How to open a PDF via Intent from SD card

Android Problem Overview

I'm trying to launch an Intent to open a pdf inside my assets folder in my app. I've read dozens of posts but am still stuck. Apparently I need to copy the pdf to the sd card first then launch an Intent. It still doesn't work.

I think the problem is the Intent launching so I'm simply trying to open a file "example.pdf" that I copied onto the SD card using this code:

Log.w("IR", "TRYING TO RENDER: " + Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath()+"/example.pdf");
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(Uri.parse(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath()+"/example.pdf"), "application/pdf");
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);

try {
    startActivity(intent);
    Log.e("IR", "No exception");
} 
catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) {
   	Log.e("IR", "error: " + e.getMessage());
    Toast.makeText(InvestorRelations.this, 
        "No Application Available to View PDF", 
        Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}

This is my LogCat output.

05-10 10:35:10.950: W/IR(4508): TRYING TO RENDER: /mnt/sdcard/example.pdf
05-10 10:35:10.960: E/IR(4508): No exception

Except when this code is run, I get the following Toast (not produced by my app)

"Not a supported document type"

But I can open the document manually through the PDF viewing app installed. Any help would be hugely appreciated.

Android Solutions

Solution 1 - Android

Try this code, display pdf file From /sdcard

File file = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath()+"/example.pdf");
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(Uri.fromFile(file), "application/pdf");
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NO_HISTORY);
startActivity(intent);

Solution 2 - Android

For Android Nougat and above some more work have to be done otherwise the app won't be able to open the .pdf file. We have to set a temporary permission to URI using the FileProvider:

 if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.N) {
     File file=new File(mFilePath);
     Uri uri = FileProvider.getUriForFile(this, getPackageName() + ".provider", file);
     intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
     intent.setData(uri);
     intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION);
     startActivity(intent);
 } else {
     intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
     intent.setDataAndType(Uri.parse(mFilePath), "application/pdf");
     intent = Intent.createChooser(intent, "Open File");
     intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
     startActivity(intent);
 }

Solution 3 - Android

Download source code from here (Open pdf file from sdcard in android programmatically)

Add this dependency:

compile ‘com.github.barteksc:android-pdf-viewer:2.0.3’

activity_main.xml:

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android=”http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android&#8221;
xmlns:tools=”http://schemas.android.com/tools&#8221;
android:id=”@+id/activity_main”
android:layout_width=”match_parent”
android:layout_height=”match_parent”
android:background=”#efefef”>

<ListView
android:layout_width=”match_parent”
android:id=”@+id/lv_pdf”
android:divider=”#efefef”
android:layout_marginLeft=”10dp”
android:layout_marginRight=”10dp”
android:layout_marginTop=”10dp”
android:layout_marginBottom=”10dp”
android:dividerHeight=”5dp”
android:layout_height=”wrap_content”>

</ListView>
</RelativeLayout>

MainActivity.java:

package com.pdffilefromsdcard;

import android.Manifest;
import android.app.ProgressDialog;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
import android.os.Environment;
import android.support.v4.app.ActivityCompat;
import android.support.v4.content.ContextCompat;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.Toast;

import java.io.File;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

ListView lv_pdf;
public static ArrayList<File> fileList = new ArrayList<File>();
PDFAdapter obj_adapter;
public static int REQUEST_PERMISSIONS = 1;
boolean boolean_permission;
File dir;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
init();

}

private void init() {

lv_pdf = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.lv_pdf);
dir = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath());
fn_permission();
lv_pdf.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {
@Override
public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adapterView, View view, int i, long l) {
Intent intent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), PdfActivity.class);
intent.putExtra(“position”, i);
startActivity(intent);

Log.e(“Position”, i + “”);
}
});
}

public ArrayList<File> getfile(File dir) {
File listFile[] = dir.listFiles();
if (listFile != null && listFile.length > 0) {
for (int i = 0; i < listFile.length; i++) {

if (listFile[i].isDirectory()) {
getfile(listFile[i]);

} else {

boolean booleanpdf = false;
if (listFile[i].getName().endsWith(“.pdf”)) {

for (int j = 0; j < fileList.size(); j++) {
if (fileList.get(j).getName().equals(listFile[i].getName())) {
booleanpdf = true;
} else {

