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Oldskiboat
Oldskiboat
Known Participant
September 5, 2025
Question

Adobe Acrobat Pro 11 with perpetual license will not so a Save as Adobe PDF from an excel spreadshee

  • September 5, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 585 views

Hello, I had to reload my Windows 11 on to my ThinkPad P1 Gen 3.  After the reload I downloaded my Adobe Acrobat Pro 11 from my Adobe sign on using my perpetual license key.  I then had to register the program on my system.  I would have thought that the download would have done that but.  After that was done I could again see the Adobe and Save as Adobe listed on my Excel and Word docs etc. But when I clicked on the "Save as Adobe PDF"  I get this popup:    Adobat PDFMaker   Unable to find "Adobe PDF" resource files.  "Acrobat PDFMaker"  You must have Administrator priveleges to install these files.  Please contact your local system administrator.    

1.  I own the program, so I would think I am the admin.

2. I tried to access tha Admin Console and I am not allowed.

Help!      Regards,   Gary Huber

1 reply

Oldskiboat
OldskiboatAuthor
Known Participant
September 5, 2025

I do not see a way to edit this so I am doing a reply:   The Header should read:   Adobe Acrobat Pro 11 with a perpetual license will not do a Save as adobe PDF from an excel spreadsheet

AnandSri
AnandSri
Legend
September 5, 2025

Hello @Gary,

 

I hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out.

 

Adobe Acrobat Pro 11 is a very old version (released in 2012, end of support in 2017). It is not officially supported on Windows 11, which is likely why you’re seeing PDFMaker errors when trying to use “Save as Adobe PDF” in Office apps. See this article for more information: https://adobe.ly/3HTIr3L

Adobe strongly recommends that you update to the latest versions of Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Acrobat Reader. By updating installations to the latest versions, you benefit from the latest functional enhancements and improved security measures.

 

You may try the following troubleshooting steps; however, they may or may not work: 

 

Run Acrobat Setup as Administrator: 
Even if you're logged in as an admin, you must explicitly run the installer with elevated privileges:

Right-click the setup file → Run as administrator.
This ensures all components, including PDFMaker, are registered correctly.

 

Repair PDFMaker Add-in
Open Excel or Word → Go to File > Options > Add-ins.
At the bottom, select COM Add-ins → Click Go.
If Acrobat PDFMaker Office COM Addin is listed but unchecked, check it and click OK.
If it’s missing, reinstall Acrobat using the Adobe Cleaner Tool first.

 

Reinstall the Acrobat from the download source you have available, and use the serial number for activation.

 

I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Anand Sri | Acrobat Community Team

AnandSri
AnandSri
Legend
September 7, 2025

AnandSri, I followed all your suggestions.  Thank you so much for taking the time to respond.  I can see the Save as Adobe in my spreadsheet files, but when I click on it I get the same error that I dropped into this response.   My suggestion is that Adobe removes the term perpetual in regard to the License I have because they obviously do not know the meaning of the word Perpetual.

I removed the program using control panal/programs.  I downloaded it again from my account.  I opened it by right clicking on it and selecting Admin.  I used the complete installation and over wrote all files.  I regestered the product again and I went to help in the program and searched for updates.  It found updates and I loaded them.  Still the error message.   By the way, this worked correctly with no errors on the same computer with the same OS Windows 11 before I had to do a complete reload of my OS, Files, and Programs.  So, when support (online text) tells me that this program cannot work with my computer and with my OS, it does sound like a sales pitch to buy a monthly billed verison.   I fully believe that this should and would work if it was supported as the term perpetual implies. 

Best regards,

Gary Huber 

 


Hello @Gary,

 

Thank you for following through with all the troubleshooting steps and sharing such a detailed update. A “perpetual license” means you can use the software indefinitely, but it does not confirm the compatibility or support with future operating systems. As technology evolves, older software may lose functionality on newer platforms.

 

As a workaround, you may try running Acrobat 11 in compatibility and reduced mode and choosing an operating system older than the current one. Right-click on the Acrobat Icon, choose properties, then go to the Compatibility tab. Under compatibility mode, select the operating system from the available list. Click Apply and OK. 

 

Note: As suggested earlier, the steps may or may not work. Another factor is Microsoft Office. The Acrobat XI PDFMaker add-in was built and tested for Office 2007–2013 (and partially for Office 2016). 

Our recommendation will be to, if possible, upgrade to the latest available version of the Acrobat app. 

 

I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

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