Sydney public transport timetable PDFs crash Preview

[mpainesyd]

I have pointed out to Transport NSW IT people that the PDF timetables that can be downloaded from their website causes Preview to crash on my two Mac computers. They also display a black screen when I try to view them with an iPad.
The helpful (!) response was a list of web browsers that are compatible with their website.

If you don’t mind crashing Preview try downloading the Manly Ferry (F1) timetable.

It would be good to know how a PDF can cause the crash so it can be fixed in Preview (even a “cannot open” message would be useful)

Note that it is possible that the PDF is doing worse things in Windows.

 

[D.T.]

Are you talking about this?

https://wherewelive.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Manly-Ferry-Timetable_Feb2017.pdf

Yep, that crashes Preview, though it works in the native Chrome PDF viewer - also, if you Print to PDF from Chrome (vs. just saving the file), the PDF is "cleaned", so it will subsequently open in Preview

 

[bopajuice]

I have been having nothing but issues with Preview since High Sierra.

 

[ActionableMango]

Note that it is possible that the PDF is doing worse things in Windows.

You didn't provide a link. Using D.T.'s link, I tried all of the following browsers and it works fine in all of them:

• Internet Explorer Windows 10
• Edge Windows 10
• Chrome Windows 10
• Firefox Windows 10
• Safari iPad iOS10
• Safari iPhone iOS10

 

[mpainesyd]

This is the link that displayed black after the first page on my ipad
https://transportnsw.info/documents/timetables/09-F1-Manly-20171126-20171215.pdf
But it no longer does this so hopefully the bug has been fixed (but I haven’t yet checked it with Preview on a Mac). If so it would have been nice for them to thank me for alerting them. And I wouln’t have raised it here.

 

[Bart Kela]

This is the link that displayed black after the first page on my ipad
https://transportnsw.info/documents/timetables/09-F1-Manly-20171126-20171215.pdf
But it no longer does this so hopefully the bug has been fixed (but I haven’t yet checked it with Preview on a Mac). If so it would have been nice for them to thank me for alerting them. And I wouln’t have raised it here.

This PDF opens without issue on my iPhone SE (11.2.1) and a MacBook Air 2013 (10.13.2).