This troubleshooting guide helps with issues that occur when generating viewable renditions of documents. See the renditions overview to add or remove renditions from your Vault. Use the following steps to troubleshoot rendition issues:

  1. Re-render your document
  2. Review source file requirements
  3. Check the list of common errors
  4. Ensure you have the proper permissions

If you are still experiencing rendition issues after following the above steps, contact your Admin to file a support ticket with Veeva Support.

Re-render Your Document

Re-rendering your document may correct any errors that occur when Vault creates a viewable rendition of your document. From the Actions menu in the document viewer, select Re-render Document to have Vault generate another viewable rendition of your document. This replaces the current version of the rendition. Based on the rendition error message received, choose one or more of the issues in the table below to generate a new viewable rendition using different settings. Click Show additional issues to view and select from more issues. After selecting one or more issues and re-rendering, additional issues may appear if you decide to re-render again.

Additionally, Admins can alter rendition settings for specific document formats from the rendition profile settings.

Rendering Issues

Issue Description
Images and/or colors are not appearing correctly in the viewer. This option applies to image file formats. When selected, Vault attempts to re-render the document seen in the document viewer using a different engine.
The viewer is taking a long time to load the first page of the document. This option reduces the wait time to view documents with overlay and signature pages outside of Vault.
My table of contents, reference fields, and/or captions are not appearing correctly or have incorrect data. This option applies to Word files. When selected, Vault attempts to re-render with fields locked.
I am using non-standard fonts and different people are seeing inconsistencies in my document (fonts, letters, or symbols). This option applies full font embedding. This option applies to Word files. When selected, Vault will fully embed the fonts used in the document.
I am not seeing the proper symbols or letters in my document (®, ©,™, ¥, ê, š, ß, etc.), or I am seeing inconsistent font weight (light/bold) or blurry fonts. This document is not for submission. This option applies to Word files. When selected, Vault will only embed the font characters used in the document.
I am having issues with characters not rendering properly and/or extra spaces and blank pages are appearing in my email. This option attempts to re-render using a different engine.
My DateTime fields are not reflecting the current DateTime. This option attempts to re-render with fields unlocked.
When using “Download with Annotations” my document looks like it has been cropped. This option attempts to re-render a PDF with annotations using a different engine.
I am using standard fonts (Times New Roman, Arial, and Courier) and have issues with file size being too large and/or it is not for distribution. This option applies default font embedding.

Source File Requirements

Limitations on source files are often a cause of rendition issues. Use this checklist to ensure that your source file does not violate any of the requirements.

  • Refer to Supported File Formats for a list of acceptable file formats that generate viewable renditions.
  • Video source files must be 100 GB or less in size. Navigate to About Video Playback for details on how to upload video renditions.
  • Source files that are zero (0) bytes in size cannot be uploaded.
  • Vault cannot create viewable renditions for source files that use password protection to control view access.
  • In order to upload renditions of any type, you must have access to the Edit Fields permission. To replace existing renditions by uploading a file, you must have access to the Manage Viewable Renditions permission. Ask your Vault administrator for access to these permissions.
  • Vault may not render files with more than 4000 pages.

Corrupt Source Files

In other instances, source files may be found by Vault to be corrupt. In this case, conduct the following steps to troubleshoot:

  1. Attempt to open the source file in its native software (for example, Adobe).
  2. Ensure that the file extension has not been manually changed.
  3. Optional: For Microsoft files, attempt to inspect the document using the Document Inspector.
  4. Optional: For PDF files, validate the document structure using a PDF Validator such as Adobe Preflight.

Common Errors

The table below offers solutions for issues that result in an error message within the document viewer while generating viewable renditions.

There may be instances where correcting these issues is not necessary. For example, if Vault is unable to render your password-protected files, then your organization may choose to keep them password-protected rather than render them correctly in Vault.

Category Error Message Solution
General Renditions - Complex File This file cannot be rendered within the allotted time frame. Check the source file requirements, check supported video file formats, or split the file into smaller files.
General Renditions - Unsupported A viewable rendition does not exist for this document because the file is larger than the Max Source File Processing Size. Attempt to compress the file or check the supported file formats.
General Renditions - Unsupported Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for this document because it uses password protection to prevent viewing. To fix this issue, upload a new file that allows viewing without a password. Remove password protection and re-upload the document.
General Renditions - Unsupported Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for this document because it uses a macro that prevents successful PDF creation. To fix this issue, upload a new file without macros. Remove macros and re-upload the document.
General Renditions - Unsupported Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for this document because it was created using a non-supported Microsoft Word format. To fix this issue, upload a new file that was saved to a newer Microsoft Word format. Check the supported file formats and re-upload the document with a newer format.
Merge Fields The attempt to merge fields for this document has failed. Please contact your system administrator or Vault Support. Contact your system administrator. Review merge fields in source files.
General Renditions - Source File Issue Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for this document because the source file is empty. Check the source file requirements and re-upload a new version of the document.
General Renditions - Source File Issue Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for this document due to content on page {X}. Remove the problematic content on the indicated page and re-upload the document.
General Renditions - Source File Issue The source file is corrupt and cannot be opened. Fix the corruption in the source file and then re-upload the document.
General Renditions - Source File Issue There is an issue with the document’s headers and footers: {X} Fix the issue with the header or footer on the indicated page and then re-upload the document.
General Renditions - Unsupported Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for the document because the source file is an unsupported file type. Check the supported file formats.
General Renditions - Source File Issue Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for the document due to a security concern identified by Microsoft Office. Fix the issue in the source file and then re-upload the document.
General Renditions - Unsupported Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for the document because the source file contains JavaScript. Remove JavaScript from the document and re-upload.
General Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for the document because there was a problem extracting captions. Remove captions from the document and re-upload.
General Vault could not generate a PDF/A compliant viewable rendition for the document. Either unselect the option to generate as PDF/A and re-render the document, change your rendition profile, or remove Edit Restrictions on PDF and then re-upload the document.
General An error occurred during rendering. Unselect the option to Standardize document and re-render.
Source File Issue Vault is unable to render this file because it does not adhere to SPL schema. Fix the issue in the source file and then re-upload the document.
Source File Issue Vault is unable to render this file. The XML does not adhere to given schema. Fix the issue in the source file and then re-upload the document.
General Renditions - Source File Issue Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for the document due to an issue with endnotes. {X} Remove endnotes then re-upload the document.
General Renditions - Source File Issue The source document has an embedded font error. Fix the issue in the source file and then re-upload the document.
Merge Fields There are too many merged rows in a table with tokens: {X} Reduce the number of merge field rows by filtering with WHERE clauses and introducing additional tables. Then upload a new version of the document.
General Renditions - Unsupported Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for the document because the source file exceeds the allowed limits. {0} Check the source file requirements.
General Renditions - Source File Issue Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for the document due to the presence of broken hyperlinks on pages: {0}. Fix the issue in the source file and then re-upload the document.
General Renditions - Source File Issue Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for the document because locked content control(s) could not be modified. Unlock content controls and re-upload the document.
General Renditions - Source File Issue Vault could not generate a viewable rendition for the document because the source file is corrupt. Fix the issue in the source file and then re-upload the document.
General A Vault failure occurred. Attempt to re-render the document at a later time.