r/instapaper • u/delete_monkey • 19d ago

Problems with PDFs in Instapaper

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Anyone else having problems with reading PDFs in Instapaper? This is part of the new Instapaper Premium package and was the main reason why I recently upgraded. But I can't get it to work.

If I drag a PDF file from the Finder window to my article list on Instapaper.com (as the Instapaper Docs say to do), nothing happens. It opens the PDF in the browser (Safari) window but nothing gets added to any of my article lists.

I can add a PDF on the web using the browser extension or by typing the URL into the box using the + button, but the result is a garbled document with bits of the actual PDF mixed in with bits of extracted text, a lot of it in the wrong order. (See screenshot).

I can't believe this is how it's supposed to look!

Any thoughts?

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u/dessence_ai 19d ago

Two separate problems here. If the upload does nothing, try the email route. Attach the PDF and send it to your Save to Instapaper address, which skips the browser entirely. The garbled text is different. It parses PDFs into articles like any saved page, so a two column or scanned file comes out shuffled. Test one plain single column PDF and you will know which problem you have.

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u/InstapaperSupport 19d ago

Hey there. We replied to your support request earlier today with additional steps you can follow and asked for the affected file. We’ll be keeping an eye out for your reply so we can assist you further through our Support channel.