Save as PDF

[Biggelaar]

Hi All,

I'm working with Framemaker 8.0p277 on a Windows XP machine.

Often I read answers that one should not use the Save as PDF option. Instead one should print to a Postscript file and distill that file.
But why is the first option is less better then the second? Can someone please explain this for my understanding.

regards
Marco

[Mike_W...@adobeforums.com]

Though Adobe supposedly fixed the Save as PDF function in FrameMaker 7.0-- it was badly broken before that-- a lot of people still have problems with it. On the frameusers.com listserv, there are often problems reported that are fixed merely by printing to the AdobePDF printer, instead of using Save as PDF.

I've never heard anyone say why Save as PDF is problematic, but Adobe does warn against having more than one instance of any combination of Acrobat, Adobe Reader, or the Distiller that comes with FrameMaker on any one computer. Installing/uninstalling any one of those can blow out bits of the other. And that may be the reason Save as PDF is problematic for some.

You may want to consider installing the free SetPrint plugin. It sets Adobe PDF as the default printer for FrameMaker, without changing the default printer elsewhere in Windows. This makes it very easy to create PDFs, simply by choosing Print. It has the added advantage of preventing unexpected reflow in documents caused by editing them with one printer set as the default, but printing to a different printer. You can find it here: <http://sundorne.com/FrameMaker/Freeware/setPrint.htm>

Mike Wickham

[Biggelaar]

Hi Mike,

Thank you for your reply.
I assume it depends on the settings on the system then.

I normally create PDF using the ps and distiller way. But I am investigating the Save as PDF way. When I compare both ways, they look simular (even in detail when creating a report in Pitstop). The only thing that is different is that the PDF versions are different. We have the setting in the joboption that it should be PDF version 1.4. So our PDF's have this setting, but not for the Save as PDF way. In that case we get a 1.6 version (though we use the same joboptions).
Do you maybe have an explanation for this?

Thanks in advance!
Marco

[Dov Isaacs]

(1) Beginning with FrameMaker 7.0, the "save as PDF" feature in FrameMaker was at least viable compared to failed efforts prior to 7.0.

(2) To be very clear, what the "save as PDF" feature does is to internally create PostScript via the AdobePDF PostScript PostScript printer driver instance, funnels same to the Distiller with the user-specified job options, deletes the PostScript file, and then optionally calls Acrobat or Reader to display the resultant PDF. FrameMaker does NOT natively generate PDF (unlike InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop).

(3) The "save as PDF" feature in recent versions of FrameMaker is much more stable than in 7.0. Added stability is provided for "save as PDF" by applying the Microsoft Windows OS fix that resolves the problem of "missing text."

(4) There is no logical difference between printing to the AdobePDF PostScript printer driver instance and manually creating PostScript and saving to FILE: and then distilling same. The results and stability are the same. As such, advice to manually create PostScript and distill as oppose to printing directly to the AdobePDF PostScript printer driver instance is pure poppycock / bubbameiser / urban legend!

- Dov

[Softwar...@adobeforums.com]

Just upgraded to FM 9 and it appears that the Save As PDF finally works! However, for those of you that jumped onto the FM 9 bandwagon, I have seen some strange behavior that sometimes FM doesn't do anything if you try more than one Save As PDF from a document.

I'm not sure if it was because the generated PDF already existed or some other issue. I'll keep on trying to figure out but I'd be careful if you think that a PDF was actually generated (when in reality it may not have been)!

On Vindows Vista Ultimate SP1 and have Acrobat Pro 9 (that I got with CS4).

[Biggelaar]

Hi Dov,

Thank you for the clear overview.
Like I pointed out in my second message, I didn't find any differences. Except for the PDF version: 1.6 instead of 1.4.
Do you have any clue?

regards
Marco

[Dov Isaacs]

The PDF version comes solely from the joboptions chosen.

- Dov

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

I have been using FM (Version 8.0p277 on Vista) for less than a year and have ignored suggestions to set my default printer to Adobe PDF because "Save as PDF" has worked well until recently. I created a book of only about 80 pages (with maybe 1 screenshot per page) by using the "Save as PDF" approach, and it took about 35 minutes. I'm not very technical, but a co-worker suggested that because FM allows multiple undos, alot of memory gets used in storing that history and that could create speed issues in creating PDFs. A few days later, I created a PDF of the same book. I had made fewer changes to the FM document and it took less than 3 minutes to distill. Any thoughts on this theory?

[hans_chris...@adobeforums.com]

Hi!

When using the Save as PDF command in FM9, it doesent print registration marks, and inserted pdf files, comes out in low resolution. Why?
I'm using the trial version.

[Arnis_...@adobeforums.com]

Hans,

This already has been reported as a bug (and it's only for the CMYK
version - RGB still works as previously). Hopefully a patch will
forthcoming very soon.

