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QuintinSeegers
QuintinSeegers
Legend
November 9, 2022
Answered

Adobe PDF Printer lost after uninstalling FM2017

  • November 9, 2022
  • 4 replies
  • 2367 views

Many moons ago, we used FM2017. Since then we've upgraded to FM2019, FM2020 and recently to FM2022. We never unstalled previous versions, just in case we needed to go back to a FM file created in one of those previous versions.

One of our writers decided to free up some space and uninstalled FM2017 from their PC. Suddenly, their Adobe PDF printer has gone missing, preventing them from using the Save as PDF or Publish options in FM2019, FM2020 or FM2022 - they are presented with the error message FrameMaker could not find Adobe PDF printer instance, which must be installed to execute Save as PDF command.

We've never used Adobe Acrobat Pro, so I know it's not related to that. Reinstalling FM2017 didn't reinstall the PDF Printer either. 

Any suggesions on how we can fix this so this particular writer can print/save to PDF again?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer QuintinSeegers

    A quick update. I have emailed Adobe Support (as suggsted by @Barb Binder) and had remote assistance from Anand at Adobe. He installed the latest Distiller Libraries and the Adobe PDF printer is back and working as expected.

    4 replies

    QuintinSeegers
    QuintinSeegersAuthorCorrect answer
    Legend
    November 24, 2022

    A quick update. I have emailed Adobe Support (as suggsted by @Barb Binder) and had remote assistance from Anand at Adobe. He installed the latest Distiller Libraries and the Adobe PDF printer is back and working as expected.

      Barb Binder
      Community Expert
      Barb BinderCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      November 24, 2022

      What a relief, Quintin. 😊 Thanks for letting us know.

       

      ~Barb

      ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
        QuintinSeegers
        QuintinSeegersAuthor
        Legend
        November 24, 2022

        Anand also explained why, when you use the Publish option, it creates a subfolder within your selected folder. The folder your select is the "project" folder, with a separate folder for each output type.

          Matt-Tech Comm Tools
          Community Expert
          Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          November 18, 2022

          Have you downloaded the trial of Acrobat DC to get the PDF driver installed?

          -Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
            QuintinSeegers
            QuintinSeegersAuthor
            Legend
            November 20, 2022

            Hi Matt,

             

            I did install a trial of Adobe Acrobat Pro, but as soon as the trial period ended, the Adobe PDF printer stopped working again.

            Thanks,

            Quintin

            Matt-Tech Comm Tools
            Community Expert
            Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            November 20, 2022

            With as much time as it's costing you, have you considered wiping the machine and starting from scratch with fresh software?

            -Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
            Matt-Tech Comm Tools
            Community Expert
            Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            November 14, 2022

            Reinstall Fm 2017, and you should see it reappear.

            -Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
            QuintinSeegers
            QuintinSeegersAuthor
            Legend
            November 15, 2022

            Hi Matt,

             

            Reinstalling FM2017 was the first things I did. Unfortunately, that did not reinstall the Adobe PDF printer. After following the instructions in the link Winfried listed, the Adobe PDF driver is listed under Printers again, however, FrameMaker is still not recognising it, still giving us the original error. I've also noticed that Distiller (which is included in the FM 2017 install) didn't reinstall either.

            W
            Community Expert
            Winfried RengCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            November 15, 2022

            Hi,

             

            So the Adobe PDF printer is back again, but you cannot Save as PDF in FrameMaker 2019 and later?

            Can you print to a PostScript file and distill this to a PDF?

            If the connection from FrameMaker to the Adobe PDF printer is lost, I would reinstall FrameMaker 2019 (or the later versions) and see what happens.

            If this does not help, contact the Adobe support via tcssup@adobe.com.

             

            Best regards

             

            Winfried

            W
            Community Expert
            Winfried RengCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            November 10, 2022

            Hi Quintin,

             

            Here is a thread which discusses the same issue.

            Does this help?

            https://community.adobe.com/t5/framemaker-discussions/framemaker-2020-can-t-find-pdf-printer-instance/m-p/12525563

             

            Bestregards

             

            Winfried

             

            QuintinSeegers
            QuintinSeegersAuthor
            Legend
            November 13, 2022

            Hi Winfried,

            Thanks for that link to an existing forum discussion. Unfortunately, none of those fixed the problem. I did see another post by another user on the 11th with a similar issue (none of the solutions provided in that post worked for us). It looks like this might be a common issue.

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