Windows won't open PDF made on Mac

[H._Jeffrey_Mann@adobeforums.com]

When I make a PDF file on a Mac (OS 9) sometimes it will not open on a
Windows based PC. What an I doing wrong.

[graffiti]

Make sure that file has the .pdf extension.

[Jamumu@adobeforums.com]

Also, when emailing from a Mac to a PC, always remember to select "Send Windows friendly attachments" otherwise they won't be able to open it. This is what I've found to be the cause almost every time... I just forget to tick that box.
I'm not sure where this is in OS9 though, but it's somewhere findable.

[graffiti]

Also, when emailing from a Mac to a PC, always remember to select "Send
Windows friendly attachments"




Also a good point that I had forgotten about.

[H._Jeffrey_Mann@adobeforums.com]

Thanks for the response.
All the files have ".pdf".
I am not emailing these. They were burned to a disk. Some of the files will open some will not.
The documents were exported from Freehand as a Mac eps file. Then
turned into PDFs in Adobe Distiller. All the fonts are embedded.
I don't mess with much other than that. Most of these files were made in Distiller that came with Acrobat 4.0. There are 3 basic settings.
Screen optimized, Print optimized and Press optimized.
When they are transfered to a Windows machine the file icon either appears as the Adobe logo or sort of a white page (same size as Adobe
logo. The ones with the logo open the ones with the white page don't.
Could there be some setting in Distiller that I've overlooked?
Also, is there a userfriendly book or something I can refer to?
The help info supplied for Distiller seems a little technical.
Thanks,
H.Jeffrey Mann

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

> The ones with the logo open the ones with the white page don't.

On Windows, Right click on one of these files (with the white page).
Choose Properties. What does it show for "type of file".

>Could there be some setting in Distiller that I've overlooked?

No, I don't think this is anything to do with Distiller. You can check
this. Do the files open on the Mac before you make the CD? If they do,
Distiller is fine.

>Also, is there a userfriendly book or something I can refer to?

The Classroom in a Book series is popular, but you may struggle to
find anything about Acrobat 5.

Aandi Inston

[H._Jeffrey_Mann@adobeforums.com]

Thanks Aandi,
I remade all the files and this is what happened.
All PDFs were made exactly the same (same Distiller settings)
They were put in folders with 3 to 10 PDF files in each.
On a windows machine some of the folders would not open.
The folders that would open some of the PDFs were represented
by the Adobe symbol and some like a little page.
Most of the files in folders were OK.
When the little page ones were right clicked for properties
they were called "files." The ones with the Adobe symbol opened.
All these files were made on a Mac, Distiller from Adobe Acrobat 4.0.
When I checked Document Info / fonts, the embedded fonts all were type 1, encoding was Windows except for one. It was MacRoman. All the PDF pages in all the folders use exactly the same fonts. Most pages were all Windows encoding. I can't figure how this is happening. Does this
cause a problem. It seems like I read something about this at some
PDF forum page.
One last thing. These files open on my Mac just file.
Thank again for any input
Jeffrey Mann

[Tim_Murray@adobeforums.com]

I think the part about, "The folders that would open some of the PDFs were represented by the Adobe symbol and some like a little page. Most of the files in folders were OK.
When the little page ones were right clicked for properties they were called "files." The ones with the Adobe symbol opened" something wrong beyond Acrobat.

How did the files arrive at the Windows machines? Are they on a network drive? E-mail? CD? (Your first post mentioned CD, but I thought I'd ask in case this set was different.) And is this problem on more than one Windows machine?

Windows doesn't really care much about anything other than the file extension of .pdf to determine, or at least think, a file is a PDF file. You can take any file, stick a .pdf on the end, and Windows will give it a PDF icon ... unless the file had a custom icon.

[H._Jeffrey_Mann@adobeforums.com]

Tim,
Thanks for the response.
The files were burned on a CD. They were not copied to the PC hard
drive. They were opened from CD (if they would open).
This has happened on 3 Windows PC's.
The next thing I'm going to do is email them to the client to see what happens.
I don't know about the PCs. They belong to 3 different businesses.
Who knows how well they are taken care of. The files open on 3
different Macs.
One of the interesting things is some of the folders could not
be opened. All files were Distilled to be compatible with at least
Acrobat Reader 3.0.
All help greatly appreciated.
Thanks again
Jeffrey Mann

[graffiti]

How are you burning the CD's?

[H._Jeffrey_Mann@adobeforums.com]

I'm using the Apple CD burner from OS9.
Should I try the burner in OSX?
Also I have Toast.
The Mac is a G4.
Thanks
Jeffrey Mann

[graffiti]

Also I have Toast.




Use that.

[H._Jeffrey_Mann@adobeforums.com]

Thanks everybody for all the input!

Apple's CD burner somehow didn't do the job.
I used Toast Platinum in OS X and everything
opens in Windows just fine.

Thanks again,
I really appreciate it

Jeffrey Mann

[graffiti]

You're welcome.

If you decide to make the move to OS X, the burning software is a bit bette but, I still use Toast.

[H._Jeffrey_Mann@adobeforums.com]

Thanks graffiti,
I work in both 9 and 10 equally and an leaning more towards 10. I still have some applications that I haven't upgraded yet. There's still some
little things that haven't been, as far as I know, duplicated in 10.
Like being able to turn desktop icons into buttons. No double clicking,
just punch it once and it opens.
I'll try the burning software in Panther for a little test.
Thanks again,
Jeffrey Mann