How Do I Open Walker-Midgeley Documents Please?

I received several model-engineering insurance documents today from Walk-Midgely but had had to ask for proper, paper versions, and remarked that in future I will complete the renewal by post.

None would open, and the 'Properties' tool would tell me almost nothing about some, suggesting very tight encryption or non-standard formats.

Most claimed to be .pdf files so I knew they are images, and indeed I found the computer had stored them among my photographs. A few would open MS 'Media Center' with its TV tool highlighted, but stay firmly closed themselves. No other photo-processor I have will open them.

'

A few demanded being opened in Firefox, and saved themselves in some very peculiar formats indeed named below the sign of the incandescent vulpine. I have Firefox but it's an Internet searcher not an e-mail service and has no method for opening saved files.

'

I studied a number of metals catalogues this evening, mainly with pdf lists, and these all worked fine. So I know pdf files can work although that's not guaranteed.

Has anyone else who has had insurance papers from WM been able to read and print them? If so, what software did you use?

If they are .pdf files you just need a programme that will open them. Adobe Acrobat is the most well known but I use Foxit Reader. Download and istall a pdf reader and see if you can open the files that way?

I've used them for travel insurance, and had no issues with their documentation.
I'm using a desktop PC on Windows and prefer Foxit reader as well.

I've sometimes found pdfs can be problematic on mobiles and tablets.

Bill

PDF stands for portable document format so you need software that can recompose the compressed files of PDF. It is rather more than an image format like jpg etc. Acrobat seems to becoming increasingly complex and is more than a simple reader now. There are two recommendations above for Foxit so it must be worth trying, in fact I think I will try it myself.

Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 30/04/2021 06:21:54

It seems that the Foxit business is Chinese so I'll not be using it.

Security of the software comes to mind.

John

Firefox (the standard browser) will open .pdfs - right click the document and go to 'Open with' in the drop-down and Firefox should be there, I think MSEdge will also open .pdfs..

If you know how to set defaults, then Firefox (or Edge?) can be set to open .pdfs just by clicking..

If neither of these are available, or one can just (still?) download the free version of Acrobat Reader from good ol' Adobe themselves..

Edited By DiogenesII on 30/04/2021 07:27:41

I had to,use a prog/ called 'Egress' for opening some medical files

Egress is a proprietary encryption system so is unlikely to have been used on a .pdf unless both sender and receiver are aware of it and are using the same known keys.

Beware if you download Adobe Acrobat Reader you will be bombarded with aggressive posts wanting you to commit to expensive options, I am seriously thinking of removing Reader from my desktop because I am fed up with being bombarded every time I open it. Dave W

I always use my browser to view PDFs, I Use Chrome but FF and Edge will also work. Just drag and drop the files to the browser.

It is also possible to set the default application for files, In file explorer right click a pdf then select Open With/ Choose another app. Select the app you want to use and check the box Allways use this app.

What operating system and version do you have Nigel? I suspect WM have sent late version PDF documents and your possibly older PDF reader gags on them. Does not compute! I think the shenanigans you're experiencing are the result of the computers core PDF reader failing to read a PDF document and suggesting Firefox might be able to handle it. As the Firefox PDF reader is updated as part the Browser, it might well be more modern than the system reader. This is particularly true if the computer isn't on Windows 10.

Firefox's built-in PDF reader can read local files as well as those stored on the internet. Browsers work with Universal Resource Locators rather than filenames, but URLs are really just extended filenames, for example:

https://www.thebalanceeveryday.com/what-does-url-mean-897078 - means "Retrieve and display the file 'what-does-url-mean-897078' from the web-server 'www.thebalanceeveryday.com' and encrypt the transfer with https"

By default Browsers assume remote websites but they can handle other requirements. For a local file the URL:

file:///home/dave/devel/time.py - means "open the file 'time.py' from the folder '/home/dave/devel' on the local machine and try and display the contents with a program that understands .py format.

Though it works, browsers aren't a user friendly way of reading local files, though if a folder is named (ie the path) rather than a full filename the browser displays a list of files and sub-folders that can be clicked to open them.