}
}

if (booleanpdf) {
booleanpdf = false;
} else {
fileList.add(listFile[i]);

}
}
}
}
}
return fileList;
}
private void fn_permission() {
if ((ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(getApplicationContext(), Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED)) {

if ((ActivityCompat.shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale(MainActivity.this, android.Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE))) {
} else {
ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(MainActivity.this, new String[]{android.Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE},
REQUEST_PERMISSIONS);

}
} else {
boolean_permission = true;

getfile(dir);

obj_adapter = new PDFAdapter(getApplicationContext(), fileList);
lv_pdf.setAdapter(obj_adapter);

}
}

@Override
public void onRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, String[] permissions, int[] grantResults) {
super.onRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode, permissions, grantResults);
if (requestCode == REQUEST_PERMISSIONS) {

if (grantResults.length > 0 && grantResults[0] == PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {

boolean_permission = true;
getfile(dir);

obj_adapter = new PDFAdapter(getApplicationContext(), fileList);
lv_pdf.setAdapter(obj_adapter);

} else {
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), “Please allow the permission”, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();

}
}
}

}

activity_pdf.xml:

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android=”http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android&#8221;
android:layout_width=”match_parent”
android:background=”#ffffff”
android:layout_height=”match_parent”
android:orientation=”vertical”>

<com.github.barteksc.pdfviewer.PDFView
android:id=”@+id/pdfView”
android:layout_margin=”10dp”
android:layout_width=”match_parent”
android:layout_height=”match_parent” />
</LinearLayout>

PdfActivity.java:

package com.pdffilefromsdcard;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.util.Log;

import com.github.barteksc.pdfviewer.PDFView;
import com.github.barteksc.pdfviewer.listener.OnLoadCompleteListener;
import com.github.barteksc.pdfviewer.listener.OnPageChangeListener;
import com.github.barteksc.pdfviewer.scroll.DefaultScrollHandle;
import com.shockwave.pdfium.PdfDocument;

import java.io.File;
import java.util.List;

public class PdfActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements OnPageChangeListener,OnLoadCompleteListener {

PDFView pdfView;
Integer pageNumber = 0;
String pdfFileName;
String TAG=”PdfActivity”;
int position=-1;

@Override
protected void onCreate(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_pdf);
init();
}

private void init(){
pdfView= (PDFView)findViewById(R.id.pdfView);
position = getIntent().getIntExtra(“position”,-1);
displayFromSdcard();
}

private void displayFromSdcard() {
pdfFileName = MainActivity.fileList.get(position).getName();

pdfView.fromFile(MainActivity.fileList.get(position))
.defaultPage(pageNumber)
.enableSwipe(true)

.swipeHorizontal(false)
.onPageChange(this)
.enableAnnotationRendering(true)
.onLoad(this)
.scrollHandle(new DefaultScrollHandle(this))
.load();
}
@Override
public void onPageChanged(int page, int pageCount) {
pageNumber = page;
setTitle(String.format(“%s %s / %s”, pdfFileName, page + 1, pageCount));
}
@Override
public void loadComplete(int nbPages) {
PdfDocument.Meta meta = pdfView.getDocumentMeta();
printBookmarksTree(pdfView.getTableOfContents(), “-“);

}

public void printBookmarksTree(List<PdfDocument.Bookmark> tree, String sep) {
for (PdfDocument.Bookmark b : tree) {

Log.e(TAG, String.format(“%s %s, p %d”, sep, b.getTitle(), b.getPageIdx()));

if (b.hasChildren()) {
printBookmarksTree(b.getChildren(), sep + “-“);
}
}
}
}

Thanks!

Solution 4 - Android

The accepted answer is outdated now. Use FileProvider for file sharing.

Solution 5 - Android

This code allow to pickup a pdf file from your SD card

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
intent.setType("application/pdf");
startActivityForResult(intent, 200);

Solution 6 - Android

It may have something to do with the fact that files in the assets folder get compressed.

Try moving it to your res/raw/ folder.

More info: https://stackoverflow.com/a/4432804/413127

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	Mike T	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Android	user370305	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Android	Kapil Rajput	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Android	Deepshikha Puri	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Android	artkoenig	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Android	Paolo Colombo	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Android	Blundell	View Answer on Stackoverflow