"Save as PDF" problems?

[Ridder, Fred]

The PDF job options that you are being asked for are the 
Distiller job options. If FrameMaker isn't able to find your
installed instance of Distiller, it's a very safe bet that it will never
find a corresponding set of job options. 

Note that although the various sets of job options are defined 
(or modified) from the Distiller UI, with current versions of 
FrameMaker, Distiller, and Windows there are *at least* four 
different places where you can specify a named set of PDF 
job options and it is not at all clear which specification takes 
precedence if there is any disagreement among them. You 
can specify the job options in FrameMaker's PDF Setup
dialog (either on the file level or the book level, with the book
choice presumably overriding the individual file setting). Or 
you can set it in the Adobe PDF Document Properties dialog 
that you get to from FrameMaker's File>Print Setup command. 
Or you can set them from in the Adobe PDF Printing Preferences 
dialog that you get to from the Adobe PDF printer icon Printers 
Faxes item in the Windows Control Panel or the Start menu.
(I think I've seen one or two others preferences dialogs, but 
these are the ones that it is easy to find.) And of course 
there is a place to set them directly in the Distiller UI, but it's
pretty clear that this setting only applies when you explicitly 
distill a PostScript file, which is only one way of creating a PDF. 

If you'll allow me to quote myself, what follows is from a response
I posted to the list back in April:

There are a number of good methods for producing PDFs from
FrameMaker. In order of reliability (according to my own experience), 
they are::

Best: If you have Acrobat Professional, set up one or more 
watched folders. Attach an appropriate set of Distiller job options
to each watched folder. Then use the Adobe PDF printer driver
(important point!) to print your document or book to a 
PostScript file in the "In" folder within one of the watched folders. 
If Distiller is running, it scans the watched folders periodically 
and distills whatever PS files it finds and puts the resulting PDF 
in the "Out" folder.

2nd best: Print the document/book to a PostScript file using 
the Adobe PDF printer driver (again, this is an important point).
Then distill the file manually by opening the PS file from Distiller.
This method lets you see for sure what Distiller job options are
currently selected.

3rd best: Print the document/book to the Adobe PDF virtual 
printer. This creates a PDF directly using whatever Distiller
job options you have set as the default for the Adobe PDF 
printer instance.

4th best: Use Save as PDF. There were some *major* gotchas
in this operation in FrameMaker versions through 5.5.6 (at least).
Adobe *mostly* fixed this function as of FrameMaker 7.x, but 
you're still relying on a lot of separate factors to all be in
agreement. 
This method does so much of  its work "behind the curtain" that 
you simply cannot see in advance whether everything is set up properly. 

So my advice is this: If Save As PDF isn't working for you, use one
of the other, more reliable methods for creating your PDF. The 
differences in speed and convenience are small, and to my way of
thinking a method that works properly every time is worth a lot
more than a minor inconvenience. 

My opinions only; I don't speak for Intel.
Fred Ridder (fred dot ridder at intel dot com)
Intel
Parsippany, NJ



-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces+fred.ridder=intel.com at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+fred.ridder=intel.com at lists.frameusers.com] On
Behalf Of Brad Simmons
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 11:15 AM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: "Save as PDF" problems? 

Hello fellow Frame users,

I am running FM 7.2. In my current User Manual, I'm hoping to come out
with the second revision (the first was last spring). Unfortunately, my
FM book is giving me grief when I try to do a "Save As PDF." When I try
this, it regenerates the whole book, then promptly gives me the
following error messages, in succession:

"To execute a 'Save as PDF' command you must have Acrobat Distiller
version 5.05 or higher installed." 
 
"To execute 'Save as PDF' command you must have PDF Job Options
defined."  

This makes me so frustrated! I already have Distiller 7.0 installed on
my computer. Why can't it see this? 

As for the "PDF Job Options" error,...what in the world?  How am I
supposed to define these PDF Job Options? I looked to find a window
titled PDF Job Options, but to no avail. Since I've never messed with
PDF Job Options in my life, (to the best of my knowledge), why does FM
want me to define these now? 

Back when I was running 7.0., I didn't have these problems. "Save As
PDF" worked every time.  Have you ever seen these two error messages
before? If so, do you have any idea how to fix them?

-Brad
_______________________________________________


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