Acrobat PDFMaker was not able to mail merge the document

[default1fcmpmh800dy]

As the title suggests, I am running into this error and cannot get this feature to work no matter what I try.

My operating systems and applications are fully up-to-date at the time of this posting. The versions of my operating system and related applications are as follows:

• Windows 11 Enterprise, 64-bity, 22H2, OS Build 22621.1413
• Adobe Acrobat Pro, Continuous Release | Version 2023.001.20064 | 64-bit
• Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2302 Build 16.0.16130.20298) 64-bit
• Microsoft Excel for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2302 Build 16.0.16130.20298) 64-bit
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2019 Redistributable (x64) - 14.29.30139

To eliminate the possibility of a specific Word document or Excel datasource being the issue, I created a very basic and straight-forward test mail merge and datasource and am still running into the issue.

Installing Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2019 Redistributable (x64), as recommended in a few other Adobe Support articles I found did not correct the issue.

I've also enabled logging and haven't found any useful information, as it appears to suggest its completing successfully even through it is not. Below are the outputs of the logs:

PDFMWord.log:

Mon Mar 20 11:30:18 2023 [INFO]: VBA::InitializePDFMakerDLL:Initialization of PDFMaker DLL started...
Mon Mar 20 11:30:18 2023 [INFO]: VBA::InitializePDFMakerDLL:Initialization of PDFMaker DLL Successfully Completed.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:18 2023 [INFO]: VBA::ShutdownPDFMakerDLL:Release pointers of PDFMaker DLL's.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::PDFMakerConvertUsingSettings:PDFMWord to PDF conversion workflow started...
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::InitEverything:Initialization Started...
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::InitializePDFMakerDLL:Initialization of PDFMaker DLL started...
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::InitializePDFMakerDLL:Initialization of PDFMaker DLL Successfully Completed.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::SetAppLanguage:Set PDFMaker Language Started.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::SetAppLanguage:Set PDFMaker Language Completed.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::InitEverything:Initialization Successfully Completed.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::PDFMakerConvertUsingSettings:Log events corresponding to review/Share button click Info.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::ConvertToPDFEx:Started Convert to PDF workflow...
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::PrintingEntryWithNoOptionsDlg:Initialization of PDFMWord was successful, now ready to start CreatePDFFile workflow.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::CreatePDFFile:Creation Of PDF Started...
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::CreatePDFFile:Current Active Doc Font is Office Font.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::GetFinalPDFFileName:Get PDF File Name.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::Preprocess:Preprocessing for EMF started...
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::Preprocess:Preprocessing for EMF Successfully Completed.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::GetFinalPDFFileName:Get PDF File Name.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::CreatePDFFile:Successfully Got EMF.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::ShutdownPDFMakerDLL:Release pointers of PDFMaker DLL's.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::ShutdownPDFMakerDLL:Release pointers of PDFMaker DLL's.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: VBA::ConvertToPDFEx:Convert to PDF workflow Completed.

PDFMEngine.log:

Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: PDFMEngineImpI::PDFMEngineConvertDoc:Doc To Pdf conversion has started.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: PDFMDocExporter::convert:Doc To Pdf conversion has started.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: WordExporter::doExport:Word Exporter Workflow has started...
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: WordExporter::doExport:Word Exporter Workflow has Ended Successfully.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: PDFMDocExporter::convert:Doc To Pdf conversion has ended with return value 4 .
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: PDFMEngineImpI::PDFMEngineConvertDoc:Doc To Pdf conversion has successfully completed.
Mon Mar 20 11:30:36 2023 [INFO]: PDFMEngineImpI::PDFMEngineConvertDoc:PDFMEngine Workflow has Completed with return value 4 .

Furthermore, the issue seems to only be present with the Merge to Adobe PDF/Mail Merge function within Microsoft Word. All other functions of Adobe PDF Maker within Microsoft Word are working as intended.

[Amal.]

Hi @default1fcmpmh800dy 

Hope you are doing well and sorry to hear that.

As you have the latest OS and application version, please make sure you have a User Name and Initials filled out under Word Options>Popular in Word and Excel.

Also, make sure you don't have any unusual characters or red-lined objects in my document, try to turn off ALL the grammar/spell check features and see if that helps.

You may also go through the help page https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/troubleshoot-acrobat-pdfmaker-problems-office.html and check.

Regards

Amal

[default1fcmpmh800dy]

I've ensured that user name and initials are filled out for all Office applications.I've completely turned off all proofing within Microsoft Word. I am still getting the same error.

Additionally, I've tried several solutions listed from the help page (as well as some others I've found from Adobe Support Community posts) and none of them resolved the issue. The solutions I tried include:

• Turning off/disabling all options under PDFMaker preferences under the Security, Word, and Bookmarks tab and selecting "Smallest File Size" for conversion settings
• I've repaired installations of both Adobe Acrobat Pro and Microsoft Office (which I don't believe the installations are the issue anyway because both are rather freshly installed, as is the operating system).
• Confirmed no other macros are present or running
• Launched Microsoft Word as an administrator
• Launched Microsoft Word with the "/a" switch and then loaded the PDFMaker COM add-in manually. Because this did not work, it may eliminate factors such as:
  • Word auto macros, issues with the global template (normal.dot), other add-ins, Templates in the Word and/or Office Startup folders, other COM add-ins, Word Data key in the Windows Registry, and Word Options key in the Windows registry.
• Freshly re-created a very basic test document and test datasource (yet again)

I've also reviewed the PDFMWord.dll and PDFMEngine.dll log files and there's no change from what I had originally posted above. I've also confirmed the file versions of these .dll files as version 23.1.20064.0. Are there perhaps any known compatability issues with Adobe Acrobat Pro 2023.001.20064 (current latest version) and Microsoft Word 365 Version 2302 Build 16.0.16130.20298 (current latest version)?

