this with around 40 PDFs with Xara Pro+V21.9, which is very close to XDPXv19.0 in functionality.
My method was to drag and drop directly on the page.
I just tried with File > Open and that worked as well.
Ditto for File > Import.
Earlier version offered an embed option.
I think that has been dropped in favour of Link > Link to file (PDF, AVI, etc).
The usual fix is the Run as admin the once and let the application sort itself out.
Acorn
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
Dragging and dropping gives the same result for me. As does running the application as admin and importing a PDF (except drag and drop is prohibited for me).
Very curious.
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
I am using the same version as you are(not the cloud) and I do not have any problems. I am constantly importing PDFs for changes all the time.
Ray
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
Hmm...then I have no idea where to begin in order to fix this. Maybe I'll try a reinstall tomorrow.
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
Are the troublesome pdfs password protected?
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
No, they're just randomly picked with no password protection.
A little update: apparently, when I recently updated my program it installed XDP X version 19 alongside of version 18. This is what I'm seeing in C:\Program Files\Xara\Xara Designer Pro X. Not sure if this is intended. I'll try uninstalling both.
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
Well, reinstalling didn't help.
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
If you are getting an HTML placeholder in XDPX it seems to me that you're trying to import/open a pdf into a web page you're designing. Have you tried opening a pdf in an new, empty project?
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
I've tried importing a PDF with no project open and I'm still getting the HTML placeholder.
Also tried importing a PDF into every kind of template. I'm baffled that this only affects me.
Some more findings, this time regarding PDF export.
If I make a blank drawing with a basic shape and try File > Export... I have no option in the list to export as PDF. If I go File > Export PDF... I can fill in a file name, but Save as type is an empty list. Clicking Export does nothing. Clicking Settings... does nothing either. Clicking Cancel after having clicked Export prompts an error: "Internal program error 5107.w.fi.gs"
I found another thread with this error message where running the program as admin fixed the problem. I tried that once again, but it didn't work for me. I get the same error message.
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
something has block/corrupted the PDF libraries/routines that xara needs to import/export PDF files would be my guess
do you have other programs that import/export PDF and do they work?
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
As FD says it appears your pdf dll's have not imported correctly. This may be due to your Anti Virus software or malware protection program. Try turning them off temporarily and reinstall.
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...064#post377064
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
Quote:
Originally Posted by
handrawn
something has block/corrupted the PDF libraries/routines that xara needs to import/export PDF files would be my guess
do you have other programs that import/export PDF and do they work?
Not that I know of. I checked my Windows Settings > Apps and Adobe Acrobat DC is the only PDF-related application in the list as far as I can see.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Egg Bramhill
Here's what I did: I disabled my antivirus. Exited any third party programs that were running in the background. Uninstalled Xara XDP. Then reinstalled it (ran the installation executable as admin). After the install was done, I registered PDFImport.dll as described by steve.ledger (ran the command prompt as admin). Then I ran Xara XDP as admin. Still no PDF import/export :(
I also tried doing the same thing in Safe mode, but unfortunately the Windows installer service (or whatever it was called) is not enabled in Safe mode so I could not install XDP.
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
The fact that you have no PDF down-down entries might means the File Formats XML file is not accessible, damaged or missing.
It should be C:\Program Files\Xara\Xara Designer Pro X\19\FileFormats.xml
It would have entries:
<FilterFormats><ExportFormats><Format Id="303" Name="PDF or PDF/X (*.pdf)"/> since v10 (at least).
<FilterFormats><ImportFormats><Format Id="304" Name="PDF (*.pdf)"/>.
Acorn
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
Yup. Both entries are in the XML file :think:
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1 Attachment(s)
Re: PDF import behaving strangely
I've not seen this PDF issue before with Pro X18.5 or Pro X19 and have both installed and accessible, but clearly something is AWOL. I would note that if you run Xara in Admin mode, it does not allow you to drag and drop a file from Windows Explorer, the same is true for images too.
Maybe check (and eliminate that ) there are not any hidden issues with Windows 10 integrity, missing or corrupt files. With the Command Prompt App 'Run as Administrator' use 'sfc /scannow'
Attachment 131884
If Windows finds any issues, it will try to fix them; if there are no issues then at least you have confirmed Windows is OK.
Should Windows find any issues, I would run Xara again in Admin mode just once and recheck.
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
do you have security software that does more than 'just AV' - it is not unknown for some to lock out access even when an install is run in admin mode if they detect a process they consider suspicious
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
This whole thing makes me wish there was a verbose logging mode in XDP that lists which errors the program encounters to help people troubleshoot their issues.
Really do appreciate your efforts to help me so far.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Initiostar
I've not seen this PDF issue before with Pro X18.5 or Pro X19 and have both installed and accessible, but clearly something is AWOL. I would note that if you run Xara in Admin mode, it does not allow you to drag and drop a file from Windows Explorer, the same is true for images too.
