Acrobat 9 seems incompatible with Snow Leopard

Report · Aug 27, 2009

Got my Snow Leopard late this afternoon and have had great luck with it so far (did an upgrade, not a clean install)...except for Acrobat 9. Ugh! Attempting to print to PDF via Adobe PDF 9.0 printer/driver causes the printer/driver to fire up and the progress windows indicates that distiller launches, but after that, the prompt for where to save the PDF to never appears and the file in the print queue disappears. Checking the log file shows quite a few errors are happening:

E [25/Aug/2009:18:35:44 -0500] Unable to execute /usr/libexec/cups/backend/pdf900: No such file or directory
E [25/Aug/2009:18:35:44 -0500] [Job 4] Stopping job because the sheduler could not execute the backend.
E [25/Aug/2009:18:37:12 -0500] Unable to execute /usr/libexec/cups/backend/pdf900: No such file or directory
E [25/Aug/2009:18:37:12 -0500] [Job 5] Stopping job because the sheduler could not execute the backend.
E [25/Aug/2009:21:49:33 -0500] Unable to update IPP DNS-SD record for AdobePDF9 - -65549
E [25/Aug/2009:21:49:33 -0500] Unable to update IPP DNS-SD record for AdobePDF9 - -65549
E [27/Aug/2009:18:35:41 -0500] [Job 7] Job aborted because the destination printer/class has gone away.
E [27/Aug/2009:18:45:43 -0500] Unable to execute /usr/libexec/cups/backend/pdf900: No such file or directory
E [27/Aug/2009:18:45:43 -0500] [Job 9] Stopping job because the sheduler could not execute the backend.
E [27/Aug/2009:19:38:42 -0500] cupsdAuthorize: pam_authenticate() returned 9 (authentication error)!
E [27/Aug/2009:21:16:59 -0500] Unable to execute /usr/libexec/cups/backend/pdf900: No such file or directory
E [27/Aug/2009:21:16:59 -0500] [Job 19] Stopping job because the sheduler could not execute the backend.

I've done a full uninstall and cleaned out all files, then reinstalled. I did the old repair/restore trick from the Help menu. I even tried printing to PDF after each patch/upgrade all the way to the latest version. No luck at all. And yes, all other CS4 apps I have work fine.

Any suggestions?

Report · Sep 01, 2009

Remember this is an OS only installed two days ago. And Save as Adobe PDF DID work when I tried it on the first day. I didn't use it on Saturday, then on Sunday it's not working. There was NO CHANGE in the system.

And other people are experiencing the same problems: It's something wrong with the implementation of the feature.

Report · Sep 01, 2009

Steve Werner wrote:
Remember this is an OS only installed two days ago. And Save as Adobe PDF DID work when I tried it on the first day. I didn't use it on Saturday, then on Sunday it's not working. There was NO CHANGE in the system.
And other people are experiencing the same problems: It's something wrong with the implementation of the feature.

You're most likely right .. I was just throwing out stuff to try .. if it works in a new user account, for example, it might be a settings corruption issue .. especially if it works the first day, and not the next.

Report · Sep 02, 2009

MBPro 2.16ghz

10.6 (Rosetta installed)

Acrobat Pro 9.1.3

Save As Adobe PDF crashes on me too when trying to print from Word. It can, however, print fine from other apps such as Firefox, TextEdit, etc. It gets to 2/3 of the progress bar "Rendering page content..." then crashes with message Save As Adobe PDF quit unexpectedly while using the AdobePDFPort plugin. (I am trying to print in Standard setting)

I have tried to check using Rosetta, but in that case the progress bar freezes at 2/3 as well and does not progress any further.

Report · Sep 02, 2009

To solve the problem :

Go to : /Library/PDF Services/

Command-I on "Save as Adobe PDF.app"

Check the "Open using Rosetta" check-box

That's it...

Report · Sep 02, 2009

That does not solve the problem for many of us.

Colt West

[signature deleted by host]

Report · Sep 04, 2009

My problem is that I need to print distilled PDF files (smallest file size) from chapters in a book written in Quark, with many illustrations. I tried saving as Postscript and then putting it into Distiller. It worked the first time but since then the Postscript file is either blank or contains a tiny image of the page in the top left hand corner and after distilling the PDF file is, of course, the same. I long ago (this morning!) gave up trying to get the Acrobat printer to work and, since updating to Acrobat 9.1, have also given up on 'Save as Adobe PDF' which always crashed just when you thought it might have worked

I don't understand a quarter of what I read on here. All I know is that there is clearly something badly wrong with Acrobat and Snow Leopard and we should not have to spend hours trying various solutions and reading all this technical stuff in order to get an expensive piece of software to work.

Until a week ago I was happily using Acrobat 7 Standard and Mac OS Tiger. Then my machine collapsed and I had to buy new, with of course Snow Leopard installed. Acrobat 7 did not function and I was told by Adobe that I would have to upgrade to Acrobat Pro 9 so spent £172 and have had nothing but grief since. Does anyone at Adobe read this forum and if so what are they going to do about it? We have all paid good money for a totally useless piece of software.

Can we have our money back?

Report · Sep 02, 2009

To solve the problem :

Go to : /Library/PDF Services/

Command-I on "Save as Adobe PDF.app"

Check the "Open using Rosetta" check-box

That's it...

In the post immediately preceeding yours, I explained that checking "Open with Rosetta" made the app freeze.

And if you think about it, Save As Adobe PDF has to be Universal: it's a fix to a bug that arose from updating the OS to Snow Leopard, the first MacOX not to be PPC compatible. It would be completely insane that the solution to that is a PPC app.

