distilling PM file causes scratch file message

[angler2229]

I distilled a PM file got a message, "Warning, scratch file almost full."

I Googled the message, and I can't find any info on how to empty the scratch file.

Thanks,

Daniel

 

[Eggles]

Scratch files are sort of temporary files used to hold data before saving to a more permanent location.

Often postscript files can be huge, and if you don't have enough space on your drive, that may give rise to the message you're getting (although I haven't heard of PM doing it).

How much free HD space do you have on the drive you are trying to create the postscript/PDF file?

 

[angler2229]

Lyn,

I did have the computer on for two work sessions where I distilled the pages of one yearbook and then switched to another. The files each were a couple of megabytes in size. Maybe I did twenty-five or so pages in all.

I have a laptop with a smaller hard drive (40 Ghz). I have worked longer sessions than this before with no problems at all. It was just a little surprizing to see the message.

I know that I do have a lot of photos from the various schools I create books for, but I can't get rid of the photos until the books go to press. Maybe I need to download them to a CD to clean up my drive.

Dan

 

[Eggles]

>>lots of photos<<

Presumably these are linked not embedded? So even if the PM file itself is not very large, all the info about those photos will need to be included in the postscript file - hence large size. How many photos, what dimensions, what resolution, what file size? I would guess if you added them all up, it would be quite large.

>>How much free HD space do you have on the drive you are trying to create the postscript/PDF file? <<

This is what you need to establish. Unfortunately, you cannot put the photo files on a CD and then create the postscript/PDF successfully - the photos need to be on the local drive. Perhaps you can temporarily move other files off your HD while you attempt to make the PDF?

 

[angler2229]

Lyn,

Ooooo, you may have hit on something! I did not author this book, and maybe the guy who did was embedding the photos. If he was indeed using the Images plugin, the photos get linked. But he may have embedded them instead.

I did have to relink all the photos in the publication. Then a strange thing happened when I tried to distill them, the program shutdown, and I got the Microsoft Send or Don't Send message. When I reopened the files, they distilled OK until I got to the last 40 or so pages. That's when I started getting the message.

I checked my hard drive space and less than a third is used.

Thanks,

Dan