Arnis Gubins
Forum host

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Hi everyone,

Using FM8.0p277 Vista.
I really hate to beat up on a topic. I posted a message that got no reply earlier & I'm not sure if that's because no one noticed the post or perhaps no one knows the reason...

I like the feature "Save As PDF" for the most part. I have a document that is about 80 pages and yesterday I created a PDF of it. I hadn't done so in a while and it took a whopping 45 minutes. In reviewing it, everything seemed to be there (no missing graphics or wierd text or anything). But as I was reviewing the PDF, I realized I needed to change a couple of figure titles. I did that this morning and updated my FM doc. (the TOC, LOF, etc); then regenerated a PDF of the exact same document using "Save As PDF" and it took only 3 minutes. (This is when I like "Save As PDF".)

A colleague of mine suggested that software like FM that allows multiple undos saves a lot in history (that may not even be visible in Edit>History anymore). He suggested that perhaps this affects the distilling process. Anyone?

I'm assuming "Save As PDF" is designed with the intent to simplify the process. I know it's an ongoing issue; just curious if this is an accurate assessment of why it behaves so differently from one time to the next.

Thanks,
Janice

[Arnis_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice,

It's tied up with the inner working of the "Adobe PDF Port" that the
AdobePDF printer instance is connected to by default. This process is
works in the background (possibly a low-priority on some systems),
generates a temporary postscript file, has to wake up Distiller and
get it to process the temp ps file using the specified joboptions, and
then does some housekeeping afterwards.

I too have found that this process can be up to 100x slower than
simply printing to the file when the AdobePDF printer instance is
reconnected to the FILE: port.

Functionally, using watched folders in Distiller will give you the
same result quicker, in my opinion, than the Save AS PDF functionality
(which has always been a kludge to placate users who want one-click
results).

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Arnis,

I'm not sure what you mean by "using watched folders in Distiller". If that means setting my default printer to Adobe PDF as users have suggested, I tried that yesterday after the lengthy PDF creation to see if it would produce a PDF quicker.

This may sound stupid, but it appeared to save the document with a ps extension in my Documents folder and it didn't open automatically. When I do a search for the file, I cannot locate it (have searched entire computer including hidden folders). So I obviously have something set incorrectly and haven't seen how this process helps. I know this is basic, but when I set my default printer to Adobe PDF, how do I then distill the file (particularly when I can't find it!). That is, what should other settings be to complete the distill process?

Janice

[Van_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice,

When you print to the Adobe PDF printer, the end result is the PDF file. You do not have to distill anything. A temporary PS file is created, Distiller is opened to distill the PS file, then closed when finished deleting the PS file in the process. This is the method I use to create PDFs.

If you actually want to use Distiller directly, then when you print to the Adobe PDF printer, you need to select Save to File. Then the printer creates the PS file but does NOT distill it; you can then distill it using Distiller. It all depends upon whether you want to set your Distiller options in the Adobe PDF printer dialog or in Distiller. I have yet to find a reason to use Distiller directly. I just print to Adobe PDF printer without saving the file to disk; the end result is the PDF without having to use Distiller directly.

You asked about watched folders. Distiller has the feature of being able to look in watched folders for PS files. To do this, you create an empty folder, say on your desktop. Then open Distiller and set your job options. In Distiller, there is a command to select one or more watched folders. Then you leave Distiller running.

Go back to the application from which you need to create a PDF, then print to the Adobe PDF printer and SAVE to file, but save the file in the IN folder inside the watched folder. When the app has completed creating the PS file, Distiller opens it automatically and distills it, placing the PDF file in the OUT folder inside the watched folder. While Distiller is creating the PDF, you can do more work in your application. I generally do not use this feature because I have found that the vast majority of time spent in creating a PDF is consumed by the application making the PS file, whether temporary or not. The actual distillation process is usually very fast.

Van

[Art Campbell]

Before we go too far down this road... can someone confirm a point?

I don't have it installed anywhere so I can't check, but I'm not remembering that the limited free Distiller installed by the FM installation has the Watched Folder capability. I'm thinking that it's only available in the full Acrobat version...

Art

[Dov Isaacs]

If you don't want to use the “save as PDF” feature, you might as well print to the Adobe PDF PostScript printer driver instance as opposed to hacking around with watched folders and other similar mishagoss. There is absolutely NOTHING that manually distilling PostScript or using watched folders adds to your performance or functionality.

- Dov

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Hi all,

Please let me reiterate, I really like the idea of, and would rather use, the "Save As PDF" feature. I would really love the feature if it would create a PDF for a <100 page document in 3 minutes instead of sometimes taking almost an hour for basically the same document. This method hasn't caused problems in terms of messing up the content of my document. It just seems inconsistent in how long it takes to produce a PDF of the same document after a few changes.

I'm (reluctantly) willing to set my default printer to Adobe PDF if, as many who have posted before say, it produces PDFs more consistently and quickly. When I did set my printer to Adobe PDF yesterday, I must have left the setting Save to File, because it did create a ps file that I had to manually set to distill. It didn't automatically create and open the PDF file. This still took time (just under 10 minutes).

