Question
Staidlogic
IN
Last activity: 9 Jul 2025 19:47 EDT
PDF attachment file not opening – file gets corrupted after email sent via Pega activity
Hi All,
I am sending a PDF file as an attachment using a Service-REST activity in Pega 8.7. The PDF is uploaded in Pega as a Rule-File-Binary.
The email is successfully sent, and the PDF is attached. However, when I try to open the file (e.g., in WPS PDF viewer or Adobe Reader), I receive an error: “Cannot open this file. It is not a supported file type, or the file has been damaged.”
For your reference, attached the files
What could be causing the corruption of the PDF? Is there a different method to encode or attach the file properly?
Any help or example activity configuration is appreciated.
HCA Healthcare
US
@sharadavangimalla The issue of the PDF file getting corrupted after sending it through email in Pega is likely because the file is not attached in the correct binary format. If you are using a Rule-File-Binary, make sure you read the file content using the correct method like @Base64Encode(tools.getBinaryDataFromText) and attach it as a binary file, not as a plain string. Also, set the MIME type to application/pdf when adding the attachment to the email. If the file content is converted to text and then back to binary, it can break the file. Use the "SendEmailWithAttachments" activity or the correct method that supports binary file attachment. Check that the full file is being sent without any truncation. Lastly, try opening the PDF before sending it to confirm that the original file is working correctly.