Acrobat 6: can't create PDF, Distiller fails - PLEASE HELP

[Barry_Rabin@adobeforums.com]

I launch distiller, drag and drop a simple 1 page test Word doc and get the following:

Distilling: test.doc
Start Time: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 12:11 PM
Source: /Users/bhr/Desktop/test.doc
Destination: /Users/bhr/Desktop/test.pdf
Adobe PDF Settings: /Users/Shared/Adobe PDF 6.0/Settings/Standard.joboptions
%%[ Error: undefined; OffendingCommand: –œ ‡°± · ]%%
%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%
Distill Time: 0 seconds (00:00:00)
* *** End of Job ****

I was trying this route because I can no longer create pdf from within Word (see other topic posted on this forum) and thought I'd try the method that should be guaranteed to work.

So, now I have no way to create a pdf at all.

Running OS X 10.3.9, Office 2004, clean install of Acrobat 6.0>6.0.1>6.0.2>6.0.3 (Distiller 6.0.2), Adobe PDF 3015.102.

[sws@adobeforums.com]

Distiller will only convert PostScript files to PDF. You can Print to the Adobe PDF Printer. You can hit the PDFMaker Macro button that you should be able to see in Word (Its a kind of floating palette, with, I believe, 2 buttons on it. they have Acrobat icons on them). To print to a PS file, Go to File > Print... Choose the Adobe PDF Printer. Click on the "Copies and Pages" pop-up menu and select "Output Options". Check the "Save as File" box and select "PostScript" in the "Fromat:" pop-up menu. Save the PS file to your desktop to make it easy to locate. Drag the resulting PS file onto Distiller. This will create a PDF.

Good Luck.

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

>I launch distiller, drag and drop a simple 1 page test Word doc and get the following

That is Distiller telling you, in its quaint way, that it doesn't do
that. Distiller does not read Word documents.

>I was trying this route because I can no longer create pdf from within Word (see other topic posted on this forum)

I'd stick with that.

>and thought I'd try the method that should be guaranteed to work.

Guaranteed not to work, you mean.

Aandi Inston

[Barry_Rabin@adobeforums.com]

OK, thanks for the clarification on what distiller does.

So now I still need to understand and fix the problem with the pdfmaker macro button in word not working. As others have posted in this forum, it gets about 80% through processing and then just stops and no pdf is created. Any ideas about that?

Thanks,
Barry

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

Sorry, no ideas on that one.

Aandi Inston

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

But, why use PDFMaker - can't you just print to PDF?

Aandi Inston

[thumbslinger@adobeforums.com]

Yes- Just choose Print and then select Output Options where it says Copies and Pages. Then you can click the PDF box.

That should work if your system is ok.

If not, then click the box Create Postscript File. You'll have all the options you can set, save then Distill that file for the final.

[enSuisse]

Hi Barry,

I'm having a similar problem with 10.3.9 and Office 2004. The macro just stops... Then I have to kill the application (Word, Powerpoint, etc.)

What happens if you go into the folder Applications\Acrobat 6.x and click on the application "Acrobat Distiller" ? Does the stiller ask you to introduce your product activation number? It does for me, and I think this request causes the macro that starts the distiller to crash.

You may want to see my post.

Cheers, JP