I'm getting the impression that I could either change the settings and use the Adobe PDF printer or accept the fact that producing a PDF using the Save As method is not always quick.

Thanks for all the input. I'm learning...
Janice

[Arnis_...@adobeforums.com]

Dov,

I have to respectfully disagree on the performance aspect. I've
documented and submitted examples of substantial performance
differences in printing to the printer instance connected to the FILE
port and distilling vs. printing to the printer instance connected to
the Adobe PDF Port vs. using Save As PDF. I've seen this happen
through various versions of the products (FM and Acrobat) on different
machines, so it's not just a simple user/configuration issue. In an
automated workflow where (tens of) thousands of pages are being
produced on a regular basis, this is a real PITA.

There's something in the Adobe PDF Port that doesn't always play nice
and really slows things down to a crawl when creating the .(t)ps file.
I agree that logically, there shouldn't be a difference, but
factually, there is.

Is there another explanation that you can shed some light on for the
differences in processing times that Janice has seen?

As an aside, for print production from FM, the SaveAsPDF route
triggers the "Generate Acrobat Data" option and embeds all sorts of
unnecessary crap that bloats both the postscript and resulting PDFs
which also adds a load to the processing. The latest incarnation in
FM9 for CMYK sounded good in theory, but so far is still very rough
around the edges and not quite ready for prime-time.

Any way you slice it, SaveAsPDF from FM is still a kludge until FM
gets the ability to natively generate the PDFs like other Adobe apps.

[Arnis_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice,

FYI, there's a utility called SetPrint from Sundorne
(http://www.sundorne.com/FrameMaker/Freeware/setPrint.htm) that will
automatically set the AdobePDF printer instance as your default in FM
and reset it to whatever you had for your other applications.

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Arnis,

This utility looks interesting. I just attempted to download it. It says it's been tested for FrameMaker 6.0 and 7.0. I'm using 8.0 and assumed it would work. Figured I could undo the steps if it didn't. However, it automatically tries to open the file in Notepad and most of the document seems to be garbage characters. It doesn't give an option to open the file in another text editor or program. Any ideas?

Janice

[Softwar...@adobeforums.com]

Wow - this thread has gotten wild...

Say, I have seen many issues with PDF with pre-FM 9. And now with FM 9, Save As PDF:

1. Works (well, kind of)
2. It may be slow, but I don't really care -- I want #1 (Works) to work!

I'm on Vista, just upgraded to FM 9 and in trying Save As PDF, I see:
1. Color rendering doesn't always work (just spot color, no CMYK)
2. Fonts get really messed up (some fonts do anyway)
3. It uses the similar Acrobat options (including presets!)

How do I know something is really amiss? Well, I created the exact same document (same layout, fonts, styles, ...) using InDesign and Save As PDF works flawlessly.

So, in trying the Print to PDF, I need a generic Postscript Printer. Does anyone know of one? The one on the Adobe site can't install on Vista SP1 (I had it somehow working on Vista Sp0 but not sure how).

Any additional threads you all can recommend?

[Sheila_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice, the .dll that you download does work with FM8, no problem.

There are instructions on the page telling where to put the .dll file:

<http://www.sundorne.com/FrameMaker/Freeware/setPrint.htm>

No editing or unzipping or anything else of the .dll is needed.

The .ini file can be edited in Notepad as per the instructions.

[Sheila_...@adobeforums.com]

Maniac, do not, under the pain of severe head-banging angst, install anything like a "generic Postscript Printer". Yes, there is one that can be obtained on the Adobe website downloads area, but it is not, repeat NOT, usable in any functional way, it's ancient, antique, brain-dead, not even a true PS printer if I recall Dov Isaac's many postings about it over the years.

[Art Campbell]

Why do you think you need one?

To amplify what Shelia's saying.... The installed Acrobat software IS the printer to use. You don't need anything else and beyond that, don't use anything but that printer instance.

[Arnis_...@adobeforums.com]

You need to print to the "Adobe PDF" printer instance, not some
generic postscript printer (this is no such beast anyway). Postscript
is device dependent and that printer instance is the one specifically
developed for creating postscript suitable for PDF conversion by
Distiller.

The Save As PDF process in InDesign writes directly to PDF. The
process in FM, on the other hand, silently prints to a temporary
postscript file using the Adobe PDF printer instance, opens Distiller
and creates a PDF using the joboptions specified in the Save As PDF
dialogue window. You can't compare the two processes.

What specific fonts get messed up? Are these in locations that
Distiller knows about? Do you have any font substitutions specified in
the AdobePDF configuration (Printers > Properties > Device Settings >
Font Substitution table)? DO the printing preferences for the AdobePDF
printer instance have the "Rely on system fonts" option checked?

