why won't Adobe FrameMaker 11 generate PDF?

[jane_writer]

Why won't Adobe FrameMaker 11 generate a PDF?

[Arnis_Gubins]

How were you trying to do it? Were there any error messages? Was the AdobePDF printer instance the FM default printer? Were you using the RGB or CMYK mode? What joboptions did you specify?  Do you have the latest patched level for FM11?

Without further  details, it's kind of difficult to guess what occurred.

[jane_writer]

I was working on this problem a few months ago, but my workload made me simply use the FM 11 and FM 7.2 on my old XP PC. I now REALLY need to find time to focus on the FM 11 and Adobe tech comm suite on my Win 7 Professional PC. I "forced" myself to work on this today.

Here are answers to your questions:

I was trying to "save book as" PDF and it starts as if generating PDF with Distiller, but tps file is zero bytes. NO error messages. No, I never had to have Adobe PDF printer as the FM default printer in the past. But I just tried it with Adobe PDF as default printer, and it didn't work. Used RGB mode. Job option = "Standard". Yes, I checked for FM updates and it says there are none and that 11.0.2.384 is the latest version.

I am most frustrated and have tried everything. I have worked with FrameMaker for 15 years, and I thought I understood it well. But this has me stumped.

About two months ago, I took the PC to the office (I normally work from home but go there about once a month for meetings at the Dallas office) and sat with my PC side-by-side with the other technical writer. Compared what happened, and we were both stumped. I need to go back and do that again. My inclination is to uninstall Adobe Tech Comm Suite 4 and selective install only FM 11 with Distiller. Then I can go back and selectively install RoboHelp 10 for HTML help.

I REALLY appreciate your willingness to help. I am not sure what to do next. THANK YOU very much for responding. Like I said, I think I need another session at the office to compare notes step-by-step; I think it has something to do with the PDF printer/converter, but not sure why it works on other writer's PC and not mine. I might have to make time and call Adobe to see whether they can remotely access my PC and try to assist. But that assumes they have some expert available who REALLY understands this software.

Thanks again.

jane noble

[MichaelKazlow]

Have you tried to repair the installation of Acrobat? Have you updated to the latest version of Acrobat? The TCS as opposed to FrameMaker comes with a full version of Acrobat, this is different than what comes with FrameMaker which is just the minimum necessary for creating pdfs. This mini version of Distiller is not completely compatible with the full version of Acrobat.

[jane_writer]

yes, I updated Acrobat again yesterday. I have thought more about it, and I think that the Adobe PDF printer is somehow not correct. I need to pursue that (again - I worked on this once before but had to give up to keep my sanity and to do other work - using my XP PC, which is so far working correctly). I do not have TCS on XP, only FM and Distiller.

Thank you for ANY and ALL suggestions, comments.

[Arnis_Gubins]

Jane,

What was your installation order from the TechComm Suite, i.e. did you install Acrobat before FM? If so, did you tell FM to NOT install the PDF Creator option (which is the limited version of Distiller for creating PDFs if the full Acrobat isn't installed). The PDF Creator option will stomp all over an Acrobat Distiller installation. You might have to uninstall and re-install depending upon how that was done.

I would highly recommend getting the Sundorne SetPrint utility (see: http://sundorne.com/FrameMaker/Freeware/setPrint.htm ). This will ensure that the AdobePDF is always seet as the default during an FM session (and automatically reverts to your default system printer when FM closes).

Examine the printer properties of the Adobe PDF printer instance and check the following:

- Ports (should be set to a specific destination  like "Documents\*.pdf")

- Advanced > Driver - should be "Adobe PDF Converter"

- Advanced tab - set Spooling on and enable "Start printing immediately";  Also enable "Print spooled documents first"

Under Printer Preferences > Adobe PDF Settings tab, the "Rely on system fonts only; do not use document fonts" option should NOT be enabled.

Finally click the "Print Test Page" on the General tab of the Adobe PDF Properties. If everything is configurd correctly, you should get a Windows Printer est Page created where you specifed the destination to be. If it fails at this stage, then the problem is with the printer configuration/installation and not FM.

[jane_writer]

I installed TCS last August or September. Do not remember being given a choice about PDF creator. I know from past, when I always had FM/Distiller only, that I was asked to proceed to install Distiller. I do not think that happened with TCS. I will look at the SetPrint utility. Thank you.

