Xero generated PDF's faulty ?

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xpd

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#225463 20-Nov-2017 14:11

Had a couple of users from different companies call today, saying that they cant open any attachments in Outlook.

Turns out, attachments are fine until they open a PDF sent to them via Xero - Adobe loads a blank page and thats it. Then cant open any more attachments.

Check running processes and find Adobe running - so kill it and attachments work again until a Xero one is hit again.

So tried saving the PDF to desktop, it opens fine, but when closing, Adobe dies again and wont allow anymore PDF's to be opened until the processes are killed again.

Adobe is up to date, one is local Windows 7, the other on a 2008 terminal server.

Anyone else hit this in the last few days ?

And no, switching to a different PDF reader is not an option at this point. (Altho may get one to try just for testing)

TLDR ; PDFs from Xero crash

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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#1904636 20-Nov-2017 14:23

And another one..... wtf.....

Anyone have a contact number for Xero ? Their website is email only and I need to find resolution for this ASAP.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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dfnt

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#1904642 20-Nov-2017 14:31

A friend posted on Facebook about it last week, basically they told him to log a support case.

I see that was on the 17th, so still not fixed it seems

morrisk

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#1904643 20-Nov-2017 14:32

Yes I am experiencing exactly the same problem. I am using a MacBook Air and running High Sierra and email is Apple mail. A error report is generated with each crash and I have send it off to wherever they go in the hope that someone will notice.

xpd

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#1904644 20-Nov-2017 14:35

Oh great... thanks guys, will send them another ticket as well then :)

At least its a "global" issue and nothing we've done :)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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dfnt

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#1904647 20-Nov-2017 14:37

Yeah, not just you, surprised its not fixed yet though https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/64479586

davidcole

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#1904651 20-Nov-2017 14:47

It can be pretty hard to diagnose PDF issues like this, especially given that most browsers render then internally also.

We had an issue with once PDFs we generated (unrelated to Xero at all) that was very intermittent....turned out it was one font we were sub typing in had a slight corruption that affects 1 in 100 users on certain versions of Adobe reader.

But you'd think if it was a new generator implemented, they'd be able to roll it back. Of course depends on number of impacted users.

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Kraven

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#1904659 20-Nov-2017 15:00

We struck this last week and put it down to a bad update from Adobe for Acrobat Reader DC since it wasn't just Xero generated PDF's, we were seeing it with scanned PDFs also. Moving affected users back to Acrobat Reader 11 got them going again for now. Just note that 11 is end of support, so have a plan in place to move them back to DC once a solution is found.

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CYaBro

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#1904666 20-Nov-2017 15:16

Yup we've also had customers with PDF issues in the last week, unrelated to Xero.

Removed Adobe Reader and installed Foxit PDF reader and problem solved.

Reinstalling Adobe & MS Office didn't help, and couldn't spend any more time on troubleshooting.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

CutCutCut

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#1904676 20-Nov-2017 16:03

Ahh good to know, I was helping my father-in-law troubleshoot this very problem over the weekend. A company with a xero produced pdf seemed to stop Adobe reader from working, I uninstalled and reinstalled but that didn't fix it. Interestingly the microsoft reader app opened it fine. I put it down to some one-off pdf error but it sounds like it's more widespread than that.

muppet

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#1904678 20-Nov-2017 16:08

Everything Xero does is perfect.

You're using it wrong, or holding it wrong, or looking at it wrong.

All hail Xero. You must only say good things about Xero. Lord Xero, that is.

Xero's not having an outage. YOU'RE having an outage.

mattwnz

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#1904681 20-Nov-2017 16:13

Is there a way to do a text based invoice in the body of the email, or the ability to send both.

billgates

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#1904683 20-Nov-2017 16:15

The "fix" that works, is to uninstall Adobe Reader DC, and install a version of Reader DC prior to last weeks update. Files can be found here:

Base file, install first:
ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/AcrobatDC/1701220093/AcroRdrDC1701220093_en_US.exe

Update to version before last weeks update:
ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/AcrobatDC/1701220098/AcroRdrDCUpd1701220098.msp

After installing, and updating, you will need to stop disable the Adobe Update service, as there is no option to do this in the UI. Hopefully Adobe release a hotfix soon.

Or you can install Foxit..

Do whatever you want to do man.

Benjip

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#1904700 20-Nov-2017 17:25

mattwnz:

Is there a way to do a text based invoice in the body of the email, or the ability to send both.

There sure is, I include a little mini summary of invoices as plain text when I send them (amount due, reference, due date etc.).

You just need to edit your email templates and insert the correct placeholders, it's pretty easy!

timmmay

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#1904785 20-Nov-2017 20:02

Adobe Acrobat on W10 they work fine, last invoice 28 Oct.

MadEngineer

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#1904793 20-Nov-2017 20:18

Also worth mentioning that Xero PDF's have this little snippet of code that can trigger anti-spam filters:

/* iOS BLUE LINKS */
a[x-apple-data-detectors=3Dtrue] {color:inherit!important;text-decorati=
on:inherit!important;}
/* ANDROID 4.4 MARGIN FIX */
div[style*=3D"margin: 16px 0"] { margin:0 !important; }
/* REMOVE DOWNLOAD ICON FROM IMG IN GMAIL */
* img[tabindex=3D"0"] + div{display:none!important;}
/* http:// tinyurl . com/jnuvqoz */
.gfix{display:none;display:none!important;}
/* RESPONSIVE */
@media screen and (max-width: 568px) { ...

Xero's response? A suggest to whitelist them (HELL NO) and a link to something irrelevant on their forums. The fact that they've tried to munge the url just makes it worse as they must be aware of the issue

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