[edit] I just tried to put Automator in 32bits, but the bug remains (my bug is not the "Universal..." one, but "quit unexpectedly [...] AdobePDFPort plugin.")

Report · Sep 11, 2009

Thank you (and Tommy Neumaier in a previous post) for a solution that works with Snow Leopard.

Report · Sep 11, 2009

taronian

What solution worked for you?

Report · Sep 11, 2009

Setting the Automator action to launch in Rosetta, as described in message 55.

Report · Sep 03, 2009

I guess this will teach me to be an early adopter..

Thanks to this forum I figured out how to enable the "Save as Adobe PDF" option in Snow Leopard with Acrobat 9.1.3.

Now I'm getting a lot of crashes, but after much trial and error, the crashes seem to occur when I'm printing a two-sheet spreadsheet from Excel 2008.

"Save As Adobe PDF" wants to create 2 separate output files: the first is created OK but it always crashes creating the second.

Savg Adobe PDFs from other applications seem OK but it's too early to be completely sure.

Report · Sep 07, 2009

This does not work here either. I have tried the rosetta trick, but it still doesnt work.

If I try to print from illustrator I get the adobe's default print dialog where there is no option to choose "save as adobe pdf", so I then force the OS X print dialog to appear and try there, but here it just crashes.

Trying to print to postscript does sort of work, but I cant set the size of the document – so the result is crap.. like now for instance I need to print a poster 700mm x 1000mm, but all I get when I print to ps is a small portion of the poster.

This need to be fixed ASAP.

Report · Sep 09, 2009

Hi, I am having a similar problem, my main one being that the option "Save to Adobe PDF" is not actually appearing in my PDF dialog. Also when looking in my Library's PDF Services folder, I cannot see a workflow for the Adobe PDF - only for Mail PDF, PDF-X etc. Speaking of the other workflows, even choosing to print to a "normal" pdf through the system dialog does not actually produce a document. The frustrating thing is that there aren't any errors popping up so I don't know what the problem is!

I have run an update check on my Adobe Updater and installed the updates it found, so I should be completely up to date. I have also restarted the machine, which is a late 2008 White Macbook.

Thank you to everyone who has already given their ideas and suggestions! Apologies if I have written this in the wrong place.

Ally.

Report · Sep 15, 2009

This situation is absolute nonsense and Adobe's fix; the "save as adobe pdf" is useless. If you would like to add to your frustration, try calling the technical support line where you'll find the knowledge base of Adobe tech support is a a real low point and not at all helpful. In fact, denied there were any issues at all with AA and Snow Leopard. Come-on Adobe, fix the problem, don't give us a silly stop gap measure.

Report · Sep 15, 2009

As I understand it, based on my reading of cNet and ZDnet news the OS X.6.1 update wiped the Save as ADOBE Quality PDF (it has be blow out of the water). its not there - I suppose you have to re-repair the installation and Yesterday they added some additional changes.

Adobe is not keeping up on this particular matter.

Report · Sep 24, 2009

Also had problem with Save As Adobe PDF.

I went to root/Library/Automator/ and doble clicked the file: Save As Adobe PDF.action - and it ask if I want to install it.

Pressed yes - and now it works!

Report · Sep 25, 2009

I had Acrobat Pro 9 installed on my MacBook Pro 2.66 GHz system (purchased in June 2009) before the upgrade to MAC OS 10.6. After the upgrade, I noticed that the PDF Printer was gone. My other printer was an older HP4 Plus, and it no longer worked after the OS upgrade. So I initialized my printer system and reinstalled my HP printer. But this did not help. Eventually, after upgrading to MAC OS 10.6.1 the HP printer issue was resolved, but the Acrobat printing option was still missing from the print menu. (Save As PDF was there but not "Save As Acrobat PDF"). Even after I upgraded Acrobat Pro to 9.13 the option in the Print menu only offered "Save as PDF" but NOT "Save as Acrobat PDF".

After reading this thread I tried locating the "Save As Adobe PDF.action "in the root Library/Automater" folder, but it was not found there. So last evening I uninstalled Acrobat Pro, rebooted and reinstalled Acrobat Pro. I elected NOT to install the PDF printer from the Extras folder on the CD when prompted by the installer. Then after the initial install, I immediatly checked for updates and downloaded the Acrobat Pro 9.13 update. Afterward, the option to "Save As Acrobat PDF" was found in the Print menu as others have reported, but it choked and crashed when I tried to use it. Then I browsed again to the root Library/Automator folder and double clicked on the "Save As Adobe PDF.action" and it installed. After manually installing the "Save As Adobe PDF.action", the Print As Adobe PDF option in the Print menu worked as hoped for.

In my case, the solution of reinstalling Acrobat Pro, and then updating to version 9.13, and then manually installing the "Save As Adobe PDF.action" solved this troublesome problem.

Report · Sep 25, 2009

I expect this needs to be added to Technote put out In That InDesign Item that was posted here several weeks ago. When Snow Leopard first came out.

Report · Nov 06, 2009

The “Save As Adobe PDF” Automator action works in other apps (e.g. Safari, Mail, etc.), but when used from InDesign (File > Print > Printer… > PDF > Save As Adobe PDF) it fails every time!

Report · Nov 26, 2009

Workaround, choose to output as Postscript and then use Acrobat distiller on the PS file, just like the old days until this is fixed, hope this helps someone. So far I am not impressed with Snow Leopard and CS 4.

Report · Nov 26, 2009

At the top of this forum is a link about Known Issues with Snow Leopard that addresses this question. You might take a look at it.

Report · Nov 26, 2009

You might take a look at the date on the original post, too. I've been using Postscript files as a workaround/solution for weeks now.

Tony Burton

[sig deleted by host]