[Amal.]

Hi @default1fcmpmh800dy 

Thanks for sharing the observation and trying out the suggestion.

I have shared the details with the development team for review, and will share more information as soon as I get any input.

Regards

Amal

[brandon2953892120ml]

I am having the same problem, my software is all up to date, and I have also tried creating a very simple merge document to test, with the same results.  Please share any solutions.  This is the primary reason I have the Adobe Pro subscription.  The mail merge was working fine on Acrobat XI until the program began insisting on checking with the product verification server, which apparently no longer exists, and I was forced to upgrade.

[ita74084786]

I have the same issue and found a workarond at the moment to turn of Enable Protected Mode at startup, Enable Enhanced Security. You can find this settings under Edit -> Preferences -> Security (Enhanced)

[brandon2953892120ml]

I tried turning that off but I'm still getting the error when trying to merge to pdf.

[EPDB86]

default1fcmpmh800dy,  you seem much more computer literate then I. I don’t think I have the know how (or patience) to do all the things you've done/checked when you get the error.  When I get the error I just think its because I've left my computer in sleep mode too long and have disconnected/reconnected to my institutions VPN. I just reboot on campus and it normally works but sometimes that doesn't work. I literally don’t change anything within Word or Adobe (because I am not  smart enough to do all that) and it eventually works so I don’t know what the answer is but when it doesn’t work I too would love a solution that makes it work as opposed to waiting.  

[Franck32764026ykmw]

Hello,

I have exactly the same issue. Tested on a document successfully merged and sent using the same method a few months ago ... it no longer works.  I decided to downgrade MS Office to 2016 and mail merge worked, so it seems the issue is with Office 365. Are you aware of any compatibility issue between Adobe Acrobat 2023 and MS Office 365?

Thank you

[Interskill3220323781po]

Hi, 

I've been having the same issue  now. The last week I made the merge fine, but with the same file now I can't. Can u help me?

[Amal.]

Hi there

This is a known issue. Our engineering team is working on it.

We will share the update soon.

Thanks for your time and patience.

~Amal

[cdxxx]

Please let us know how to solve this problem as a matter of urgency...

When will you fix this bug?

[Brenda31003006xd7r]

I have exactly the same issue. Tested on a document successfully merged and sent using the same method a few months ago ... it no longer works. 

[Amal.]

Hi @Brenda31003006xd7r 

I have sent a private message with more information. Please check.

~Amal

[Jack32954268ofpf]

Any news on this? I had a person that could successfully mail merge 3 weeks ago and can longer do so. Eveything is updated. Did Adobe make a change?

[Amal.]

Hi @Jack32954268ofpf 

Please provide the required details as asked in the private message for further investigation.

~Amal

[David32978500nxjf]

Hi Amal,

I've been having this issue as well.  I'm no longer able to use the "Merge to Adobe PDF" option in Microsoft Word.  I keep receiving the "Acrobat PDFMaker was not able to mail merge the document" error message.

[Amal.]

Hi there

Please provide the required details for further investigation as asked in the private message.

~Amal

[Amber32981851mwdh]

Hi Amal, 

I purchased the Adobe account but also cannot generate any PDF mail merge like I could a month ago. Can you please help? My Adobe is all up to date. 

[Amal.]

Hi there

Please check the private message and share the details.

~Amal

[Jack32954268ofpf]

Hi Amal- I sent you the info. Any updates on the issue with mail merge being resolved?

[Amal.]

Hi Jack

Thank you for sharing the logs, i have sent them to the engineering team for review.

I will share the info. as soon as we get any update.

Thanks for your time, patience and cooperation so far.

~Amal

[Tim3132082845ih]

Hey everyone, I am the original poster of this thread and I am absolutely blown away at how many replies there are! I am happy to hear that I am not alone in experiencing this issue. I’ve tested it again today (10/19/2023) and things still appear to be broken.

In the event you've come across this posting and you desperately need a mail merge in individual PDFs, I would like to share a better-than-nothing workaround:

1. Within Microsoft Word on a document that is ready to merge and has a data source, select Finish & Merge > Edit Individual Document
2. This will perform the merge and open a new Word document. Save the new (merged) document that opens up as .docx.
3. Once the .docx of the merge is saved, this enables you to use the File > Save As Adobe PDF.
4. Once the PDF of the merge has been saved, you can then use Adobe Acrobat to edit the PDF and save individual pages. This is performed by using the Organize Pages feature found in Tools, selecting the desired pages, and either using the Extract feature (if the merge documents are only a single page) or the Split feature (if the merge documents are more than one page long each, as you can specify the number of pages).
   
   Although the file names may be challenging to indentify the documents apart, if you understand the order that the mail merge was performed in, you should be able to sort by that same order within your data source and correspond the numbers on the filenames with the rows of the data (and just -1 on the row number if you have column headers). Again, not the most ideal, but definitely better than nothing.
   
   I hope this helps!

[Katie33128962na2v]

Hi, 

I've been having the same issue for weeks now, so this is really helpful.

You seem very computer literate so wondering if you can help - do you know if there is a way to send each of the individual documents to individual email addresses? When i usually mail merge to PDF from word, each document is usually linked with an email address, so although this has helped to create the documents, i wondered if you knew a way to then send them all to their individual email addresses?

Hope this makes sense, I am not the most technical of people!

Thanks in advance.

[Teresa33606935339o]

Hello and thank you to all in the thread.  I'm glad I'm not alone and completely unsavvy.  Katie (above) ask the same question that I have.  Anyone?!?!