Methods For Configuring Pdf Handling In Sharepoint 2010

Enabling PDF Functionality in SharePoint 2010

To enable robust PDF functionality in SharePoint 2010, administrators must configure several components. The Internet Information Services (IIS) role must have PDF rendering enabled. An Adobe PDF iFilter must be installed to enable searching and indexing of PDF content. SharePoint document libraries can then be configured to display PDF previews and custom rendering options can improve the user experience. Troubleshooting PDF issues may require checking IIS settings, iFilter installation, browser compatibility, and library configurations.

Configuring IIS for PDF Rendering

Internet Information Services (IIS) handles requests for web content and enables PDF files to be viewed directly within SharePoint. The IIS role on the SharePoint server must have PDF rendering enabled through the server’s role services. Administrators should:

Open Server Manager and access the SharePoint server’s properties
Select the Web Server (IIS) role and choose to add role services
Check the box for “Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Support”
Expand the Application Development section and enable “ASP.NET”
Expand Web Server and enable “HTTP Redirection” and “HTTP Errors”
Accept changes to install required role services
Restart IIS after configuration through IIS Manager

With PDF rendering enabled in IIS, PDF files can be embedded and displayed in SharePoint pages and libraries without additional third-party software. IIS handles the logic for converting PDF binary content to browser-readable HTML and image output when PDF links are clicked by users.

Table of Contents

Installing an Adobe PDF IFilter

SharePoint 2010 includes limited optical character recognition (OCR) capabilities for scanning and indexing text within PDF documents. For optimal search performance and the ability to extract text from PDFs, an Adobe PDF iFilter must be downloaded and installed. The iFilter is an Adobe software component that extracts text and metadata for indexing by SharePoint Search.

To install an Adobe PDF iFilter:

Download the correct iFilter version for the SharePoint server’s platform and architecture (32-bit or 64-bit)
Run the iFilter installer executable on the SharePoint server
Accept the license agreement and choose a complete installation
Reboot the SharePoint server after installation completes
Navigate to the SharePoint 2010 Central Administration site
Access the Search Service Application’s properties
Select the Content Sources page and edit properties for the Local SharePoint index
Verify the PDF iFilter is present under Filters for Office and Other Document Formats

With the iFilter installed, crawlers and search bots can fully parse the text contents of PDF documents, improving search visibility for PDF content in libraries and enabling metadata extraction.

Enabling PDF Previews in SharePoint Libraries

By default, PDF files displayed in SharePoint 2010 libraries show a generic icon preview. To allow dynamic previews showing actual PDF pages, the PDF preview handler must be enabled:

Navigate to the library that will contain PDF files
Access the Library Settings menu and select “Advanced settings”
Find the option for “PDF Opening Behavior” and choose “Use the PDF Preview Handler”
Verify the PDF Preview Handler is set as default and configured properly in Central Admin

Administrators can also enable PDF previews globally across all libraries by configuring the preview handler through SharePoint Central Administration:

Access Central Administration and select General Application Settings
Choose Configure PDF Preview Handler
Set the PDF Preview Handler as default and provide a URL rendering template path
Establish cache settings, security trimming parameters, and maximum image size

Once enabled and configured, dynamic PDF page previews will be visible for files in document libraries.

Customizing PDF Rendering Options

SharePoint provides several options for customizing how PDF files are opened and rendered for users browsing PDF content in libraries:

Client Application – Specify a local PDF reader like Adobe Acrobat to handle open requests
Web Application – Use a web-based PDF viewer to render files directly in the browser
Server Rendered – Convert PDF to HTML for browser display via a SharePoint server process
Attachment Rendering – Directly transmit the PDF to prompt a browser download

Developers can customize PDF rendering logic by creating a custom solution with a PDF document converter handler component. This dynamic rendering handler can tap alternate PDF technologies while abstracting these integration details from users.

To set PDF rendering options in SharePoint libraries:

Navigate to the target SharePoint document library for PDF configuration
Access the Library Settings menu and choose “Advanced settings”
Edit the “Opening Documents in the Browser” options
Select the preferred PDF rendering choice such as Web Application or Server Rendered

Customized rendering settings apply to all PDF files accessed in the configured SharePoint library.

Troubleshooting PDF Issues

Problems occasionally occur with opening, previewing, or indexing PDF files in SharePoint 2010. Administrators should troubleshoot issues using the following common steps:

Verify IIS Settings – Enable IIS PDF role services outlined previously
Check PDF iFilter Installation – Validate iFilter registered in Search Service Application
Review Browser Compatibility – PDF viewing requires IE 9+ typically
Check Library Settings – Enable PDF previews and appropriate rendering behavior
Rebuild Indexes – Force a manual crawl and reindex affected libraries

Additional customization via PDF converter handlers may require debugging and exception handling to identify issues. Enabling detailed logging for PDF processing and indexing can help troubleshoot custom PDF rendering problems in SharePoint.

Example Code for Custom PDF Rendering

SharePoint developers can create custom PDF rendering solutions by building a custom converter handler. The key steps involve:

Create class library project with references to SharePoint binaries
Make project strong-named and deploy solution package
Have class inherit from SPDocumentConverterHandler
Implement required abstract rendering methods
Register handler class in SharePoint 2010 through PowerShell
Deploy custom code to SharePoint farms

Example custom PDF converter handler code:

  using System; 
  using Microsoft.SharePoint;
  
  namespace PDFRendering {
  
    public class CustomPDFConverter : SPDocumentConverterHandler {
    
      public override String GetDocumentConverterName() {
        return "Custom PDF Converter";
      }

      public override bool CanConvertTo(SPFileType fileType) {
        return fileType == SPFileType.PDF;
      }

      public override String Convert(SPFileSystem fileSystem){
         
        //Perform custom PDF conversion logic
        //Return HTML output to render in browsers         
        
        return htmlOutput;
      }
    
    }

  }

This class could be registered through:
$proxy = Get-SPDocumentConverter
$proxy.Add(, “Custom PDF Converter”)

Custom PDF converter handlers give full control over parsing PDF binary content and rendering output to transform the PDF experience in SharePoint 2010.