PDF's may be complicated. They can contain:

1. plain text plus formatting instructions (easy to decode), and/or images:
2. images, (mostly straightforward to display), and/or
3. forms (hard to decode).

Type 1 and 2 PDFs are pretty much understood by all recent readers, but forms less well supported by anyone other than Adobe, who are still developing them. PDF forms are interactive components, presenting the user with boxes to complete and able to enforce rules and check for mistakes. Help, and other bells and whistles too. This type of PDF is more like an application than a document, and may need a bang up-to-date reader to work.

Bottom line, to read WM's pdfs Nigel may need to install the latest version of Adobe Acrobat, which may demand the rest of the system be upgraded too. If that's too painful, try an online PDF reader.

Dave

Thank you all for these various diagnoses and ideas.

I use WIN 7 Pro and Internet Explorer - which sometimes opens with a banner exhorting me to replace it with MS 'Edge'. After a bad encounter with WIN 10 for which Edge was written, I am reluctant to do that.

I have not known Adobe present itself as anything but demanding very high rents (£30-£40 / month) for their pdf software, but some web-sites do include a local, temporary link to Adobe to allow reading. I have Adobe installed but I don't think it does anything.

It's not an easy problem to solve because most pdf documents do open without problems, so it's not obvious why these won't. I can only think that Walker-Midgely uses more recent software than I do, so creating files not compatible with my system. Their papers do have images as well as text, the trade-marks in the header and footer.

(I have similar problems with anything turned into a docx or xlsx file.)

'

Tim Berners-Lee envisaged an Internet that facilitates communication. It seems the big IT corporations are hell-bent on making the Internet as difficult and obstructive as possible!

I used to use a free Adobe Acrobat reader to open PDF on PCs is that not available?

Now I use an iPad for emails it seems to just open PDF files anyway.

What do WM say about the files they sent you?

I don’t know if this applies to WM insurance, but my car insurance documents (from a different insurer) require me to enter my date of birth to open them. They are PDFs but must have some security added to them.

As far as I am aware, the Adobe pdf reader software is still free. I have it on my windows 8 laptop. I don’t recall being bombarded with requests for payment or anything like that.

Have you checked with WM to see if there are any special requirements to open the docs?

Stuart

I have noticed some web-sites do give links to the free Adobe pdf reader.

I noticed though that the responses seem to give ever more complicated solutions even to the extent of changing the operating-system.

That's all very well for those with degree-level knowledge and experience but I lack those. I am a computer user, not programmer! I can use MS Word, Excel and one or two other applications enough for my needs; I have grasped TurboCAD enough so far to produce useable orthogonal drawings, though rather inefficiently.

Operating-systems and the like are out of my reach, so installing Linux in place of MS would be one hell of a gamble. Been there _ I once ruined one PC by trying to install Open Office, and nearly wrecked another. They were second-hand so the monetary loss was not too serious.

'

Walker-Midgely has now posted the documents to me; and in future I will prefer paper and post as far as possible for any official business. This is because many on-line services are becoming ever harder and less convenient to use, thanks partly to web-site designers wilfully ignoring convenience and ease of use, but also to the major IT companies forever altering the basic systems to force you to buy expensive replacements.

'

There is a thought-provoking letter about the Census in today's Dorset Echo, from a reader who does not use the Internet. Despite the threats of massive fines for late or non- returns, his questionnaire was delivered late by some door-to-door caller, not posted early as it should have been. As he pointed out, the system's designers seem not to understand that not everyone uses the Internet - and that perhaps they don't by choice, not only the poverty or ignorance usually assumed.

Office 365 running under Win 10 (latest update) opens and reads my WM insurance files without any problems.

Colin

I don’t believe anyone should be forced to use the internet but life is likely to be increasingly difficult for anyone who prefers not to use it. My wife resisted using a smartphone until the login procedure for her work systems required an interaction with a smartphone. She is already finding it useful for other things. My mother in law is 92 and the internet has completely passed her by, except that it hasn’t because my wife and I finish up doing things for her that are more convenient online, the census was one example where it was easier to do it online with her than faff about getting a paper copy.

Mike