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skrul's avatar
skrul
New member | Level 2
9 months ago

PDF processing bug

Here is a possible issue I've noticed while experimenting with the dropbox API. The repro is something like:

 

1. Find a PDF in your dropbox via the web UI

2. Ue the "Edit PDF" feature, make a change to the document (e.g. delete a page, rotate, etc), then choose Save -> Replace Original

3. Download the edited file using the dropbox API

 

The file that you download from the dropbox API is corrupted. For example, I have a file with ID "id:VNGR990xOeAAAAAAAAACSw" that originally had two pages and I deleted the first page. When viewing with MacOS Preview app, the API downloaded version still has two pages but the first page has corrupted text; the itext library I'm using to process it refuses to open it ("Error at file pointer 82,080").

 

However, if I download the file through the web UI the file is fine and looks right.

 

I've found in the past if I use the "Edit PDF" feature again and save the file again, it is sometimes fixed when I use the download API.

 

cheers,

-steve

 

  • iNeil's avatar
    iNeil
    Icon for Dropbox Engineer rankDropbox Engineer

    Hello skrul,

    Based on the information that you have provided, I was unable to replicate this issue. May I ask if you are still encountering the issue while editing and downloading new pdfs? If possible, could you attempt to download the affected PDF to cross-check if the issue still occurs?

    If you are still encountering the issue, please provide the response headers when you are executing the 2/files/download endpoint. Also, please let me know if the issue is occurring for all PDFs or only particular ones.

    • skrul's avatar
      skrul
      New member | Level 2

      Thanks iNeil, I'll try to gather more information if it happens again.

       

      • DbxNate's avatar
        DbxNate
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        Hi skrul, thank you for reporting this.

         

        I'm the engineering lead on the team which owns PDF editing. Please do let me know if you encounter this again. I've made a mental note of this issue, and I've subscribed to this thread so that I don't miss any future updates.

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