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Flashfox_Prime
Participant
October 4, 2024
Question

Cannot print Postcript encrypted PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro

  • October 4, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 6226 views

I searched and found many posts about this but no real answer on how to fix this (or I missed the real answer?). 

 

Running in Windows 11 and I using the current Adobe Acrobat  Pro (licensed). Many PDFs I try to print from websites using the "Adobe Printer" (Win 11) fail. The oddity is that if I use "Microsoft Print to PDF" it works just fine.

 

Below is the error I just got when trying to print a renewal that the site made avaiable to me: 

 

%%[ ProductName: Distiller ]%%
This PostScript file was created from an encrypted PDF file.
Redistilling encrypted PDF is not permitted.
%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%

 

Like noted above, I had to resort to "Microsoft Print to PDF". This doesn't make sense as I pay for Adobe Acrobat Pro yet I need to revert to the built-in driver to print.

 

What am I missing here?

1 reply

Karl Heinz Kremer
Community Expert
Karl Heinz KremerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 4, 2024

In a PDF file, you can set usage rights. If you would be able to print such a PDF file to PDF, you would easily be able to remove these usage rights. Adobe says you cannot do that. Microsoft does apparently not care about such restrictions. There is nothing you can do about this in Adobe Acrobat, they respect a user's decision to apply those rights. You are not just paying for the ability to redistill PDF files (which is what printing a PDF to a PDF is called), but all the other functionality in Acrobat as well. 

F
Flashfox_PrimeAuthor
Participant
October 4, 2024

Hmm ... OK ... but this is happening when I try to print from a website that is offering me the ability to print. This last one was for the membership documents from a Zoo. So, they want me to print ... but Adobe says no (sigh). 

 

I can't remove the usage rights before the on-line file is printed, and when I look at the properties of the PDF that "Microsoft Print to PDF" produced, there is "no security" and everything is "allowed".

 

I like Adobe Acrobat Pro and use iot a lot. However, this issue is ridiculous and shouldn't happen. Luckily, I can resort to "Microsoft Print to PDF", which works fine.

    Karl Heinz Kremer
    Community Expert
    Karl Heinz KremerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 4, 2024

    OK, lets take a step back: Why do you want to print a PDF file to a PDF file. There is almost never a good reason to do that. You already have a PDF file, just download and save it.  

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