[Arnis_Gubins]

Th FM Installer is a really dodgey piece of work and won't ask anything. It assumes that you want to do everything. You need to manually de-select the PDF Creator option after clicking on the FM options to see it.

[Arnis_Gubins]

Jane,

Were you able to create a Test page from the printer preferences General panel?

[Winfried Reng]

Hi Arnis,

You say:

Under Printer Preferences > Adobe PDF Settings tab, the "Rely on system fonts only; do not use document fonts" option should NOT be enabled.

However, I do not have any problems creating PDFs, and on my system this option is activated.

Additional question to the original poster: Can you print to a PostScript file and then double-click on it to convert it with the Distiller?

Best regards

Winfried

[jane_writer]

Thank you for any and all guidance, suggestions, etc.

I really think my problem has to do with the Adobe PDF printer instance. Something is not right, and I am not sure what to try next.

Yes, I tried to create PS file and that does not work either.

[Winfried Reng]

Hi Jane,

Some questions:

Can you create a PostScript file for any other document? For example for just a brandnew document?

What happens, when you cannot create a PostScript file? Does the printing stop and the PS file is not usable? Or is the PS file size 0 Bite? Or something else? Does the printing stop on a specific page?

Can you try again once with "Generate Acrobat Data" activated and then not activated?

Best regards

Winfried

[Arnis_Gubins]

Winfried,

Turning ON this option restricts Distiller from properly interpreting any fonts supplied in imported graphics and text insets (that may not be resident on your computer). This can cause Distiller to fail to produce anything depending upon your joboptions settings. There is no real reason to restrict Distiller from properly doing its job.

[jane_writer]

In past years/versions of FM, I did not have Tech Comm Suite. This time I do, and I think I simply selected Acrobat, FM, and RoboHelp to be installed from package. I remember that I wasn't asked to install Distiller after FM, and I assumed that was because it was installed already as part of Acrobat installation. I do not think I was asked to install PDF Creator option with FM; I would have recognized that as Distiller.

I will find time to look at this again tomorrow or Thursday, and I might boldly uninstall and reinstall the package (again). Makes my head hurt! (I am frustrated!)

I do appreciate your help and suggestions.

[Arnis_Gubins]

Jane,

FM won't ask. You have to click on the FM entry to see what option are available and then de-select. The default (if you do nothing) is to install the PDF Creator add-on. Neither the FM nor Acrobat installers check if there already is a version of Distiller installed. So they end up stomping all over a pre-existing Distiller installation. If you want to use Acrobat from the TCS, install that first and then install FM without the add-on.

You have to explicitly de-select the Adobe PDF Creation Add-on after you uncover it.

[jane_writer]

If it doesn't ask and "stomps" all over existing Distiller, I would think many people would have this problem when using TCS. Have you heard about this being a known problem with Adobe? Actually, on the Win 7 PC, I didn't have FM 11 installed first. BUT, I did try to install FM 7.2 in order to use it with books that were not yet converted to FM 11; however, some FM 7.2 patches were no longer available and it will not generate PDFs either. Hmmm? I have a black FM cloud over my head.

Thank you again. I DO appreciate all the help.

[Bob_Niland]

> Actually, on the Win 7 PC, I didn't have FM 11 installed first. BUT, I did try to install FM 7.2 ...

You might be safer installing the FM7.2 in a virtual machine on Win7, running under an older version of Windows (that supports FM7.x). In addition to providing an OS with the older APIs FM needs, it will also isolate the older and newer FMs and Distillers.

If your Win7 machine is Enterprise, Professional or Ultimate (bit not Basic, Home or Premium), you can download "XP Mode" (not to be confused with Compatibility Mode) for free from Microsoft. It's a full copy of Windows XP/32 (with none of the 200 or so patches it needs, but which are still available). Also, if your CPU is AMD, there's an entirely separate VM patch you need to install before you do anything about XP Mode.

[Arnis_Gubins]

Jane,

Yes, and even installing Acrobat Reader alongside Acrobat can cause issues.

All of the FM patches are available here: Adobe - FrameMaker : For Windows Which 7.2 patch is missing?

The default location of some of the Distiller and Acrobat files changed after FM7.2 and this will affect the SaveAsPDF operation in the older versions of FM if you have a newer version of Acrobat/Distiller installed. With the older versions of FM, it is recommended to print to file and then manually distill the postscript file(s).

[jane_writer]

I have p158 patch as latest one installed. I cannot remember what happened after that. Sorry. And thank you for ALL your help. I feel like such an idiot. And I USED to be very technical!