Watched folders in distiller disappear!

[Sean_Cunneen@adobeforums.com]

However, if all machines are licenced for distiller, but you only want one machine to do the work from a network share, then Adobe have crippled the software. The annoying thing is they have not explictly notified users of the change from version 5, to this reduced functionality under ver 6/7. Instead we are left to ponder if this is the expected behaviour or a bug.

[sws@adobeforums.com]

Whether they are licensed or not, the Acrobat Distiller sold with Acrobat Professional or Acrobat Standard, for Mac or Windows, is not a Server product. For that you would want Distiller Server. Since a single machine would be setting up the Watched Folder(s) in this case, when the host is shutdown, the connection to those folders may need to be reestablished.

So ponder no longer. This is expected behavior.

[Sean_Cunneen@adobeforums.com]

Yes I fully understand why Adobe has done this. I believe they would like to remove watched folders altogether. I am a little disappointed the way they have handled it. It is not immediately clear that the functionality has changed. And it has not been removed, just broken slightly.

Distiller Server is clearly not the product to substitute for this function. The granularity of the licencing is nonsense - my 5 users would require a 100 user licence. It does not support the mac platform, although distiller clearly does. And thirdly, Adobe does not unbundle distiller from Acrobat Professional, so I pay for 5 licences of distiller, and pay for another 100 licences.

I think Adobe realise they made a bad financial blunder in the implementation of distiller watched folders - I don't believe this solution has been the correct one. I cease arguing the point, and wait to see if Adobe can devise a more creative solution for Acrobat 8!

[sws@adobeforums.com]

"And thirdly, Adobe does not unbundle distiller from Acrobat Professional, so I pay for 5 licences of distiller, and pay for another 100 licences."

On the Windows side there is Acrobat Elements, which is a stripped down version of the Distller, and I believe that Adobe has cut down the amount of licenses the customer needs to buy. (It used to be something like a thousand).

Anyway, if all the machines have licenses for Distiller, why not distribute the .joboptions file to all of them? A Watched folder could be setup on each system that uses the necessary .joboptions file and the users could simpy drag or print .PS files to the IN folder. If the PDFs need to end up in a central location, then dragging the final PDF from the OUT folder to this central location would be no different than placing the original .PS file in the IN folder that resides on the Server.

[Sean_Cunneen@adobeforums.com]

In brief, management. It is more difficult to guarantee consistency and distribute changes to local users. The processing load on the user's machine is better of offload if possible. Automatic workflows (which is pretty the goal) become manual again if users need to drag and drop files. Many of our PDF workflows also feed onto preflight, proofing and delivery phases. Sorry if a public forum is not the appropriate place to respond, and apologies for adding to the bandwidth.

Sean

[MarkATS@adobeforums.com]

Why can't you have one machine running Distiller, with the watched folders on that machine, shared to your other users, who all have an Acrobat license?