PDF import behaving strangely

**The Alien** · 06 April 2022, 04:05 PM

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

**Acorn** · 06 April 2022, 04:22 PM

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

**The Alien** · 06 April 2022, 04:34 PM

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.

**RKissane** · 07 April 2022, 02:43 PM

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

**The Alien** · 07 April 2022, 09:00 PM

Hmm...then I have no idea where to begin in order to fix this. Maybe I'll try a reinstall tomorrow.

**jaydear** · 08 April 2022, 02:46 AM

Are the troublesome pdfs password protected?

**The Alien** · 08 April 2022, 03:41 PM

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.

**The Alien** · 08 April 2022, 04:31 PM

Well, reinstalling didn't help.

**jaydear** · 08 April 2022, 06:48 PM

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?

**The Alien** · 09 April 2022, 08:43 AM

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.