blurry pdf viewed from browser

Hey Sitaifun, welcome to our Community! 

Have you tried a different browser to try and preview the file there? If I were you, I'd also try either a different WiFi connection, or cellular data just to exclude that these might be interfering, and mess on how the file previews.

It's a good thing that the PDF looks as it should when you download it, because that means it hasn't been corrupt in any way.

Let me know more, and we'll take it from there.  

Yes, I tried several browsers - Chrome and Brave on the Mac and Firefox on Windows. I use a hard-wired ethernet cable. But maybe my software is a bit out of date. You could try; here is the link - http://tiny.cc/castoroil4skin

Hi Sitaifun, thanks for the speedy reply! 

Have you ensured your browsers are all up to date? 

If you could also send me a screenshot of what you see on your end when trying to preview the file, that'd be amazing. Just make sure to attach it to your next response. 

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Sitaifun wrote:

Yes, I tried several browsers - Chrome and Brave on the Mac and Firefox on Windows.

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It definitely seems to be something on Dropbox's side during the conversion (remember, previews are just that, a transcoded preview of the original). Both the raw and downloaded files are fine. It only happens when viewed on the Dropbox preview page.

I am having the same problem. It doesn't matter what computer monitor or browser I use or if trying to view a small or large file. Zooming doesn't help either. This was never a problem before even when opening large drawing files. For me I noticed this problem just over the past year. Now to be able to see a file clearly I have to download a copy to my desktop or a zip file in order to read it clearly. As other users have said, this seems to be an issue on DropBox's side. I might have to find a different secure cloud storage system if this cannot be resolved which is unfortunate because I've subscribed to DropBox for many years. Would love to hear if others have figured out a solution!

Hi Bdenio, I hope you're doing well! 

Could you send me a couple of screenshots, showing how some example files are previewed for you? It'll help me with the visual too.

Let me know!

I have same problem as other users. It only happens with the Dropbox browser preview and only with longer files (1-2pagers work fine for me but ~4pages stay blurry). They are only ~460KB. Me using Win10, up-to-date Chrome browser, but files are shared with another person on Apple computer/Safari who is without blurry issue. If I choose the "Download" option and then select link on bottom of browser window, the file opens in a new browser tab and is completely clear. Likewise, if I choose the "Open in" option and select to connect an app, like smallpdf, it will open in a new browser tab and is completely clear. 

Next, I downloaded a "blurry" file to my computer, opened it in Adobe where it was clear, made edits, saved and uploaded new version to shared Dropbox folder. Clicking on file and opening in Dropbox browser preview resulted in blurry image again. 

Hi, the top image below is a snapshot when the file is downloaded and opened in Adobe Acrobat (looks much sharper than the image I pasted in here -- wasn't option to upload an image). The 2nd image is a snapshot of the same image when viewing directly from Dropbox. Considerably more blurry.

Hi TaMo, how are you today?

Have you tried multiple browsers, in order to preview your content? Do they all give you the same results? If you could send me a screenshot of how the file looks like when you try to preview it, that'd be amazing. 

Also, thank you for your screenshot Bdenio! Do you notice this behavior just with this specific file, or multiple files? 

I had same blurry result when viewed with Chrome/Android phone.

It's as though the file is not rendering in the Dropbox preview.

I can't show the whole file because it is financial info but the cropped photos below show the discrepancy. Only happening with 8 files pdf'd from same website. All other files created on same day, same computer, same timeframe are fine-although most are only 1-2 pages.

One thing I noticed is that I have 1 other file that is 4 pages, it loads normal and clear in dropbox browser, and it shows as 4 numbered pages, ie. when you scroll down the pop up box at bottom of page shows page 2 of 4 etc. However, the blurry files are multiple pages, but they only show on the popup box as being 1 page and it doesn't change as you scroll. Maybe this is a clue, as somehow the file is being read as one giant page rather than being broken up?

I just opened file in Adobe Reader again and although it looks normal and I can scroll throughout, it also shows there as being 1 page, when it is more, but if I look at it in print preview, it tries to condense the multipages into one 8.5"x11" page. So my guess--in my case at least--is that there is a pdf save function related to multipage documents that isn't being interpreted the same between different platforms. So 5 pages of material is being condensed into a single page and thus is too dense to be rendered by Dropbox preview.

Clear pdf in Adobe AcrobatBlurry pdf in Dropbox Browser