Adobe Community: Save as PDF issue on Mac

3,731 posts
Oct 15, 2010

Currently Being Moderated

1. Sudarshan Thiagarajan,

Nov 16, 2012 12:50 AM in reply to Devils advocate

Report

Is the PDF with the same filename already open on your computer? Or is it selected for preview? In these cases, PDF cannot be written, hence the error.

Ensure this PDF (if already present on your system) is not open or selected for preview.

|

Mark as:

Currently Being Moderated

2. Devils advocate,

Nov 16, 2012 1:58 AM in reply to Sudarshan Thiagarajan

Report

Nothing was open, however, to make things more confusing I've just been able to get at a windows 7 machine and perform the same action and it works flawlessly. So is this something that needs some obscure setting fixing on the Mac?

|

Mark as:

3,731 posts
Oct 15, 2010

Currently Being Moderated

3. Sudarshan Thiagarajan,

Nov 16, 2012 2:10 AM in reply to Devils advocate

Report

Like I said, the file doesn't have to be open. Was the file with the same filename you were creating the PDF as already existing in your system? If it was, even if you had opened it in Finder and selected the file for Preview in Finder, PDF writing will fail sometimes.

Either that, or, a permission issue. Can you try creating on a different location or check folder permissions to ensure you have permissions to write to that file? Or, can you try with a different filename in the same or a different location?

|

Mark as:

Currently Being Moderated

4. Devils advocate,

Nov 16, 2012 2:57 AM in reply to Sudarshan Thiagarajan

Report

No files with the same name exist. I've tried different folders and file names but it still comes back with the message "Unable to open file for writing. It may be locked or unavailable."

This would tend to suggest that it cannot create the PDF file. Could this be an external problem with PDFs

Since I only need it occasionally I'll do it via a windows system since that works flawlessly.

|

Mark as:

3,731 posts
Oct 15, 2010

Currently Being Moderated

5. Sudarshan Thiagarajan,

Nov 16, 2012 3:08 AM in reply to Devils advocate

Report

Can you export the files as JPG images first.

Then open Photoshop > File > Automate > PDF Presentation

Add your jpg images here. Create a Multi-page document and hit OK.

See if this is able to create the PDF for you. If it works, there is no problem with the PDFwriter extension in PS. It will have to do with some file permission or something else which we have to dig deeper to analyse.

|

Mark as:

Currently Being Moderated

6. Devils advocate,

Nov 16, 2012 3:10 AM in reply to Sudarshan Thiagarajan

Report

The images I was using have been saved as JPG but it doesnt work. Is there a way of reinstalling the PDFwriter extension?

|

Mark as:

Currently Being Moderated

7. Luanne Seymour,

Nov 16, 2012 2:49 PM in reply to Devils advocate

Report

Hi. You’ve posted your question in a forum that is for beginners trying to learn the basics of Photoshop. I'm moving your question to the Photoshop General Discussion forum for specialized attention to your situation.

|

Mark as:

3,731 posts
Oct 15, 2010

Currently Being Moderated

8. Sudarshan Thiagarajan,

Nov 17, 2012 6:59 AM in reply to Devils advocate

Report

Did you try the PDF Presentation option I suggested?

Does it still not work?

Did you try clearing prefs? http://forums.adobe.com/thread/375776

|

Mark as:

Currently Being Moderated

9. Devils advocate,

Nov 17, 2012 7:06 AM in reply to Sudarshan Thiagarajan

Report

The presentation option was the method that I was using. It works in a windows machine but not on the Mac. I'll try clearing the preferences next.

|

Mark as:

3,731 posts
Oct 15, 2010

Currently Being Moderated

10. Sudarshan Thiagarajan,

Nov 17, 2012 7:09 AM in reply to Devils advocate

Report

Open your PSD or JPG, FIle > Save As > choose filetype as Photoshop PDF - see if this works.

|

Mark as:

Currently Being Moderated

11. Devils advocate,

Nov 17, 2012 1:11 PM in reply to Sudarshan Thiagarajan

Report

It does work when saving a single file as a pdf. It's the presentation action that doesn't then.

|

Mark as:

3,731 posts
Oct 15, 2010

Currently Being Moderated

12. Sudarshan Thiagarajan,

Nov 17, 2012 8:45 PM in reply to Devils advocate

Report

Yes - seems like an issue with the PDF Presentation plug-in.

Can you try this. Create a new user account on your Mac OS. Run Photoshop from there. Run this PDF Presentation plug-in and try to save the file. Let us know if that works.

|

Mark as:

Currently Being Moderated

13. Devils advocate,

Nov 18, 2012 2:06 AM in reply to Sudarshan Thiagarajan

Report

Doesn't work with a fresh user account either. Is there a way of reinstalling just the pdf plugin?

|

Mark as:

3,731 posts
Oct 15, 2010

Currently Being Moderated

14. Sudarshan Thiagarajan,

Nov 18, 2012 7:55 AM in reply to Devils advocate

Report

Not that I'm aware of. But, you can try using CS Cleaner tool to clean traces of CS installations and re-install the program afresh. This will fix faulty installations.

You can download CS cleaner here: http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html

|

Mark as:

Currently Being Moderated

15. Devils advocate,

Nov 19, 2012 5:20 PM in reply to Sudarshan Thiagarajan

Report

Many thanks we have success. I uninstalled photoshop, ran the cleaner and re-installed and the pdf now runs fine

|

Mark as:

3,731 posts
Oct 15, 2010

Currently Being Moderated

16. Sudarshan Thiagarajan,

Photoshop General Discussion

Save as PDF issue on Mac

Nov 15, 2012 4:42 PM

More Like This

Bookmarked By (0)

Answers + Points = Status