For CMYK colour rendering, did you uncheck the "Convert CMYK colours
to RGB" option? Which joboptions did you select? The CMYK SaveAsPDF
works quite well except for imported PDFs and WMF/EMF files. All FM
defined colours are properly maintained. The best graphic format to
safely pass through CMYK colours is still EPS in FM9.

[Van_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice,

This may not be relevant to the speed differences you are finding, but working over a network (especially with your imported by reference image files residing on a network drive) can slow things down considerably. I use the Archive plugin to move all the files to my machine and then create the PDF from there; cuts the time in more than half.

Also, if you inadvertently hide graphics, PDF creation is very fast, but I doubt if you did that.

Van

[Softwar...@adobeforums.com]

Don't know. Will verify all of those settings. Thanks for the advice. Then what would you all have suggested for pre-FM9 in order to print to PDF? The Save As PDF would frequently crash under FM8 and FM7 under Windows Vista.

I tried the Save As PDF under FM9 and it worked. Some Type 1 fonts got crushed (I'll check on your comments, Arnis) and non-opaque frame backgrounds (like a 20% blue) rendered 100% blue. Not exactly what I wanted.

I will uninstall a HP Postscript driver that I found. Yikes!

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Thank you, Sheila. It's embarrassing that I call myself a Technical Writer and I couldn't follow simple instructions!

Van,
Does it matter whether the printer is set to Adobe PDF if you use the Archive plugin then? My images are all stored in one folder, but they are on the network.

Ok everyone, I have set my printer to Adobe PDF, restarted FrameMaker and have set the same document mentioned previously to print. It so far still seems to be taking longer than I expected (10 minutes so far & it's only 46% done). I'll let you know what I learn. In the meantime, you'll miss me...

Janice

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Hi everyone,

Having set my printer to Adobe PDF and printing the same 80+ page document (no changes), it took 30 minutes. Plus, I obviously did not have it set up correctly, because that just produced a postscript file. It took another 10 minutes to distill.

I'm thinking you may be on to something though, Van, regarding the images being referenced from a file on the network. I will do some more experimenting.

Sorry this is such an ongoing saga, but changing my default printer has not fixed my PDF creation issues.

Janice

[Art Campbell]

Janice,

No one suggested that setting your system default printer to Adobe PDF would solve the problem, but it's a Best Practice setup that eliminates a host of other potential problems.

The PS file was generated (probably) because on the FM Print dialog box, you had Print To File checked.

I skimmed back over the thread, but don't see your system config, except that you're on Vista. How much RAM are you running, and are there any other memory-hungry applications running when you distill? Like Photoshop or other graphics tools? And, given that your files are on the network, have you tried opening all the files on your desktop before distilling?

Art

[Sheila_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice, an easy way to move all your files to your desktop in order to remove possible network issues would be to use Bruce Foster's $25 Archive plugin, it's here:

<http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.foster/Archive.htm>

[Van_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice,

Sheila's post lists the plugin I was talking about; I could not remember the developer's name or the link to it.

The Archive plugin has nothing to do with the printer. It's main purpose is to COPY a book and all its document files, along with all the graphics and text inserts used in those files, into one folder, which you can conveniently create on your desktop. It also RELINKS all the graphics and text inserts to point to the book and files in the folder you designate. Thus, it copies everything into one place so you can hand it off to a translator, for example, or burn it to a CD; hence the name Archive.

But once you have everything on your desktop, you can create a PDF, and working on your desktop is much faster than working over a network, especially if some graphics are used in multiple places in your documents.

BEWARE though that your files stored on the network are the main source files. If after copying them to your desktop you find something that needs editing, editing the file on the desktop and then copying it back to its original place on the network means you will have to relink all the graphics and text inserts to their locations on the network, which can be time consuming, especially if the graphics are in several folders. I think of it as a one way street to my desktop for printing purposes, NOT editing.

As Sheila says, it is only $25, and it really cuts down the time to create PDFs, IF the time problem is due to working over the network. My PDFs still take 30 minutes or so, but that is quicker than an hour or more.

Good luck,
Van

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Thank you, everyone. I really appreciate the feedback.

Art, I'm working with a 2GHz processor, 1983 MB RAM with Adobe Distiller 8.1.3 and Acrobat 8.1 and FrameMaker 8.0. Typically, I am not usually running anything else that would sap memory when I distill my docs.
Re: "The PS file was generated (probably) because on the FM Print dialog box, you had Print To File checked." My file with a ps extension was still listed in the Print to File box, but I had unchecked the Print to File checkbox. Is there something else I need to have in the settings to automatically distill the postscript file? Also, I haven't tried opening all my files on my desktop yet because I wasn't sure that having them on the network was the issue. Now that it seems more and more to be the problem, I'll try that next.

Sheila & Van, Thanks for the Archive plugin info. After experimenting with moving my files to my desktop and creating the PDF from there, if it helps, I will certainly look into it.