Maybe check (and eliminate that ) there are not any hidden issues with Windows 10 integrity, missing or corrupt files. With the Command Prompt App 'Run as Administrator' use 'sfc /scannow'
Attachment 131884
If Windows finds any issues, it will try to fix them; if there are no issues then at least you have confirmed Windows is OK.
Should Windows find any issues, I would run Xara again in Admin mode just once and recheck.
I ran sfc /scannow as admin and no issues were found. The PDF import/export still persists while running Xara as admin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
handrawn
do you have security software that does more than 'just AV' - it is not unknown for some to lock out access even when an install is run in admin mode if they detect a process they consider suspicious
You mean programs like Malwarebytes and such running in the background? I don't have them.
In addition, I found that there's an option to start windows without antivirus running (Start > Power > Shift+Click Restart > it should be the last option in the list) and tried installing XDP in that mode and testing it, but to no avail.
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
Another interesting observation (don't know if it's relevant or not, but I'll just throw it in).
In C:\Program Files\Xara\Xara Designer Pro X\19\Filters\ENG\PDFImport\ there is an executable called pdf2xar.exe
Using pdf2xar.exe in command prompt, I was able to convert a basic PDF to a XAR file just fine. You just have to read the instructions and the rest is easy (Usage: pdf2xar input.pdf output.xar [options]). The output XAR file was valid.
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
thinking more of a security program that installs third party firewall, ransomeware protection and the like.. ok was just a thought..
Quote:
Not that I know of. I checked my Windows Settings > Apps and Adobe Acrobat DC is the only PDF-related application in the list as far as I can see.
but you may have other apps. just like xara, that can open/export/edit PDF ?
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
cross posted
that is the app that that designer uses
so it seems the link designer and that app is broken/blocked ?
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
Get a guess here.
Try CMD > C:\Program Files\Xara\Xara Designer Pro X\19\Filters\ENG\PDFImport>regsvr32 PDFImport.dll.
The exe probably works as it can find the DLL in the same directory, XDPXv19 might need to be told.
Acorn
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
Does the UAC (Do you want to allow this app...) appear every time you start Xara?
This would stop the drag and drop feature.
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
true... and could of course try pulling down the UAC so it is off, before reinstalling; not without risk and a bit of a last resort, but i've known it fix things in the past where permissions have not been set correctly; shouldn't really need to do it these days...
if what acorn sugessted in post #24 does not work you might consider it though... if so, do a full AV scan before you start, make sure you reset the UAC to where it was afterwards and then do another full AV scan straight away just in case
something sure sounds corrupted; you could do a full checkdisk - this will take a very long time with modern very large drives though, but it will identify disk issues that sfc, which is basically a system level check, may have missed
see here for UAC windows vista-10/11
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...windows-vista/
see here for chkdsk [you may be able to run this from your AV]
https://www.lifewire.com/chkdsk-command-2625838
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...ommands/chkdsk
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
Quote:
Originally Posted by
handrawn
thinking more of a security program that installs third party firewall, ransomeware protection and the like.. ok was just a thought..
but you may have other apps. just like xara, that can open/export/edit PDF ?
Yeah, the only other programs that can open/export PDF files are the basic MS Office programs that I have. I don't have anything that can edit PDF files to my knowledge.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Acorn
Get a guess here.
Try CMD > C:\Program Files\Xara\Xara Designer Pro X\19\Filters\ENG\PDFImport>regsvr32 PDFImport.dll.
The exe probably works as it can find the DLL in the same directory, XDPXv19 might need to be told.
Acorn
Hmm, did this but it still doesn't work. It says the DLL was registered successfully, like with the "conventional" method posted above. But the import/export issue persists.
Also tried copying PDFImport.dll into the main executable folder and registering that, but that didn't solve the issue either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chris M
Does the UAC (Do you want to allow this app...) appear every time you start Xara?
This would stop the drag and drop feature.
No, the UAC only appears if I run it as admin manually or if I enable the option to run it as admin by default in the shortcut properties. Even with UAC disabled, the drag and drop of a PDF onto the XDP window is blocked.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
handrawn
true... and could of course try pulling down the UAC so it is off, before reinstalling; not without risk and a bit of a last resort, but i've known it fix things in the past where permissions have not been set correctly; shouldn't really need to do it these days...
if what acorn sugessted in post #24 does not work you might consider it though... if so, do a full AV scan before you start, make sure you reset the UAC to where it was afterwards and then do another full AV scan straight away just in case
something sure sounds corrupted; you could do a full checkdisk - this will take a very long time with modern very large drives though, but it will identify disk issues that sfc, which is basically a system level check, may have missed
see here for UAC windows vista-10/11
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...windows-vista/
see here for chkdsk [you may be able to run this from your AV]
https://www.lifewire.com/chkdsk-command-2625838
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...ommands/chkdsk
The full checkdisk, which took place during the next system boot, found no errors.
Full virus scan (ESET Internet Security) found no malware either.
