Best Solutions Available to Fix a Corrupted PDF File on Mac OS

PDF ranks among the world’s best file formats thanks to features like password protection and on-the-go collaboration. But this format faces many issues that hamper users’ productivity and harm the files containing crucial data. One such hurdle is fixing a corrupted file on Mac, the computer family of Apple having Macbook and iMac. If you are looking for solutions to fix a corrupted PDF file on Mac, this blog post is for you! We will explore the reasons and the solutions you can use for repairing a corrupted PDF on Mac, so keep reading!

Reasons For PDFs Getting Corrupted on Mac

The following points discuss the reasons for PDF files getting corrupted on Apple Mac:

• Improper System Shutdown – Closing your system improperly while transferring or using PDFs may damage them, leading to data loss.
  

• Unexpected PDF Editing Software Crash – The PDF software installed in your Mac system can crash unexpectedly, corrupting the PDF file currently in use. Talking about Mac, Preview is the in-built PDF viewer and editor.
  

• Sudden Power Failure – Another reason for the corrupted Mac PDF files is the abrupt power failure. If the power of your Mac system abruptly goes down, it can critically corrupt the PDF file(s) you were working on.
  

• Using Different PDF Readers – Using different PDF readers is another reason to fix a corrupted PDF file on Mac. If you use more PDF readers apart from the in-built Preview and Adobe Acrobat (many Mac users prefer Adobe Acrobat due to its versatility), your PDF file(s) may experience many modifications since each PDF reader modifies it according to its features.

These reasons necessitate finding solutions for corrupted PDF files on Apple Mac. We will now discuss them in the following paragraphs.

Solutions For Repairing a Corrupted PDF File on Mac OS

To fix a corrupted PDF file on Mac, we will discuss some useful methods, so keep reading the blog!

Users can try these techniques to change the state from corrupted to healthier PDFs. Maybe the corruption level is mild so using these techniques may help. In case of severe corruption, the user can try other methods discussed.

• Acrobat Reader needs an update: Your outdated version of Adobe Acrobat Reader could be one of the causes of a PDF isn’t displaying correctly. Go to Help > Check for updates after starting the app.
• Installing Repairs. After updating Acrobat Reader, if the PDF is still not functioning, select Help > Repair installation.
  back up the old version.
• Restoring a PDF to an earlier version is another way to fix a damaged PDF. Go to the location where you saved the PDF, right-click it, and choose Restore prior versions.

Backup From Time Machine to Fix a Corrupted PDF File on Mac

Time Machine is the backup utility of Mac for backing up and restoring personal data on your Mac system, including photos, apps, documents and emails. The prerequisite to using Time Machine is having a backup made beforehand to restore the previous version of the corrupted PDF file.

Here Are the Steps to Use a Time Machine:

1. Open Time Machine in your Mac system by clicking the Time Machine icon on the menu bar. 
2. Select Browse Time Machine Backups. The list of every folder and file backed up by Time Machine will open up. Choose the folder where you kept the corrupted PDF file using the Up and Down arrows on the right side.
3. If the selected folder has too many files, use the Search bar on the top to search the PDF file by name.
4. Once you see the required file, click the Restore button on the bottom to restore that file to the original location on your Mac system.

Time Machine is the best solution to recover a previous version of the corrupted PDF file since Preview, the in-built PDF viewer and editor, can’t repair or fix corruption in PDF files.

Using An Online PDF Program to Fix a Corrupted PDF File on Mac OS

Another solution is by using an online PDF program. Many online PDF programs or websites repair corrupted PDF files, and here we will discuss one such online PDF program, ilovePDF or Adobe tool to fix/repair PDF files. 

Follow these steps to use the website:

1. Open any of the tool websites on Safari (since Safari is the web browser for Mac).
2. Scroll down and click Repair PDF.
3. Add the corrupted PDF file using the Select PDF File box. Alternatively, you can drag and drop the PDF file on the web page.
4. Click the Repair PDF button on the bottom right corner to start the repair process.
5. The tool will begin repairing your file and notify you if the process is successful.
6. If the process is successful, the repaired file will get downloaded automatically. Else, click the Download File button.

These are the manual methods to repair and restore PDF files using Mac OS. If none of these methods works, the only solution is to use a trusted automated tool to repair the corrupted file.

Tip – Change the PDF to a different format. If you are still having trouble fixing a damaged PDF, you can extract its contents and save them as a Word document. Consider this process only when all the solutions explained here doesn’t work for you.

Read More: Use PDF Security Remover for Mac & Windows OS

A Quick Solution to Fix a Corrupted PDF File on Mac OS

The manual methods for opening a damaged PDF file have flaws that limit their usage. Also in case of having multiple PDF files, an automated tool is the best solution to repair damaged PDF files. Here, we will discuss one tool perfect for repairing a corrupted PDF file on Mac – PDF Recovery Software for Mac OS. 

Features of the Software

The tool has many features, some of which are:

1. The facility of Advance Scan to scan highly damaged PDF files.
2. Failed process report in CSV format for the files not repaired due to severe corruption.
3. Compatibility with all PDF formats and Adobe versions.

Let’s see the steps to use the tool:

• Install the tool on your Mac system and launch it to fix a corrupted PDF file on Mac OS.

• There are two options to add the PDF files: Add File(s) and Add Folder (for adding the folder having the PDF files). Remove the PDF files wrongly added by clicking the Remove or Remove All button. Click Open to add the PDF files to the software.

• Click Scan to start the file scanning process and fix a corrupted PDF file on Mac system.

• If your PDF files are discovered severely corrupted, allow the tool to scan them in Advance Mode. It will take some time for the software to examine it. 

• The tool will now show the preview of the recovered files, which isn’t possible if the tool fails to repair the PDF files. Click Save to save the recovered PDF files.

• Select the destination folder or create a new folder using the New Folder button to save the recovered files.

• The recovered PDF files get saved in your selected location with the export report in separate folders.

This tool is significant in recovering highly corrupted PDF files in a few minutes, as described in the steps above. And compared to the Time Machine feature, this tool is easier to use since many Mac users don’t know the usage method of the former.

Also Read: How to Extract Data from Multiple PDF Files

Conclusion

With features like password protection and on-the-go collaboration, PDFs rank among the world’s best file formats. But the same PDF format faces many issues that hamper users’ productivity and harm the files containing crucial data. One such hurdle comes is to fix a corrupted PDF file on Mac OS.

The manual solutions for fixing a corrupted PDF file on Mac involve using some Quick Techniques, Time Machine, Apple’s backup utility to restore the previous version of the corrupted file and an online PDF program. The automated solution uses the tool mentioned here to repair and recover and restore corrupted Adobe PDFs. What makes this tool further useful is that you can use it to repair highly corrupted PDF files in a few minutes.