PDF Maker Suddenly Doesn't Work in Word...

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
September 19, 2021
3 replies
762 views

Hello, new to the community and have a problem which doesn't seem to be addressed anywhere else in this forum (at least not my particular version). Some background:

I'm running Adobe Acrobat DC and Office 2019. For over a year I've been able to create PDFs from the PDFMaker add-in (from the ribbon in Word), which is what I need. But just a few days ago...

(1) The PDFMaker stopped working. I try and Word shuts down. When I reopen the document, I get a message (see attached) saying Word is running into problems with the PDFMaker.

(2) After getting the error message, I click YES to disable PDFMaker and enter my document. No problem. Then I go to Word, Options, and then recheck the addin and then re-eneable it. Functionality returns for maybe one PDF, and the whole process repeats itself. Sometimes it takes multiple tries before I get anything, which is unstable (and frustrating) as all get out. It's barely useable.

(3) When trying to create a PDF straight from Acrobat itself, it won't acknowledge, much less convert, any Word format at all (.doc, .docx, nothing), despite citing these specifically as convertable formats.

So here's what I've tried so far:

(1) Played with Word Options/Add-ins ad nauseum.

(2) Run a Repair Installation in Acrobat.

(3) Done a total re-install of Adobe, fully updated.

(4) Run a total reinstall of Office 2019, also fully updated.

(5) Checked the startup behavior for PDFMaker. It was already set to 3.

(6) Successfully registered the above using the command prompt (with great reluctance).

It really seems like Adobe and/or Word is/are refusing to work together. Print to PDF doesn't provide the functionality I need and also seems to fail, so I might have to cancel my subscription. I publish small-press role-playing games, and being able to make pdfs quickly and easily is a must. So is preserving fonts and formatting (and producing custom sizes). That said, I much prefer Adobe and don't want to change. Hopefully, the fine folks here (lots of people smarter about this stuff than yours truly), might have an answer. You have my abundant thanks in advance... 🙂

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T

Tanvi Rastogi

Adobe Employee

Hi

Is this happening with all Word files or specific Word file?

What is the error you are getting when creating PDF from Word file from within Acrobat?

Is this issue happening with Excel and PowerPoint files as well?

Thanks

Tanvi

N

Nic5CF1

Participant

I'm suddenly having a similar or the same problem, using Acrobat XI Pro and Office 2019. I was able to create pdf docs easily until today. Now, when I try to do so, I get a message that I need to install pdf maker. I go through all the steps, restart my pc, try again, and still have the same problem. I checked the "options" file of my Office program, and it shows that pdf maker is installed (but "inactive" - presumably because I wasn't trying to use it when I checked). I didn't try everything you did, because I'm not sophisticated enough. Hope someone can explain the problem and suggest a fix. 🙂