Question

Format of files attached to records

  • 8 August 2022
  • 9 replies
  • 182 views

Userlevel 5
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Hello!

 

When we attach a PDF to a record (i.e. invoice, sales order, whatever) it shows in the file browser as a .pdf file extension.

When you open the file for viewing, Acumatica seems to be serving it as an .ashx. 

 

Does anyone know if there is a way to get Acumatica to serve the PDF to us?
 

ASHX does not work well at all on Mac OS


9 replies

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Hello,

I think that is a browser setting. I use Firefox; here is a screen shot of the browser setting:

Also check Acumatica file upload preferences:

 

Userlevel 5
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Thanks @laura01 

The upload preferences ares set to allow PDF and we have no problem uploading so that is not it.
 

I tried on chrome, firefox, and safari and get served the same file type on all 3. I do not think it is browser related as you can see the file that is being served right in the URL and page header, which is controlled by Acumatica and not the browser

 

Mac OS is unable to open or view ASHX without jumping through a bunch of hoops and installing software, so would be really great to get this on the radar - Chrome browser will display the file, but once it is downloaded it appears as a blank page no matter what you do.

Userlevel 7
Badge +10

I have been using Acumatica on Mac OS for years, and never ran into this issue. What browser are you using? On my end Safari/Chrome/Edge all work OK.

The .ashx extension you see in your browser bar is not related to the extension of the file you’re trying to open -- the browser relies on the MIME type (application/pdf) to decide how to process the file, and doesn’t look at the URL at all.

Here’s a test I just ran:

 

Userlevel 5
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@Gabriel Michaud Thanks - I have tried Chrome Safari and Firefox. In your test, you did not go far enough - if you download the file to your mac, does it open or is it simply a blank page?

 

IE press the save button in your browser - depending on the path you take it will serve you an .ASHX which Preview cannot open, or it will serve you some semi-corrupt .PDF which also cannot be opened by Preview

 

Even if i download the file on a windows computer and email it to a mac, it still cannot be viewed 

Userlevel 7
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Even if i download the file on a windows computer and email it to a mac, it still cannot be viewed 

 

Ahhh! This is an important piece of info. I remember filing a similar bug report to Acumatica many years ago. In some cases the PDF files generated by Acumatica could not be rended on the Mac OS Preview app. They would still open fine under Adobe Reader or the Chrome built-in PDF Viewer. I haven’t ran into this in years, but there might be something very specific with the PDF trying to export. This affected PDF files generated from the Acumatica Reporting engine -- not files that you received from a 3rd party and attached, however.

Do you have such a PDF file that you tried to e-mail that you could share with us here?

Userlevel 5
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@Gabriel Michaud 

Not sure if i can attach files directly

 

This pdf is viewable in chrome when I retrieve it from Acumatica, but not visible in Preview when i try to open it on my mac. I then take it from my mac and upload it to Drive, where it is visible, but if i download it again off of Drive and try to open it in Preview it is again blank. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15-LqRQmNill0GkWscFsAP6HdSRcpmZZV/view?usp=sharing

 

Seems like an issue with Preview really, but still something I am only experiencing for files that are ran through Acumatica

Userlevel 7
Badge +10

@xkylewrightx same issue for me.

How was this PDF file originally attached to Acumatica? Did you receive it by e-mail, or was it scanned using Acumatica DeviceHub? Are you sure the original file can be viewed properly?

I opened the .pdf file in a text editor to look at the metadata, and it shows it was created using Visioneer OneTouch 4.6 

I doubt it has anything to do with Acumatica, looks like a bug or limitation in Preview on OS X. Others have raised the issue before: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7736444 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7352567

 

 

 

 

Userlevel 7
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Hi @xkylewrightx - were you able to find a solution? Thank you!

Userlevel 5
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@Chris Hackett No, unfortunately still an issue between Acumatica and Mac’s native PDF viewer

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