Occasionally, we get reports that documents can’t be viewed in ABS Document Manager. In virtually all of these cases the situation is easily cured. It is safe to say that the problem is not with our software. Instead, it is more likely to be a problem with the setup of the individual workstation, failure to follow all the installation steps for ABS on the Host computer, or an out-of-date copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader on the workstation. The following touches on these situations.
The way to diagnose the source of the problem is to answer the following questions:
- Does the problem occur on one workstation or all of them?
- Is there a pop-up message that mentions something like: “Sorry, we were unable to display … in the default PDF viewer“.
If you get the PDF viewer message, you are probably using an old, discontinued version of Adobe Acrobat. If you are still using the XI version, Adobe discontinued support on October 15, 2017. The solution is simple, just download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. This free upgrade will ensure that you benefit from all new functional enhancements and security updates.
If you don’t get the PDF viewer message, then it may be a little more complicated. If the problem occurs on all workstations, we need to look at what they all have in common — the Host, or server computer. If it only happens on one workstation, then we look there.
- All Workstations: Make sure the ABS3 folder on the server computer is shared with full permission. If it is not, no workstation will be able to access the documents. If you don’t know how to share a folder, ABS might be able to help. However, to make certain that nothing is done to make your system less secure, you should contact your local IT Professional.
- One Workstation: This usually means that the workstation does not have permission to access files on the Host, or server computer. This may require help from your local IT Professional. ABS may be able to help, but you will need to give the ABS support person the following information:
- The Host computer’s name.
- The Host computer’s Administrator’s user name (not the same as above).
- The Host computer’s Administrator’s user password.
Without those three pieces of information, ABS will not be able to help.