I love this forum. Thanks again everyone,
Janice

[Sheila_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice, in order of likelihood I'd definitely spend the time to copy your docs to your desktop (being sure that all the links work afterwards, of course) and then testing the PDF generation after that, as the most important test. There have been tons of postings on the forums over the years where folks have resolved slow PDFing times with this one change. And if your IT folks balk, tell 'em to post on here, we'll set them straight in a hurry <g>

As to having the automatically distill process working, you could possibly have a bad/corrupted install of Distiller and the Distiller printer instance which might be causing the output not to be "auto-distilled" when you print to the Adobe PDF printer.

I think it might be wise to tackle one issue at a time, though -- following the thread can get pretty tricky when troubleshooting multiple issues.

[Kenneth...@adobeforums.com]

Check printer properties for your Adobe PDF printer (in Control Panel >
Printers and Faxes). Are you printing to an Adobe PDF port, or to the
FILE: port, or to some other port?

--
Kenneth Benson
Pegasus Type, Inc.
www.pegtype.com

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Sheila,
I copied my files to my desktop and created a PDF of the book in less than 1 minute. At first I thought that answered the question of the network being an issue. Then, just for fun, I created a PDF of the network files (same book) and it took about 3 minutes again. I was one of only a few people on the network yesterday when I got it to work in 3 minutes (thought that explained it). But today the network is busy and still it only took 3 minutes. I've decided to just give myself a huge cushion of time to get a PDF to someone and if it takes an hour, it takes an hour! Just kidding.

Kenneth,
I checked my Adobe PDF printer properties and am printing to an Adobe PDF port.

Janice

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Sheila,

Re: "As to having the automatically distill process working, you could possibly have a bad/corrupted install of Distiller and the Distiller printer instance which might be causing the output not to be "auto-distilled" when you print to the Adobe PDF printer." How can I determine the distiller printer instance that my computer is using? Now, when I print to the Adobe PDF printer, a message displays saying it is printing, but now I can't even find a postscript file on my computer to distill. I can't locate any output this way. With "Save As PDF", it is time-consuming, but at least I get results eventually.

I have made sure the Print to File option is unchecked in my printer settings. My Adobe PDF printer settings (Control Panel>Printers) is showing that it is printing to an Adobe PDF port. If this is incorrect, I will have to consult my IT department as I tried to configure and was denied access. Is there something else in my printer settings that I need to confirm?

Janice

[Arnis_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice,

The Adobe PDF port has a setting telling it where to deposit the
completed PDF files. By default this is to your Desktop, but it may be
modified on your installation. You have to check to see where it
thinks it should be putting the output.

During this process, it creates a temporary postscript file, runs
distiller on it and then deletes the temporary file.

[Sheila_...@adobeforums.com]

What do you see when you do File > Print Setup, e.g. this is what I have in FM8 on WinXP, when I have the Adobe PDF printer set as the default printer (I use SetPrint so that the default is set only for FM).

Name: "Adobe PDF" (note the space in the name)
Type: Adobe PDF Converter
Where: xxx\*.pdf

The path ( the "xxx" ) in Where could be something like "Desktop" or it could be "My Documents". If it's not either of those, what is it?

In the Control Panel > Printers properties, for the Ports tab, the printer port should be "Adobe PDF", yes. There is nothing to configure for this port, so clicking on Configure Port produces a bleep saying there's nothing to configure.

When you click on the "Advanced" tab, what does it show for Driver? Mine shows "Adobe PDF Converter". Under that the Spool print documents has "Start printing immediately". Below that, the only box checked is "Print spooled documents first".

[Van_...@adobeforums.com]

Continuing with Sheila's post...

In the Printers Properties dialog box for the Adobe PDF printer, select the General tab. At the bottom is a button; click Printing Preferences. In the subsequent dialog box, there is a drop-down list named Adobe PDF Output Folder. You can select either My Documents or Prompt for PDF File Name; I have select the latter. In this case, every time you create a pdf by printing to the Adobe PDF printer (without saving to file), the printer asks you for the name of the pdf file, which includes the ability to select where you want to save the file. For me, this is more flexible than always having to go the My Documents to find my output and move it where I want it.

And to emphasize Arnis' point, printing to Adobe PDF WITHOUT saving the print file to disk results in a PDF and NO PS file to distill. The printer does the distillation.

Van

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Sheila, Arnis & Van:
My settings are the same as yours, Sheila. I have used SetPrint to make Adobe PDF my default printer. Adobe PDF Converter, Start printing immediately, and Print spooled documents first are set.

I too have selected Prompt for PDF filename, Van, with Print to File unchecked. I have tried this twice now and am not prompted for a pdf filename. Though I have made this selection, my Print Setup screen shows Where: Documents\*.pdf. When I look in that folder there is neither a pdf nor ps file there.

Re: "During this process, it creates a temporary postscript file, runs distiller on it and then deletes the temporary file." I think is skips the middle part of this process, Arnis. I get a Printing File screen and it shows the status bar while my book gets processed, but then nothing happens. It may create a ps file, but then it must delete without distilling, because I can't find one anywhere. I've searched for files with both pdf and ps extensions. Nothing...

