Page previews loading in Acrobat or Reader

A few users have experienced an odd behavior with the page previews in the Report Generator. Instead of loading in the Generator window, they launch Adobe Acrobat or Reader and load in that program. This is very intensive and eventually causes OptiMiser to crash.

This happens because the Report Generator’s page preview pane is actually using Windows’ built-in mini-HTML browser — like a light version of Internet Explorer — to show the PDF preview. In typical, recent installations of Adobe Acrobat or Reader, you get components called ActiveX controls that allow Internet Explorer to load PDFs right in the browser. Those same components are needed for OptiMiser to show page previews correctly. Without them, Windows opens your default PDF application to load the preview.

If the page preview isn’t working for you, you can test whether or not you have ActiveX controls installed by opening Internet Explorer and navigating to a PDF, like this one: https://optimiserenergy.com/assets/Optimiser_Contractor_Overview_HiRes.pdf.

Does it open right in the browser window? If not, you may need to update Internet Explorer or install, update, or repair Adobe Acrobat or Reader. For most people, the simplest solution is to install the latest Adobe Reader: http://get.adobe.com/reader/.

Here’s more information on enabling PDF viewing in Internet Explorer: http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/display-pdfs-in-internet-explorer.html.

If you have additional or different questions about reports, please post to these forums, submit a bug report from within OptiMiser or contact support.

Thanks!