Over the past week or so, many customers (about 1 in 4) have been emailing me saying they are having a problem downloading my ebook. They're getting a message that says, "File is damaged and cannot be repaired". Most customers claim to have the newest version of Adobe Reader, up-to-date computers, and standard browsers. They can all download the second bonus eBook without any problem. And, before recently, noone ever had a problem downloading the main book either. Last week I made some minor changes to the book and re-saved it. (Using OpenOffice Writer.) Just small edits... I think I added less than a page of new text. The file opens fine on my computer and on my wife's computer. I tried re-saving the book in pdf form and re-uploading it. Still, customers are getting this message. Has anyone experienced this before? Does anyone have any advice? And no, I don't have the "old version" available to re-upload. I saved over it. Many thanks. (I've been mailing out printed copies to customers who are having problems-- it's time consuming and expensive for me. But I'll do anything to avoid a refund and to make them happy.)
It sounds like that may be your problem. I personally refuse to download or use OpenOffice and any of its components even though adobe tries to make me almost daily. I hate it for other reasons though. You may need to simply redo it in word and then upload it to a free web doctopdf site that will give you a pdf in an older version. No other ideas here.
I've used Word to create my PDF and then I add my fancy background image to it (to make it look nicer) and save it with Adobe. I've never had that complaint... I think maybe it has something to do with using OpenOffice? That's the only thing I can think of.
OMG, you do have a problem! That undercuts the whole concept of marketing infoproducts. Well, at the very worst, you can buy the mothership of all .pdf products, which would be Adobe Acrobat Professional (it may have changed names), if you have a spare $350 on hand. I know your pain - I once used an el cheapo pdf creator, and it had problems just like you describe. Or why not do it for free? I often use pdfonline.com, which makes good pdfs.
I think I'll need a new program to make PDFs. But the thing that confuses me is that I've been using OpenOffice all along and... until recently... I haven't had any problems with the pdf files. And, you're right... sening out paper copies does defeat the whole purpose of ebooks. But my customers paid for a product, I feel I should give them the option of having it sent to their house. I don't want the refund... they want the book. It's a pain, but until I get this thing fixed, I gotta do what I gotta do. Most customers can still download the book without any problem. But there's been a whole lotta "help me" emails lately. And they've all had the same problem.
Try a new program or service. Adobe offers a free trial of its Adobe Online PDF Converter. I'd recommend trying that and then having other people try opening it on multiple different machines and see if this solves the problem.
Many thanks.... I think I've got it fixed now. Just need to test it on a couple more computers, but I haven't had any customer emails all day. I do think it was openoffice writer that was causing the problems. Many thanks!!
Why don't you provide your customers with a .pdf, .doc, .txt even... This way if they can't open one perhaps the other will work and will be 'good enough' - also make sure you provide a link to the newest acrobat for them to get it from your thank you page. **I would HATE to print/send stuff to customers at 1:4 - you crazy! That is UNleverage...
Doc and txt file-- I do have a .doc, but the file has many "unique" fonts and some unusual layout quirks. So the .doc is usually a mess on most people's computers. Adobe on thank you page-- yes, my page has always linked to the latest version of Adobe. Printing and sending 1:4 -- It was crazy for a couple of days... but now things seem to be back to normal. I felt the need to offer it as an option-- people wanted the book; I didn't want to lose money or customers. (And the customers were very appreciative too.) It was work, but it's part of doing business. It worked out for me and got me by for a couple of days while I figured out the glitch. UNleverage -- What's that?