Filozy

Three-step recovery workflow

Rescue a PDF that will not open

A PDF that will not open is often damaged in the index that finds its pages, not in the pages. Rebuild it, check what came through, then compact the copy.

By the Filozy team, with AI assistance Reviewed How we write and review

One file · 3 connected steps

Start the workflow here

Choose the PDF once. Each completed step passes it directly to the next tool on this device.

The whole job, visible up front

What will happen

  1. 01

    Repair

    Rebuild the file from the objects themselves, copying each page into a fresh document.

    Open Repair by itself
  2. 02

    Check what came through

    Look through the page previews, and type the title and author back in: the repaired copy starts without them.

    Open Metadata by itself
  3. 03

    Compact

    Repack the recovered copy. If that would not make it smaller, the repaired file comes back unchanged.

    Open Compress by itself

Common questions

What can Repair recover, and what can it not?
It recovers a file whose pages are still in it but whose index, the table a reader uses to find them, is broken, as happens when a program saves a file badly. It copies each page into a fresh file one at a time, so a page it finds but cannot copy costs that page rather than the whole document, and the result names it. A page whose data is missing altogether is not counted, so compare the page count with what you expected. It cannot rebuild a page whose own content is corrupt, or bring back data that never reached the file.
What does the repaired copy leave out?
The pages come across, but bookmarks, document attachments, page labels, the document language, accessibility tags and layer settings do not survive the rebuild, so anything on a hidden layer becomes visible. The document's title and author are not carried over either, which is why the next step shows the page previews and lets you type them back in. A PDF with fillable form fields is refused rather than rebuilt; flatten a copy first.
Should I download the file again first?
Yes, if it came from a download or an email. A download that stopped part-way is a common cause, and a fresh copy is better than any repair. A file of 0 KB, or one much smaller than it should be, has nothing in it to rebuild, so ask the sender to send it again.
The PDF asks for a password. Is it damaged?
No. A password prompt means the file is protected, not broken, and Repair cannot open it. Open it with the password in your PDF reader; if you need a copy without the password, Unlock PDF can save one once you enter it.