I disabled my antivirus afterwards, disabled UAC and reinstalled XDP. Registered the DLL as before (both methods, just to make sure) and ran XDP as admin. Still no PDF import/export.
While going through my event viewer logs in search for the chkdsk log, I came across a couple of Xara-related errors:
Code:
Faulting application name: Service_rel_u_x64_vc16.exe, version: 5.15.36.11, time stamp: 0x6202376b
Faulting module name: Qt5CoreMx64Qt5.15.1.dll, version: 5.15.1.0, time stamp: 0x5f74976c
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x00000000000203e8
Faulting process id: 0x2698
Faulting application start time: 0x01d84e9a1a7d8b2f
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Xara\Xara Designer Pro X\19\UPS\Service_rel_u_x64_vc16.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Xara\Xara Designer Pro X\19\UPS\Qt5CoreMx64Qt5.15.1.dll
Report Id: 8f645711-fb74-4e5c-a1ee-c17bd9823522
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:
Not sure if these could be related to my issue. They seem to related to the Magix update service, so probably not relevant. But I thought I'd post them just in case.
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
Have you tried installing an old version of Xara and seeing if that works. Based on what you are describing I don't think it will make a change unless it fixes something in the registry.
Download Libreoffice and install, there is no charge you can make a donation if you want. In Writer you can import PDF and check and see if that works. The link is:
https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/
I think that if Libreoffice works then you are going to have to have a program that can do a deep uninstall of Xara. When you do a regular uninstall it does not get all of the settings in the registry so you would need a program that does this. You probably have some setting that is corrupted and will not reset during reinstall unless it is fully removed. I have had this happen before with other programs. I have not had to do this in a number of years so I can't recommend a program now that does this type of work.
Ray
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
yeh.. I build my own system and have restore points I can go back to, and if all else fails I can spend a day rebuilding from fresh windows install.. tend to find that quicker than trying to fix a deep seated registry issue, but it is not an option for everyone...
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
@ The Alien. Even though this is a Magix installer, let us see if we can help. Please contact us at https://www.xara.com/contact-us/
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
@ The Alien, please let us know if Xara can fix this for you as I had the same PDF export problem on Designer Pro 12 and never did get it sorted.
All my customers send me PDFs and I have to send them back as PDFs so it was something I couldn't use XARA without.
I stopped using Designer Pro from then onwards because of it, but maybe could be coaxed back if it is fixable (to UK Xara, not Magix).
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dahzee
@ The Alien, please let us know if Xara can fix this for you as I had the same PDF export problem on Designer Pro 12 and never did get it sorted.
All my customers send me PDFs and I have to send them back as PDFs so it was something I couldn't use XARA without.
I stopped using Designer Pro from then onwards because of it, but maybe could be coaxed back if it is fixable (to UK Xara, not Magix).
Please give Designer Pro+ a try for PDF Editing. The issue in this thread is very isolated and appears to be an install issue and not a PDF Editing issue. Many in this thread have expressed tremendous success with Xara PDF Editor, both in Pro+ desktop (and in Xara Cloud).
https://www.xara.com/xara-cloud-plus/new-bundle/
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1 Attachment(s)
Re: PDF import behaving strangely
@MB365,
Thanks for the reply.
It wasn't the editing I was having a problem with, it was the inability to export as PDF.
Please see the attached.
But you are right I should give the new version a trial, especially as you are now back in charge of part of the program :-)
Attachment 131911
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Re: PDF import behaving strangely
Quote:
Originally Posted by
RKissane
Have you tried installing an old version of Xara and seeing if that works. Based on what you are describing I don't think it will make a change unless it fixes something in the registry.
Download Libreoffice and install, there is no charge you can make a donation if you want. In Writer you can import PDF and check and see if that works. The link is:
https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/
I think that if Libreoffice works then you are going to have to have a program that can do a deep uninstall of Xara. When you do a regular uninstall it does not get all of the settings in the registry so you would need a program that does this. You probably have some setting that is corrupted and will not reset during reinstall unless it is fully removed. I have had this happen before with other programs. I have not had to do this in a number of years so I can't recommend a program now that does this type of work.
Ray
Thanks for the suggestion. I've already tried importing PDF files into MS Word and it works fine. So it must be an issue with DPX.
And yeah, a thorough/manual uninstall and reinstall could fix it. I'll see if I can find any programs that do this. I was already thinking in that direction by searching my registry for any entries containing "Xara". There are countless of them...
A fresh OS install is unfortunately not an option for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MB365
Thanks, I'll do that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dahzee
@ The Alien, please let us know if Xara can fix this for you as I had the same PDF export problem on Designer Pro 12 and never did get it sorted.
All my customers send me PDFs and I have to send them back as PDFs so it was something I couldn't use XARA without.
I stopped using Designer Pro from then onwards because of it, but maybe could be coaxed back if it is fixable (to UK Xara, not Magix).
No problem. I'll keep this thread updated.
