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Question

Framemaker8 won't generate a PS file

Forum|Forum|17 years ago
November 19, 2008
11 replies
1132 views

On a book that I've been working with for months without issue, suddenly I can't seem to get a PS file (via Print Book). FM doesn't indicate any errors and the print action itself seems fine - it cranks through each document and reaches 100%. Everything looks fine, except there is no trace of a PS file.

I haven't changed any of my print settings, and here's what I've tried so far: 1) copied the book and all document files from the network to a local drive - this has worked before but has no effect this time). 2) Re-created the book from scratch (no help). 3) Rebooted, restarted, etc...4) Asked a co-worker to print the book, he WAS able to create a PS file without problem. This has cost me an entire day's work, and I've had it. Any ideas would be appreciated.

This topic has been closed for replies.

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_Steve_Kubis_

Participating Frequently

Every now and then, I see a case where the page select in the print dialog is moved from "All" to "Range", but no range is set. I didn't change the setting in the print dialog, but it just seems to switch. There's no page number range set, so I get a 0-byte .ps file produced. Needless to say, that won't distill!

Steve

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_Larry_Carey_Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks everybody - y'all rock!

A

Anonymous

I'd suggest being very careful about using a ".prn" file to create a PDF, as typically a prn extension indicates that a non-Postscript printer driver (i.e. from an HP or something) was used to create the print stream (at least on Windows).

As an example, with "AdobePDF" set as the default printer, when the print dialog opens and checking the "print to file" box the filename offered is "xxx.ps". creates With a non-PS HP OfficeJet set as the default in FM, the filename offered is "xxx.prn".

The .ps file is 75k and starts with "%!PS-Adobe-3.0"

The .prn file is 4k and start with a binary line and then "@PJL JOB NAME=xxx.."

The prn file cannot be distilled, at least in Acro7.

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_Van_Kurtz_

Known Participant

Larry,

If you want to pursue it further, check Art's suggestion about the extension. If the extension is prn, then Distiller will not show it in the Open dialog because it is looking for ps files. A fellow worker did this once, and it took awhile to figure out that there WAS a Postscript file, but it had the prn extension.

But, as you have found out, there is no real reason to generate the ps file when you can generate the PDF file directly from the Print dialog.

Van

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_Larry_Carey_Author

Participating Frequently

I have always believed that one should create a PS file, via the "Print to File" option, and then generate the PDF using Distiller.

It has never occurred to me to de-select the Print To File option and print the book directly to the "Adobe PDF" printer, since I thought the PS file was required for font embedding, bookmarks and whatever else.

However, after reading your response, I de-selected "Print To File" and printed the book. Lo and behold, the PDF was generated without any apparent problem. I'm confused, but relieved and grateful for the help.

A

Art Campbell

Inspiring

Larry,

A couple of questions...

If you're using the Adobe PDF logical printer, can you generate a PDF from the problem book file? And if you're just generating a PDF, why are you doing the intermediate step of generating a PS file manually?

In the Print To File checkbox.... The path does exist, doesn't it? Also, what file extension are you specifying? Are you manually specifying a PS extension, or accepting the default .PRN extension?

Art

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_Larry_Carey_Author

Participating Frequently

I've come to realize that my problem seems to be specific to this particular book or the document files in the book, or both. I have been able to print other books today without a problem, but I still can't get this one to work. Also, I have the same problem if I try to print any of the documents contained in this book.

I guess I'll start re-creating the documents one a time and see if I can get them to print as new files, in case I've got a corruption in there somewhere. However, I would think that FM would give me an error of some sort if that were the case.

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_Larry_Carey_Author

Participating Frequently

I've always used the same method without any trouble: File > Print Book. In the Print Book dialog, I've got "Adobe PDF" set as my printer (it's my default printer), and "Print To File" is selected, as well as "Generate Acrobat Data".

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_Kenneth_Benson_

Participating Frequently

How are you getting the PS file? Are you checking the Print to File
button in the Print menu? Or do you have the Adobe PDF printer set up to
print to a FILE port? Both require entering a path and filename (or
accepting the default). You've probably already thought of this, but are
you sure you're not just printing to one folder and then looking for the
file in a different folder?

--
Kenneth Benson
Pegasus Type, Inc.
www.pegtype.com

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_Larry_Carey_Author

Participating Frequently

Hi Art, and thanks for the response.
I always use "Adobe PDF".

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