Problem viewing PDF format (1.5) in application in Edge

[PBoelens_23]

Good morning,

The last few weeks we received several complaints from our customers about a blurry pdf format that we show in our application. Yet nothing's wrong when we use it in an other webbrowser. Only in Edge the pages that we display in our application tend to be blurry. Unless you hover on the page and refresh the whole tab. And it's always from page 2. The first page is clear but when you scroll down....

I cannot figure out why this is happening all of a sudden. But I'm curious if any of you do. 

_ Patricia Boelens, Inhouse Consultant

[#2]

@PBoelens_23 

My company is having same issue. All happened after Edge update to 109. On the 108 it was working fine. Since the update, starting from 2nd/3rd page - document is unreadable - blurry, has a significant less resolution. Just first page is fine. 
On the other hand - same file opened in Chrome or Adobe Reader - is OK. 
Seems that it's just affecting files in PDF format 1.5 and Edge v. 109

[#3]

Hello @PBoelens_23,

Thank you for taking the time to report this. I’m hoping to gather some more information to share with our engineers.

Is this a PDF on Share point opened in MS Edge or is the PDF opened directly in Edge?

Do you have an example PDF you're comfortable sharing with us?

Your version number and enabled feature flags. To gather this info, enter edge://version/?show-variations-cmd in the address bar. Take a screenshot of the visible page, don’t worry about capturing all the Active Variations. MS Edge has a built-in capture tool, to open it, click on the ellipsis(…) top right > Select Web capture.

[#4]

@Jeremiah-V 

Hi Jeremiah 

In my case - please find attached. 

I cant provide you whole file but let me show you comparsion on how same file (opened from hard drive, locally) looks on thesame page in Adobe Acrobat or Edge.

[#5]

@MichalMucha 

Thank you. If you don't mind, could you please post another image of your edge://version/?show-variations-cmd screen? The engineers are asking for your version number and enabled flags and the text in your image is too small for me to read. If you just capture everything above Active Variations that would be perfect. Again, thank you! 

[#6]

@Jeremiah-V 

We use a pdf plug-in (embedded pdf), I guess standard pdf in Edge. 

Sadly I don't have an example ready, because it would contain customer information. 

Microsoft Edge: 109.0.1518.78 (Official build) (64-bit) 

Command-line: 

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" --no-startup-window /prefetch:5 --flag-switches-begin --disable-features=WebContentsForceDark --flag-switches-end

Is this enough information or am I missing something?

Kind regards, Patricia 

[#7]

I just sent this info to the feature team. Thank you for taking the time to submit it!

[#8]

@PBoelens_23 

The PDF feature team is asking if disabling the PDF thumbnail cache will mitigate the issue. The steps on how to do this can be found below. Again, thank you for your help on this, and please let me know if you have any questions about the process.

Page thumbnails can be disabled by using “—disable-features=”msPdfThumbnailCache” while opening Edge.

1. Right click on the Edge shortcut icon.
2. Click “Properties”.
3. Go to “Shortcut” tab.
4. In “Target” section, copy paste “—disable-features=”msPdfThumbnailCache”” at the end.
5. Click “Apply”.
6. Close the properties pop-up.
7. Re-start Edge. (Make sure all the Edge processes have ended from the Task Manager.)

OR

1. Open command prompt. (Search “cmd” in Windows search box)
2. Navigate to the directory where Edge is present. (run “cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application” in cmd prompt.)
3. Run “taskkill /im msedge.exe /f” to kill all the Edge processes running currently.

Launch Edge using “msedge.exe –disable-features=”msPdfThumbnailCache”.

[#9]

Hi Jerimiah,

Thanks for the reply. I wanted to test this above, but I had noticed that the problem is resolved already, even though my Edge version hasn't changed. Stil I tried it out but yeah, everything seems to work for now. Thanks again for the help!

[#10]

@PBoelens_23 

Same here. I was about to change that setting but before I tried I've opened this PDF that initially was having issues. Opened with no issues. With po changes at my end. 

[#11]

@Jeremiah-V 

So…

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" —disable-features=”msPdfThumbnailCache” - No worky in either shortcut, desktop or taskbar for Edge

Windows 11 Pro 

the result was: 

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" --profile-directory=Default  —disable-features=”msPdfThumbnailCache" 

pasted result from browser: 

http://xn--disable-features%3Dmspdfthumbnailcache-5m1xej6b/

NO WORKY –

I DO NOT have Adobe Acrobat installed

Edge ver. 110.0.1587.57 - 3/1/2023

Edge Update: 1.3.173.49 - 3/1/2023

Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime:  110.0.1587.57 - 3/1/2023

[#12]

I am still having issue. I noticed it happens when I have more than one document open. @adenae