Any other possibilities?
Janice

[Sheila_...@adobeforums.com]

With all the posts back and forth I've lost track of whether you have a separate installation of Acrobat Pro (and if so, what version?) or are you using the free Acrobat Reader and the Distiller component that might have been installed along with the FrameMaker install?

In either case, though, I'd say that your Acrobat Pro or FM-Distller setup may be past the point of diagnosis, and ready for extreme measures, i.e. a complete reinstall.

Often times things aren't installed in the best way, or the "Adobe PDF" printer gets clobbered, leaving it only partially working, or a reinstall of one component just messes something else up.... whatever.

To do this, though, you need to follow the "best practices" for a good re-install.

How about letting us know the version numbers, and then we'll dig up some reinstall instructions (they've been posted on the forum previously, I'm trying to save us some Fri. afternoon I'm-out-the-door angst!)

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

I have Adobe Reader 8.1 and Acrobat 3D 8.1.3 installed. Is there an easy way to determine which distiller component that my computer is set up to use? (I didn't do the original install.)

Janice

[Sheila_...@adobeforums.com]

When you have a Distiller that's from a "full" Acrobat program, when you double-click on the "acrodist.exe" program (in the Acrobat install folder), do should get a dialog window that opens, where you can choose "Default Settings" in a dropdown box (aka. "job options"), and where you can watch the distill process in the areas down below that. You can drag .ps files into the window and watch the log file as they're being distilled.

If that's the case, then have a look at the Help About and see what you can find as far as version numbers go.

If you have the Distiller that comes from the FM install then there's no dialog window that opens, the distiller is "headless" (sort of lobotomized) and therefore much more difficult to control directly because of this.

[Art Campbell]

Janice,
Reader can't distill anything. It's read-only.
If you want to try the reinstall route, I'd uninstall Acrobat, reboot, and then load it up again...

Art

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Help>About tells me it's using Adobe Distiller Professional 8.1.3.

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks, Art. I think I'll try that since my settings seem to match those of other users and nothing else seems amiss.

[Sheila_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice, one more thing, when you uninstall Acrobat, I'd also delete the printer "Adobe PDF" too, so that it will get recreated. Do this before you reboot.

And, don't forget to check for updates so that your Acrobat is the latest and greatest.

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Sheila/Art:

I uninstalled and reinstalled Acrobat. No need to delete the printer; that seems to happen automatically. (It wasn't there between uninstall/reinstall.) I checked for and installed updates and rebooted. I then attempted to print my book as before (with Print to File unchecked to Adobe PDF) and I get the Printing Book status screen, but still can't locate output.

As an added experiment, I performed the Save Book As PDF function and it worked in 3 minutes again. Everything seems uncorrupted, but I now get a message that I never got before: "Warning: A part of the Capture 3D plug-in has been damaged." It goes on to state that I must repair the installation and if that doesn't work to configure my anti-spyware program to not monitor registry changes. I'm not sure how to repair the installation short of doing another complete reinstall. I recall reading somewhere in the forum, someone else having to reconfigure their anti-spyware program. I'm thinking that may be my next step. Your thoughts?

Janice

[Sheila_...@adobeforums.com]

Unfortunately the answer on temporarily disabling antispyware or antivirus apps is almost unique to each app. Plus, if you're on a corp. network or set up as a limited user, you may not even be able to disable it anyway.

A repair installation is usually done by reinstalling the app and there's a point where you're able to choose "repair installation". I tried that recently with Acro9 and it didn't solve the issue I had, so I ended up doing a full uninstall / reinstall process.

[Art Campbell]

You should be prompted to specify a destination path....

Have you done a search for *.ps and *pdf files? And maybe use the time parameter too, so you can specify the current day.

No idea on the Capture 3D...

Art

[Van_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice,

Regarding the missing output...

In the Printers Properties dialog box for the Adobe PDF printer, select the General tab. At the bottom is a button; click Printing Preferences. In the subsequent dialog box, there is a drop-down list named Adobe PDF Output Folder. You can select either My Documents or Prompt for PDF File Name; I have select the latter. In this case, every time you create a pdf by printing to the Adobe PDF printer (without saving to file), the printer asks you for the name of the pdf file, which includes the ability to select where you want to save the file. For me, this is more flexible than always having to go the My Documents to find my output and move it where I want it.

Van

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Sheila: You're probably right about not being able to reconfigure the anti-spyware & our tech guy is away today.
Art: I did a search for both ps and pdf files by date last week when I experienced this issue and nothing was returned. Today the only file returned in my search was the pdf created from doing "Save Book As>PDF". I don't get prompted for a destination path.
Van: I have the Adobe PDF printer set to Prompt for PDF File Name without saving to file as well. I still don't get prompted for a destination.

