FileOpen Plug-In
In order to open a Secure PDF, you need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader and the free Adobe-approved FileOpen plug-in. The FileOpen plug-in is a Digital Rights Management (DRM) tool that will check to see if you still have rights to open a Secure PDF you previously downloaded. If your subscription has expired, or the document in question has been removed from the subscription, you will receive an error message when you try to open the Secure PDF.
If you are not sure if you have the FileOpen plug-in installed it is easy to check in Adobe Acrobat. The best way to check is to open Adobe Acrobat Reader (or Adobe Acrobat Pro) and go to the Help menu. Under Help, there is a section called About Third-Party Plug-Ins. If FileOpen is installed, you should see an arrow that you can click on and reveal that the FileOpen Client is installed.
If you find that the FileOpen plug-in is not installed (i.e., FileOpen is not listed as a Third-Party Plug-in), you can go to the FileOpen plug-in page to download and install it. If your computer doesn’t allow you to install software programs without administrative privileges, we recommend reaching out to your IT department for assistance with installation. In some cases, your organization may have an organizational software portal from which you can download the FileOpen plug-in.
If you find that the FileOpen plug-in is installed, and you are still having trouble accessing Secure PDFs, it could be that your browser is set to open PDFs by default. FileOpen is not compatible with the PDF readers in browsers like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. You will have to open your Secure PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Reader, or another PDF reader that is compatible with FileOpen. If you want to set Adobe as your default PDF reader, you can follow these instructions for Windows 11 (PDF). These instructions for instructions for installing FileOpen in macOS 10.9+ (PDF) may also be useful. If you are using macOS 12, try these online instructions instead.
If you use another PDF reader, like Bluebeam PDF Revu, check this FileOpen compatibility page to see if yours is supported.
FileOpen and the Chrome Browser
If you are unable to read PDFs using the FileOpen plugin in the Google Chrome browser, this is easy to resolve.
Google Chrome no longer supports Adobe Acrobat for reading PDFs in the browser. Instead, you can update the Site Settings in Google Chrome so that PDFs are downloaded to your desktop, where you can open them using an Adobe Acrobat program.
To update your Site Settings, first click on the menu option in the upper right hand corner of the screen. A menu will load and an option towards the bottom is Settings. Select that option. A screen will load with settings options. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Advanced link.
After you click the Advanced link, the page will expand and at the top is a section called “Privacy and security.” Click on the section called “Site Settings.” The page will expand with additional settings. Towards the bottom is a section called “PDF documents”. Click on that.
After you click on PDF documents, you will see a “Download PDF files instead of automatically opening them in Chrome” option. You will want to click on the “Download PDF files instead of automatically opening them in Chrome” option. When you do, the setting should switch from gray to blue. If it’s blue, that means Google Chrome won’t try and open the PDF itself, but will download it instead so you can open it in Adobe Acrobat.
Once you have made this change, you will be able to open Techstreet PDFs in Google Chrome using Adobe Acrobat with the FileOpen plugin.
FileOpen and Adobe Reader 11
If you have upgraded to Adobe Reader 11, and are having problems reading FileOpen encrypted files, you will need to install the latest FileOpen plugin from the FileOpen site.
Step 1: We advise that you un-install the old version first.
Step 2: Install the latest FileOpen plugin.
Blank PDF
If you attempt to open a PDF and it is blank, that likely means that the FileOpen plug-in has not yet been installed successfully. To address this, click the HELP button in the menu bar at the top of your page, and click on Install FileOpen.
Secure PDF
A Secure PDF is a file containing features that prevent reproduction or distribution to other users, in the same way that users are prohibited from making copies of printed documents. This security features simply enforces existing copyright laws.
Note: Adobe Acrobat Reader and the FileOpen plug-in are required to view Secure PDFs.
Techstreet. (n.d.). Help Center. Retrieved from Techstreet Help Center