PDF's

[donahuem]

One of our end users e-mailed me the following problem. Any help would be appreciated.

When I try to pdf a document from PageMaker (my desktop publishing software) I get a error message and PageMaker shuts down. I never had this problem before. I suspect it might be related to the fact that we no longer have a working post script printer up here since the NEC is dead. I've tried to keep the NEC as the default printer in an attempt to "fool" Distiller into still generating the file but to no avail. The odd thing is, I was able to generate pdfs all through January and February even when the NEC was in the shop. I don't know why it's giving me trouble now.

 

[viol8ion]

Some more info will help: what is vs. of PM, what OS, how are you converting to PDF, are there graphics in the docs you are converting, how many fonts on our system, and what specific errors if any when you crash?

Using the NEC PPD should not have any effect. I use drivers from printers that have never been installed on my system to fool distiller. What works best for me, Iprint to file using the driver of whatever printer, in your case the NEC. Then open Distiller and convert the .ps file to PDF. When in doubt, deny all terms and defnitions.

http://www.wuli.com

 

[donahuem]

Ok, thanks.

I am using PageMaker 6.5 on Windows 2000. The files I am trying to convert do sometimes contain graphics, most often .jpegs, .tifs, and .eps files. I do a links check before each attempt to .pdf a file. I don't know how many fonts I have on my system. I do stick to using only fonts that I am sure are installed on my computer. I usually check that (and the links) by preflighting the publication before I try to pdf.

The error message I get is the very generic "PageMaker has generated errors and will shut down."

One thing that may contribute to this is that I have generally made a distilled .pdfs in one step directly from PageMaker as opposed to generating a .ps file and opening Distiller to do the pdf. Up until now, I had not problems with that method. Should that make a difference now?

 

[viol8ion]

PM6.5 is not certified to run on W2K. Here is a great FAQ on 6.5 and 2K by Peter Linnell, he has some workarounds:

http://people.ne.mediaone.net/atltech/pmfaq1.html

Most pros that I know don't use the Convert feature. I can generally use it with no problem on smaller docs, but on 28 page docs it wreaks havoc. It is generally safer to tot he print to .ps file and then distill. It makes cleaner PDFs with less problems, and gives you more control over the options.

Try not to have more than 100 fonts on your system. This is a windows issue. If you have more than 100, use a Font Manager to uninstall unused fonts. Adobe ATM Deluxe (not lite) 4.1 or Bitstream Font Navigator are tried and true. You may try uninstalling and reinstalling from the source disk any fonts in the pub that crashes. Bad fonts will definately screw up the works.

Make sure you don't have a coruupted font or graphic on that pub. Preflight sometimes works for me.. usually it gives me weird results. I never rely on it, either way.

hope this points you in the right direction. When in doubt, deny all terms and defnitions.

http://www.wuli.com