I'm going to try the uninstall/reinstall process once more to see if I can eliminate the appearance of that new message. So far, every action I've taken in this process seems to be taking me further and further from where I want to be. It's baffling. I'll post again after the reinstall and just let you know whether anything changes.

Thanks all,
Janice

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Hi all,
Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately), after the uninstall/reinstall & update process, nothing has changed. I'm still getting "Warning: A part of the Capture 3D plug-in has been damaged." On the bright side, I'm not getting any new errors. Acrobat still displays the PDF created by using "Save Book As>PDF" function. When I try to print to the Adobe PDF printer, I see the Framemaker print processing screen and still am not prompted for a destination. And still I get no output and cannot find a file by searching for *.ps or *.pdf.

I guess I will have to stick with "Save Book As>PDF" as my option and accept that it may take some time to process that way. It processed in 3 minutes the last 2 times I created the PDF that way - much less that 50+ minutes that prompted this post in the first place.

Thanks for your input,
Janice

[Sheila_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice, I just noticed that there are some postings in the Acrobat 3D forum concerning the same type of error msg "3D plugin has been damaged", so you might want to check there for possible solutions:

<http://www.adobeforums.com/webx?13@@.3c0556aa>

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks, Sheila. There was a solution to rename the registry filename that seems to have taken care of the 3D plugin error I was experiencing. That solves one of my many issues. What can I say, I'm a WIP...

Janice

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Hello again forum users:

I am still experiencing a lack of output when printing to the Adobe PDF printer. I uninstalled and reinstalled Acrobat, which did nothing but present a plugin error afterwards that I was able to resolve. I have tried all of the suggestions above and none of them resolved my problem. Today I uninstalled & reinstalled FrameMaker including updates to see if that changed anything. Still, when I print to Adobe PDF, a status screen displays while it processes my book & then nothing. No ps or pdf file can be located.

I save as pdf and that produces my document with no corrupt data that I can see. It's just quirky in the length of time to process the same document from one time to the next. (3 minutes vs 50+ minutes.)

I am open to any new thoughts on why the Adobe PDF printer is not working...
Janice

[Art Campbell]

Janice,
With your new Acrobat install, can you print to it from other applications?

Art

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Yes! I just printed a Word document to the Adobe PDF printer and it created a pdf. So, any idea what might be wrong with my FrameMaker settings, Art?

Janice

[Art Campbell]

Janice,

You've got a fresh install, so we need to start diagnosing again.

In Frame, did you do the exact same thing as you did in Word?

1. File > Print
Pick the Adobe PDF printer if it isn't the default (In Frame, make sure the Print To File checkbox is OFF).

2. Click Printer > Properties and activate View Adobe PDF results.
You may also want to de-activate Delete Log Files while debugging.

3. Verify that All Pages are selected.
Click Print (or OK).
In the Save PDF File As dialog, fill in the file name, making sure it has a .pdf extension.
Click Save.

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Art,
I'm with you up until the Save PDF File As dialog. That's my problem...I never see that dialog from my FM document print job. Adobe PDF is my printer by default. I have View Adobe PDF results checked. I unchecked Delete Log Files this time. All pages are selected.

When I click Print, I get a FrameMaker dialog that says Printing: xxx.book with the printing status as it goes through my document. When that dialog closes, nothing else happens. I have selected Prompt for PDF File Name as Van had suggested, assuming I would be prompted for a file location and be given an opportunity to rename the file if I wanted, but nothing...The settings are all the same as when I printed from Word when I did see the Save PDF File As dialog (except for unchecking Delete Log Files, of course).

[Art Campbell]

OK, I understand what you're saying.

That's the behaviour you get if the Print To File checkbox is active in the FM Print Dialog box. If you're 100% sure that checkbox is NOT checked when you click Print... maybe check the Distiller settings.

When you open Acrobat Distiller from the Programs menu, there should be preferences that "Ask for PDF file destination" and "View PDF when using Distiller." You might try activating those, but they're normally over-ridden by the settings in FM.

If it all looks OK, you could try a two-step process to generate a PS file in FM (to do this, you want to check that Print To File checkbox is active in the FM Print Dialog box and fill in the path, taking care to specify a .ps file extension. That'll generate a PS file that you can File > Open in Distiller.

Art

[Sheila_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice, there are a couple of possible cause/solutions in this thread:

<http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b712cd/2>

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Art,
I am 100% sure that the Print to File checkbox is not checked. I had confirmed the Programs>Distiller preferences previously. I also experimented with the two-step process to generate the pdf. My only issue with that is sometimes it works in 3 minutes for my book and sometimes it takes 50+ minutes for the same book. (This is also true using Save As PDF, regardless of whether my files/images are on my desktop or accessed over our network). So essentially, I exchange one problem for another.

Sheila,
The only thing that thread that I haven't already discussed with anyone, but that also happened to me was after confirming my printer set-up, the Print Page Range would switch from All pages to Start Page. I caught the auto-change and reclicked All before clicking Print. But I think that's odd.

