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mikep47474661
New Participant
December 7, 2023
Answered

Why does Distiller open every time I print a document in Sonoma

  • December 7, 2023
  • 21 replies
  • 22615 views

I installed OS Sonoma on my Imac earlier this week, and, aside from the annoying CapsLock Indicator that I had to disable, everything seems to be working fine, except that whenever I print a pdf, and I print a lot of pdfs in my job, Distiller opens up first.  The documents print, but I've never seen this happen before.  Is this just the new normal, or is there a setting I can change to prevent it?

    Correct answer imageworx11708025

    It stopped a few days ago.  Finally!!

     


    I've since upgraded to OS 15.5 and Creative Cloud is up-to-date and I no longer experience the delay with Distiller.

    21 replies

    H
    hitesh_7828
    New Participant
    July 9, 2025

    Does it happen now with latest Acrobat version?

    S
    Stevven Townsend
    Participating Frequently
    July 10, 2025

    Yes. It still occurs after updates.

    S
    Stevven Townsend
    Participating Frequently
    August 5, 2025

    I tried today and didn't happen on my machine. Maybe you can try to reinstall Acrobat.


    It stopped a few days ago.  Finally!!

     

    W
    Will25719332njm5
    New Participant
    March 31, 2025

    Adding my experience to this.

    I can only print once from Acrobat or Photoshop (haven't tried any other Adobe apps), then I have to restart my Mac to be able to print again (!?) I'm using Sonoma.

    1: I print a document, no problem, straight from Acrobat/Photoshop.

    2: I try to print again, Distiller opens and bounces on the dock.

    3: Print Centre dialogeu shows the job trying to print, but the printer displays 'Offline'.

    4: Printer hangs for about 2 minutes. Printer clicks as if it's getting ready.

    5: After another minute, the printer prints.

    For all those who think the job has failed (like I did) hang on for a ridiculous amount of time to see if it works. And pretend it's the 80s and your game is loading on ypour Sinclair Spectrum.

    It's quicker to restart the Mac every time than wait that long.

     

     

    M
    Mark @ BOA
    Participating Frequently
    February 25, 2025

    I  was searching for answers too and tried many of the suggestions in this thread. I found if I selected ADVANCED in the print dialogue (I'm using Mac) and click the PRINT AS IMAGE tick box it bipasses distiller and prints straight away.

      V
      viviana86815038
      New Participant
      February 25, 2025

      Great! I'll try that and see how it works for me. Adobe really should be sorting this out with so many people with the same issue!

        B
        Bing Cadaver
        Participating Frequently
        November 24, 2024

        Ever since Sonoma when I try to print from Acrobat Pro, Distiler opens, the rainbow ball starts spinning and more often than not i receive the 'cannot print' message (see attached image). The only work around I have found is to select 'Acrobat Default' in the advanced print options, however this obverrides my colour space selection in my print setups, which always worked previously. The other option is to open the PDF is Preview app, where it prints without a problem...all of this is a pain in the a** though.

        M
        Mengee
        New Participant
        December 8, 2024

        Make sure you select "Acrobat Default" in Advanced (Print Setup) in the Print dialogue box. This prints the file without it being processed in Distiller.

        M
        Mark @ BOA
        Participating Frequently
        December 8, 2024
        I selected ACROBAT DEFAULT in the ADVANCED print dialogue and I’m still watching the Distiller bounce up and down for 2 minutes before printing to a colour laser printer.
        What I have discovered is selecting PRINT AS IMAGE in the ADVANCED print dialogue bypasses distiller. I’ve no idea how that affects other print preferences but it prints my cmyk documents okay.
        D
        defaultbxcboe7n2zj5
        New Participant
        November 15, 2024

        I am having the same problem -- Distiller NEVER used to open.  Now it opens about 90% of the time and Acrobat hangs.  Have to force quit.  Distiller doesn't do anything -- it just opens.  SOMETIMES the pdf will print -- it doesn't seem to matter which printer or which file (or if I do or do not have Print As Image selected).  I cannot replicate the problem at will -- it is somewhat random, but almost always Acrobat fails to print.  I am using Sonoma 14.5 and Adobe Pro 2020.

        M
        Mark @ BOA
        Participating Frequently
        November 11, 2024

        I'm running Acobat DC on an Intel 3.6 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 Mac (2019). I just installed Senoma 14.7.1 and Acrobat DC now prints to Distiller instead to the printer driver. Distiller then prints to the driver which results in a successful print. However, was taking a long time. I've read through these questions and answers and upgraded Acrobat DC through the HELP menu successfully. It is now version 24.004.20243.

        After restarting it still prints to Distiller, although faster now. I read we can reset the preferences by...

        • Select “Go” in the menu bar, then choose “Go to Folder” and enter “~/library/preferences”.
        • Locate “com.adobe.acrobat.pro.plist” and move it to a different location for backup purposes.

        That file doesn't exist in the results of the Go Folder list. Nor does spotlight find it.

        While I can still print, I read that bug fix patches and updated versions had fixed this issue yet ... here I am.

         

         

         

        A
        alexanderf54351427
        New Participant
        November 3, 2024

        Unfortunately, I'm having the same issue with the latest version of Acrobat (2024.004.20219) and macOS Sequoia.
        When I print a PDF, Distiller pops up, closes after a second, and then the printer starts printing.

        A
        A for Design
        Participating Frequently
        September 11, 2024

        Looks like it's finally fixed.
        I've been opening and printing pdf files without any distiller popup and delays in the last few days.

        EliseBushArt
        EliseBushArt
        New Participant
        September 17, 2024

        I was having the same problem with Distiller launching everytime I needed to print. I got it to work by going into the Print Dialog, Advanced, then I selected Print as Image. And you can select the dpi.

        For my HP Laserjet, this seems to be the only way Adobe will print for InDesign or any of the softwares. It enabled printing in Acrobat without the launch of Distiller and the wait or crash.

         

        J
        JLMcW
        New Participant
        September 18, 2024

        Thank you for this workaround, EliseBushArt.

        Adobe: I'm still having the same issue as the original poster since recently upgrading to Sonoma.

        A
        AlexClearDesign
        New Participant
        September 5, 2024

        I'm having the same issue. But it doesnt even print. It just tries to distill the PDF into a PDF and fails. sigh. Would love a solution to this. I'm currently dropping all my PDFs into another program like InDesign or Word and then hitting print which works, but is very annoying. Based on that I'd say this is an Acrobat problem. 

        A
        AlexClearDesign
        New Participant
        September 4, 2024

        Same issue. Distiller pops up and then it hangs and doesnt print at all actually. 

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