Microsoft Edge Bug Displays One Set of Numbers, Prints Another

Megalith

Megalith

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If you’re planning to print some PDFs using Edge, don’t, because a bug will change or randomize any numbers in the resulting document. It’s funny because Edge is the default program for viewing PDFs on Windows 10. Sure, Adobe Acrobat Reader feels like it weighs 100 tons at times, but at least it isn’t inventing content.

In one of the weirdest — but equally dangerous — bugs of all time, it appears that Edge will display one set of numbers on the screen, but will send another set of numbers to the printer, effectively replacing content on your documents. The bug was reported last week and was already confirmed by Microsoft. According to the user who first spotted the issue, the bug appears when Edge users are trying to print PDF documents via the browser’s built-in “Microsoft Print To PDF,” which is the default printing method when pressing CTRL+P in Edge.
 
I dunno if there is some background shenanigans going on but SumatraPDF runs extremely fast and clean with a tiny, no BS interface. It occasionally has display errors on documents though.
 
leathco016 said:
How is this a thing? How hard is it to get numbers right?
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This is Microsoft we're talking about...

How long before we find out that some bank or accounting dept. at a big company had their numbers fucked up due to this, putting the whole world into a financial crisis?
 
There's a bigger bug people aren't mentioning.

"the bug appears when Edge users are trying to print PDF documents via the browser’s built-in “Microsoft Print To PDF,” which is the default printing method when pressing CTRL+P in Edge"

Why the F did Microsoft make the default printing method of the PDF viewer a "print to PDF"??
 
For some reason MS just isn't developing Edge at any kind of reasonable pace. If they don't want to be involved in browsers they should just exit that market. Nothing wrong with 3rd party browsers anyway. I'm still a fan of using Firefox if for no other reason than I'm breaking the chain in the privacy link between using edge and windows, or chrome and google.
 
Megalith said:
Adobe Acrobat Reader feels like it weighs 100 tons at times.
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That's strange, it always felt quick and snappy to me. It's no doubt far better than any browser built in pdf viewer.
 
Psyclops said:
Why wouldn't you just save the original PDF?
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This is printing PDFs that are being viewed.. not resaving them.

And if you are filling out a PDF form, you can't just save it with Edge, you have to print it.

A lot of PDF forms are like that. They even have the security settings on the PDF file itself set so that you cannot save them.

Something is screwed up in the print to PDF printer.

I wonder if this happens when you use the MS print to PDF in other PDF viewer applications.
 
dgingeri said:
There's a bigger bug people aren't mentioning.

"the bug appears when Edge users are trying to print PDF documents via the browser’s built-in “Microsoft Print To PDF,” which is the default printing method when pressing CTRL+P in Edge"

Why the F did Microsoft make the default printing method of the PDF viewer a "print to PDF"??
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Print to PDF is the default printer period. Not just in Edge.

As for the error I've had it happen in Sumatra and Firefox before. It's usually because the document uses some obscure or new extension of the PDF format that the app does not support yet. You kind of get a similar result opening a modern PDF with like Acrobat Reader 3 the format and graphics will likely be right but the text will be total gibberish.
 
M76 said:
That's strange, it always felt quick and snappy to me. It's no doubt far better than any browser built in pdf viewer.
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It's Adobe. It's slow to load compared to other programs on the same hardware, and contains many, MANY security flaws. I do not recommend using Adobe's PDF reader under any circumstances anymore.
 
Congratulations Microsoft, you literally broke a document format that's not supposed to change when you look at it with a different tool. Incompetent twats.
 
dgingeri said:
It's Adobe. It's slow to load compared to other programs on the same hardware, and contains many, MANY security flaws. I do not recommend using Adobe's PDF reader under any circumstances anymore.
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How do you define slow, when it loads faster than you can blink? And it certainly handles pdf files much faster than firefox's built in viewer.
 
M76 said:
How do you define slow, when it loads faster than you can blink? And it certainly handles pdf files much faster than firefox's built in viewer.
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That doesn't say much. Firefox is a bloated pile of garbage.
 
auntjemima said:
That doesn't say much. Firefox is a bloated pile of garbage.
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It doesn't say much that it loads any pdf within 1 second on any computer I use? And on first load that is. Including this one which is a 10 year old core2 duo.
I might understand the hate toward flash, but acrobat is one of the most reliable and least bloated applications I have been using with 100% satisfaction for over a decade.
 
Advil said:
For some reason MS just isn't developing Edge at any kind of reasonable pace. If they don't want to be involved in browsers they should just exit that market. Nothing wrong with 3rd party browsers anyway. I'm still a fan of using Firefox if for no other reason than I'm breaking the chain in the privacy link between using edge and windows, or chrome and google.
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That's why they want to move it off windows update and the app store so they can release small revisions constantly like other browsers do.
 
The steaming pile of code known as edge continues to reek. Quickest, most hacked at contests, constant security exploits being found, and now this. It's really sad when IE starts to look good and then even better.
 
M76 said:
How do you define slow, when it loads faster than you can blink? And it certainly handles pdf files much faster than firefox's built in viewer.
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If it loads before you can blink, then either it is taking up a large portion of memory to cache itself or you're running on SSDs, which most people don't have. Adobe Reader has always been much larger than other PDF reader options. I've never tried to load a PDF in Firefox before, but given my experience with Firefox recently, I wouldn't use it anyway. Chrome works very well for PDFs, in my experience, unless the PDF uses some strange features, like the Federal government's I-9 form. That form is the only reason I loaded the Adobe Reader, and even after that, I unloaded it after I was done to protect my system from the security vulnerabilities. Any Adobe software is crap, from what I've learned over 20 years in IT.
 
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