How to Print a PDF That is Only Printing an Error page

Information on how to print a PDF that may only be printing an error page when printing from Preview on macOS.

Issue

• When I print a PDF downloaded from a Canvas course or sent from an instructor, it only prints a single error page.
• Help! My PDF document is only printing an error and not the whole document!

Environment

PDF documents can contain a large amount of embedded data. When a PDF has corrupt or bad data, it may only print a single error page or even hundreds of pages with a single character on them.

This issue is often observed with PDF documents that have been opened and edited using Adobe Acrobat DC. While Acrobat can open and print the document, other PDF viewers like macOS Preview may not be able to print it successfully due to the data modifications made by Acrobat.

Resolution

There are a few options to try and repair the document for successful printing:

1. Re-scan the original document.
2. "Print" the PDF to a new PDF file and then print the new file. For instruction on how to do that, see below.

Printing a PDF from macOS' Preview app to a PDF for printing

In essence you are making a copy of the original corrupted PDF document, but in a way that allows the application to apply its own instructions to the data of the file.

1. Open the "bad" document in Preview
2. Go to File - Print
3. At the bottom of the screen, on the right-hand side, click PDF from the small drop-down menu.
   
   
    
4. Provide a name for the new document and save it to a location of your choice.
5. Click Save
6. The document will be printed to PDF using PDF print processor built in to macOS. This may take some time as the document's data is re-written and the document is often decompressed.
7. Once complete, close the "bad" document, navigate to your saved document's location and open it.
8. Try to print as you normally would. 

If you need further assistance, please contact the Bowdoin College Service Desk