Janice

[Van_...@adobeforums.com]

Janice,

I have noticed the switch from All pages to Start Page, but it notice that it happens when I have opened a document, scrolled to another page, make a change, and then print. Frame thinks I may want to print just that page, so it selects the Start Page and End Page, setting both to the current page number. I do not know if this is the only situation that causes this, but it is the only one that I have noticed. I have got into the habit of always looking at the top of the print dialog box when it opens to make sure All is selected; however, there are times when I want to print must a page or two.

Van

[Jason_...@adobeforums.com]

Hello all,

It appears that I am experiencing EXACTLY the same problem as Janice when it comes to printing a PDF out of FM 8 (p277). When I do a File-> Print and set the printer to PDF, once I click "print" the status bar indicates a PDF is being generated...without ever prompting me to specify the file name. And no file is generated. This also happens when I use the Save as PDF option.

Things I've tried:
1. Installing the hotfix referenced here: <http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2008/07/hotfix_for_framemaker_1.html>.
2. Printing as a .ps file first. Interestingly, a .ps is generated that is 0 bytes in size.
3. Saving the .fm as a MIF file and printing from that. Again, nothing.
4. Verifying that my PDF settings have the "Prompt for Adobe PDF filename" setting. It still appears to be ignored by the printing process.

Other tidbits:
1. I am running Vista Business SP1 (which, of course, could be the real problem).
2. The problematic .fm file was a version 7 that I saved as into a new version 8 file. However, some .fm files that I converted to 8 work fine.
3. Adobe Distiller version is 9.0.

From reading these forums, there appear to be significant problems with creating PDFs in Framemaker 8. That is pretty disheartening. Fortunately we have a v7 in the office so I was able to re-do all my changes in a v7 file and create a PDF.

I have no idea what else to check to figure out where the culprit is. Is there anyone out there who has also experienced this problem and found a workaround (besides downgrading back to FM7)?

[Art Campbell]

Jason,

On the FM print dialog box, the default setting, when you select the Adobe PDF printer is to make the Print To File checkbox active.

Which produces the status bar and a .ps file, but not a .PDF.

So uncheck that checkbox and also do a search in your file directory for a .ps file.

Art

[janice_...@adobeforums.com]

Jason:

Have you experimented with Save As PDF? I hope Art's suggestion works for you, but I never did find a solution except to return to Save As PDF. (I know everyone...I'm not following "best practice".) I had the Print to File box unchecked and performed a search on my whole computer for .ps and .pdf files. Nothing was returned.

I haven't experienced the issues of missing text or graphics that others have experienced with Save As PDF. The only quirkiness that I have found is PDF creation can take 3 minutes one time and almost an hour the next time for the same document, regardless of whether my files are stored on our network or locally. So if you go with this method, you may have to create a song & dance routine that's about an hour long to entertain your customer while he/she waits for the PDF! On the bright side, Save As PDF has been working in the less than 10 minute range lately (usually closer to 3 minutes).

Good Luck!
Janice

[Jason_...@adobeforums.com]

Save as PDF works on some .fm files, but not on this particular one. When I check in Distiller (9), I see the following message:
"Warning: empty job. No PDF file produced." But no other error messages.

From looking elsewhere on the forum, I thought it might be a .joboptions file issue, or an issue with user permissions in folders. However, since the problem occurs only on some files and not others, I don't think it can be due to this.

Art, when I try to print as a .ps file, a .ps file is generated that is 0 kb.

I have even tried to copy/paste all the content into a new .fm file and still no luck. If it were only this one file having problems, I'd chalk it up as a corrupt file, but since there are multiple .fm documents (but not all) experiencing the problem, something else must be going on. I've run out of ideas for places to look to identify a problem.

[Sheila_...@adobeforums.com]

Jason, apologies if some of this was specified earlier, but the thread is getting long.

Have you tried taking a problem chapter and doing Save As MIF, then reopening the MIF file and saving again as a regular FM binary file? This sometimes cleans out gremlins.

What kind of content is in the problem FM files, i.e. is it text only or are there graphics (what kinds of file types), what type of fonts. What we need to concentrate on is where there might be differences between your printing / non-printing files.

For the text, was the content entered directly into FM via the keyboard or could it have had some/all copied and pasted in, e.g. from another FM doc, from Word or somewhere else?

If there are graphics, how are they inserted into the file, by reference in anchored frames, copied and pasted, inserted as OLE objects (linked or unlinked). As a test could you take a backup copy of the problem book and remove all the graphics files, then try making a PDF.

Another troubleshooting step is to save the problem file as MIF and then look at the MIF in a text editor or else (much easier) via MifBrowse, a freebie available here:
<http://www.grahamwideman.com/gw/tech/framemaker/mifbrowse.htm>

Is it possible that you can provide a sample FM chapter for examination?