Symptoms
After installing the Windows updates released on June 9, you may no longer be able to process files in the following formats in FineReader PDF: .doc, .docx, .txt, .xls, .xlsx, and .html, or compare them using the Compare Documents tool.
When attempting to process a file, one of the following error messages appears:
- An error occurred in Microsoft Word Application when converting the document <filename>. Type mismatch.
- Cannot create a PDF document from the file.
Cause
This issue is caused by the following Windows updates:
- KB5094126 for Windows 11, version 25H2 and 24H2.
- KB5093998 for Windows 11, version 23H2.
- KB5094127 for Windows 10, version 22H2 and 21H2.
These updates introduce a Windows issue that breaks Microsoft Office automation used by third-party applications. As a result, FineReader PDF cannot interact correctly with Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook when processing Microsoft Office documents.
Resolution
Microsoft has acknowledged this issue and is actively working on a fix. A resolution is in progress and will be included in a future Windows update.
As one of the temporary workarounds, please:
-
Uninstall the corresponding Windows update
The instructions are available in Microsoft's Knowledge Base article: How to uninstall a Windows Update. -
Use Microsoft Office to create PDFs
Instead of using the FineReader PDF COM Add-in, use Microsoft Office's built-in Save as PDF feature to convert Office documents to PDF. The steps are described in Microsoft's Knowledge Base article: Save or convert to PDF. -
Use an alternative Office suite
If possible, uninstall Microsoft Office and use LibreOffice or OpenOffice instead. FineReader PDF can process documents created with these office suites without relying on Microsoft Office automation. -
Contact Microsoft Support (for organizations only)
Microsoft informed that a workaround is available for affected devices. To apply this workaround in your organization and mitigate the issue, please contact Microsoft Support for business.
Additional information
Please refer to the Known issues in this update section from the relevant Windows update announcement.