Participant

Question

An unexpected Error Occurred. PDFMaker was unable to produce the Adobe PDF

Forum|Forum|13 years ago
March 17, 2012
3 replies
21825 views

Hello,

This is a very user-UNFRIENDLY message. There is no info as to what error occurred or how to fix it. I googled this error and only found info relating to earlier versions of Acrobat and not sure they would be worth the trouble of checking out on latest version...one would have hoped Adobe would have something on this, but I can't find anything about it concerning the current release.

The scenario:

Powerpoint 2010, Adobe Acrobat X Pro, both fully updated and current. Late model Dell computer with plenty of RAM/Disk space. Windows 7 Home Premium

I can create a PDF using the Print to Adobe PDF option. However this does not save embedded videos as flash videos, and I have several.

We are supposed to be able to embed videos in PDFs from Powerpoint (and other MS Office products) by having Acrobat Pro convert them to FLV format. I did a test conversion in Powerpoint using the "Insert Flash" option under the Acrobat ribbon, and it converted and played fine in Powerpoint. However when I then try to save the presentation as PDF, I get the error and no PDF is created.

This error occurs with both Acrobat X standard and Acrobat X pro. I had hoped that Acrobat X pro would not behave the same way but it does.

What's the deal? How do I fix this?

Thanks in advance for any help

This topic has been closed for replies.

A

ACF12B

Participating Frequently

I tried Sandeep's approach and similarly managed to locate the single slide that was causing PDFmaker to bomb. In my case the problem was solved by ungrouping a set of three objects (text boxes and images). When grouped, PDFmaker would fail; when ungrouped, PDFmaker would succeed. At the very least it would help if PDFmaker could indicate which slide or page was causing the problem.

Sandeep_V_

Participating Frequently

John - I got this reply from Bud Wendt who solved this issue performing some steps that he mentioned in his email. I thought it may help others.

Sandeep-

Your forum system won't let me post. I solved this problem (for me). I had a document that had been created in Office 2007 with Excel plots that had been copied and pasted into PowerPoint. After upgrading to Office 2010, I edited that document and attempted to make a PDF, but PDFMaker barfed with this worthless error message. Fortunately, I was able, after several attempts, to read which slide number was the last one before it failed. I copied the single slide and it failed to make a PDF on that one alone. When I double-clicked on the embedded Excel plots, PowerPoint squawked that the embedded stuff was out of date and gave me the option to convert it. After I did that to all of the embedded plots in my original slide deck, I was able to save them to a PDF using the icons on the ribbons.

Bud Wendt

A

Anonymous

I would like to point out that this is a problem that can occur due to other embedded content from Office 2007. PDFMaker refused to produce output when I had an PowerPoint 2007 Equation Editor equation on a PowerPoint 2010 slide.

Replacing it with the equivalent (and much nicer looking) Office 2010 Equation content solved the problem. I have to agree with Bud Wendt and the OP that Adobe should a more useful error message.

Sandeep_V_

Participating Frequently

As long as multimedia contents are concerned i don't think there should be an issue. Try this:

Install Quick Time player and then convert the file to PDF. For easyness, create a seperate PPT with just one slide in it and put that multimedia object on that slide.

B

Bill12

Inspiring

You also did not indicate the size of your PPT presentation. You may have plenty of RAM, but what is the size left in your TEMP folder. Windows restricts the size of the TEMP folder and it may be that you do not have enough space for the intermediate files that are created. I would recommend trying the suggestion of creating a 1 page PPT with the same types of things on it and see if it goes.

J

jmb825Author

Participant

Hi Bill & Sandeep,

Thank you very much for your comments. I also had entered a message about embedding cine loops (.avi -> .mov or avi -> MP4) into PDF files from Powerpoint slide presentations at another forum, and got some help there, too. I am confident the temp file is not the problem as my original file is not that big, but I did take Bill's advice and make a small 1-6 slide test presentation in Powerpoint to sort this out.

However I still haven't been able to get the desired result: A secure PDF of my slide presentation with embedded cine loops that will play smoothly and continuously once their page/slide is displayed or until the user clicks them off.

What I have done: The native files are .avi files (have to be, unfortunately.) I convert them to .mov or .mp4 to work with Acrobat X Pro Embed Flash feature. These files play fine in "native" format in Powerpoint. I can select an option for them to play continuously and that works.

If I load the same files via the "embed flash" process, they appear as a black box on my slide with nothing in it...this threw me for awhile. Then I found that if I just played the presentation as a "show" it would actually display the cine loop images that I couldn't see on the "Normal" editing page in Powerpoint, and once played as a show, the images and controls magically appeared on my slide in edit mode.

I converted the presentation to .PDF using the Powerpoint, "Save As Adobe PDF" option under the File menu in Powerpoint. File conversion went without a hitch.

However two problems arose: First of all, no way to get continous cine - each time the cine loop ends, the user has to re-trigger it...this is true in Powerpoint AND Acrobat with "Embedded" cine loops, but does not happen in Powerpoint if they are not "Embedded." In Acrobat if they are not "Embeded Flash," then only a still shot of frame 1 of the cine appears.

Second of all, the first time you click on the Cine to get it to play in the PDF, the image changes from image 1of the cine loop to a black box, and then plays the cine for just one loop. What's up with that? Very annoying appearance and doesn't happen in Powerpoint in native, non-flash format. I'd like that to go away also.

And by the way, I tried importing the cines directly into the PDF from within Acrobat and got the same problems, plus then the images are on slides/pages in the PDF that don't match the rest of the Powerpoint theme/style/color. I did find that turning off hardware acceleration completely fixed the black frame/stutter and some jerky cine problems when images are directly imported into Acrobat X - the images played smoothly and nicely, but I can't get past the garish look of having to manage the cines that way and how they look compared to the rest of the project. Also, having the hardware acceleration off does NOT fix the embedded videos made from within Powerpoint like it did the cines directly imported into Acrobat.

Since both of you (Bill & Sandeep) indicate this shouldn't be an issue, I'm sure I'm just ignorant and missing some easy fix. I sincerely appreciate you both trying to help me. If you (or anyone else, for that matter) have any more ideas, I'm definitely open to suggestion.

Best regards,

John

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