Unable to save .pdf files from Adobe Acrobat Reader to the SharepointDocument Lib

Unable to save .pdf files from Adobe Acrobat Reader to the Sharepoint Document Library.  As per http://support.microsoft.com/kb/265867/en-us this is a known issue and the workaround is mentioned in the Microsoft KB article.  During troubleshooting it is discovered there is another way this can be done.

For this we first need to ensure that WebDav is enabled in Web Service Extensions in the IIS.  Also make sure that the WebClient service is running in the Services.msc in Windows Server 2003.  Once we have this done, we add a network place using the UNC path.  For instance, if your document library url is http://sharepoint/documents then type in the path as \\sharepoint\documents and this would ask for your valid credentials.  Once you enter your credentials, a network share folder would be created in your My Network Places.  Now you can open your favorite .pdf files in the Adobe Acrobar Reader and save a copy of it directly into the Sharepoint Document Library using the netwrok share in My Network Places.

Note:  The above procedure can be used only to create network shares for folder in the Sharepoint site running on port 80 only.  This is because Web Folders are created for other port numbers and as per the above quoted Microsoft KB article, it is a known issue that .pdf files cannot be saved.  This applies to all non Office applications like .jpg, .rtf etc…

No Adobe PDF documents are returned in the search results when yousearch a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web site

To resolve this issue, make sure that the Windows SharePoint Services Search service is configured to crawl PDF documents on each server on which the Adobe PDF IFilter is installed. To install the Adobe PDF IFilter and to configure the Windows SharePoint Services Search service, follow these steps:

1. Download and then install the Adobe PDF IFilter from the following Adobe Web site:
   
   http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=2611 (http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=2611)
   
   Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.


2. Add the following registry entry, and then set the registry entry value to pdf:
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Applications\<GUID>\Gather\Search\Extensions\ExtensionList\38
   
   To do this, follow these steps:
   
   
   
   1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
   
   
   2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
      
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Applications\GUID\Gather\Search\Extensions\ExtensionList
   
   
   3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click String Value.
   
   
   4. Type 38, and then press ENTER.
   
   
   5. Right-click the registry entry that you created, and then click Modify.
   
   
   6. In the Value data box, type pdf, and then click OK.


3. Verify that the following two registry subkeys are present and that they contain the appropriate values.Note These registry subkeys and the values that they contain are created when you installed the Adobe PDF IFilter on the server.
   
   
   
   • 
     
     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension\.pdf
     
     This registry subkey must contain the following registry entry:
     
     
     
     • Name: Default
       Type: REG_MULTI_SZ
       Data: {4C904448-74A9-11D0-AF6E-00C04FD8DC02}
   
   
   • 
     
     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Setup\Filters\.pdf
     
     This registry subkey must contain the following registry entries:
     
     
     
     • Name: Default
       Type: REG_SZ
       Data: (value not set)
     
     
     • Name: Extension
       Type: REG_SZ
       Data: pdf
     
     
     • Name: FileTypeBucket
       Type: REG_DWORD
       Data: 0x00000001 (1)
     
     
     • Name: MimeTypes
       Type: REG_SZ
       Data: application/pdf


4. Upload the PDF documents to the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web site.


5. Stop and then start the Windows SharePoint Services Search service. To do this, follow these steps:
   
   
   
   1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
   
   
   2. Stop the Windows SharePoint Services Search service. To do this, type net stop spsearch at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.
   
   
   3. Start the Windows SharePoint Services Search service. To do this, type net start spsearch at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.
   
   
   4. Type exit to exit the command prompt.

Note If the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web site already had PDF documents before you installed the Adobe PDF IFilter on the server, you may have to perform an additional step. After you install and configure the Adobe PDF IFilter on the server, modify a property of the existing PDF documents on the server. For example, modify a metadata property such as the title, or upload the PDF documents to the Windows SharePoint Services Web site again. When you do this, the Windows SharePoint Services Search service crawls the existing PDF documents again.

Indexing Pdf files Search results for pdf files in Sharepoint 2010

As Adobe is not a Microsoft product. There are some limitations on Indexing and getting the search results for pdf files. 

 If you add PDF as a file type for SharePoint Search, you will get the results however the icon will not be displayed. You can see that only the file attributes are indexed. 

In order to index the content of pdf files with SharePoint 2010 you need to install an ifilter

 Adobe provides a free pdf ifilter that works for most pdf files and there are a couple other vendors offering ifilter that you might want to try if Adobe’s doesn’t work. Adobe has an ifilter for free that supports most pdf documents. You may have the adobe ifilter installed on your home or work pc as it is also delivered with Adobe Acrobat Reader.  For those not supported, a vended ifilter from Foxit is usually the best choice. Links provided.

 1.  Download the pdf ifilter from Adobe here

 http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4025

 or you can also try http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/thankyou.jsp?ftpID=4025&fileID=3941

Note :  You need to install the 64 bit version of Ifilter 9 listed above. Other versions will not work

 2.  Install the ifilter on the App/Index Server

Download the Adobe PDF icon (select the smaller icon, at time of latest update, it’s called 16 x 16) currently available from http://www.adobe.com/misc/linking.html#pdficon

•             Give the icon a name or keep the default name: pdficonsmall.gif

•             Save the icon (or copy to) C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\IMAGES

3. Edit the DOCICON.XML file to include the PDF icon

o             In Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\XML

o             Edit the DOCICON.XML file (open with Notepad )

o             Ignore the section <ByProgID> and scroll down to the <ByExtension> section of the file

o             Within the <ByExtension> section, insert a <Mapping Key=”pdf” Value=”pdficonsmall.gif” /> attribute. The easiest way is to copy an existing one and then making the required changes  

5) Open the Search Service Application in Central Administration and choose the File Types menu on the left. Add pdf as an extension

 6) Restart the Search Service Application

Start => run => services.msc => find “SharePoint Server Search 14” right click Restart

Or You can run the command given below from the command prompt

net stop osearch14

net start osearch14

7) Do a full crawl

Note: You must do a full crawl for changes to take effect and the documents in the index to be updated.

You might find in some blogs mentioning the Registry change however it is not required .

Link to Download the Foxit Ifilter: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/products/ifilter

In some cases. I have seen that we might have to reinstall Foxit ifilter after an Upgrade of patches.