Acrobat distiller, stopped working

[andrew boddy]

Acrobat distiller just quits on opening and comes up with an error message

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the latest version the acrobat suite from Adobe , same result.

Is Adobe aware of any conflict issues with the latest Mac OS?

10.13.6 high sierra

I use this all the time for distilling files for print so it is painful.

[Dov Isaacs]

What version of Acrobat are you running?

Also, you mention you are “distilling files for print.” What applications on MacOS output only PostScript forcing you to distill to get PDF. For typical graphic arts applications such as InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop, proper PDF (whether for print or display) is obtained by exporting PDF (InDesign) or saving as PDF (Illustrator and Photoshop).

          - Dov

[andrew boddy]

HI Dov,

if working in Illustrator for press printed work( which i like for small artwork jobs). You use the distiller to PDF eps files using certain specs like Pre-press artwork.

You drag it on the app. Simply saving to PDF from illustrator even with compression settings can’t do the same quality of job.

Am using all the latest versions, ...Adobe are investigating because they can’t figure it out either….

[Abambo]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/andrew+boddy  wrote

Am using all the latest versions, ...

A version number would be nice as "the latest version" may not be true anymore with the next release...

You will not make Dov's day with such a workflow (and neither mine). Saving an Illustrator to EPS just to convert it to PDF is creating lesser quality files.

Illustrator's Save As PDF  gives you all the options you need to create highest quality print ready files.

[andrew boddy]

Thanks Abambo, maybe you have not done magazine ad work? they actually provide distiller presets, so they receive the file distilled in the way that rips best.

Sent from my iPad

[Abambo]

I'm doing magazine adds! May be not what you're doing as I'm not working for different customers... But I know for sure that passing through EPS will degrade your file or at best give you additional steps to  fulfil.

I'm quite sure that the same presets can be used with Illustrator.

But may be you could point me to the website of the magazine (or one of it) sot that I can look at what kind of data they expect (out of personal interest), if that information is publicly available.

As an example, you'll find a reference of my magazine printers here: Advertise & Exhibits

[Dov Isaacs]

All the presets that work with Distiller also work with saving as PDF out of Illustrator.

Any organization that demands that you save EPS from Illustrator (or InDesign or Photoshop) and distill to PDF quite frankly doesn't know what they are talking about or doing! There is no responsible print trade or standards organization that endorses such a lossy, inefficient, Luddite workflow.

          - Dov

[andrew boddy]

wow you guys are hard core…..what is distiller for then, why was it created? if not to distill to PDF

clearly you think it’s outmoded

[SSM4043]

So....ummmm....the InDesign "Print Booklet" function prints to a PostScript file.

If it is "lossy, inefficient, Luddite" to print to a PostScript, what other options do I have (from inside InDesign) to assemble say, a 60 page saddlestitch booklet? I'm not going to manually create printers spreads for a proof. 

Tell me how (other than the inefficient .PS)  I can utilize the "Print Booklet" function so that 1) I can print an accurate mockup for my customer, and 2) we do not have to use Distiller, which will not even allow me to open successfully, much less utilize its distillation properties.

And no, I cannot create a PDF from the .PS file using Acrobat, as it utilizes Distiller in the background. All I get when Distiller attempts to open is a big long convoluted Error Message that I can send (and have done) to Adobe. Haven't heard back from anyone. I just uninstalled and reinstalled the latest CC versions of all the Adobe programs. Still no change, plus every now and then Acrobat also crashes.

[andrew boddy]

Hi Abambo,Dov

I am in Australia, just for reference.

Attached is a distiller profile joboptions preset, downloaded from a magazine that wanted their PDFs provided to a particular spec.

West Australian News magazine

I have worked in magazines as well as freelance now, and alot the headaches come when you receive ad PDFs from alot of different designers, some are fine, but alot are not.

And against a newspaper printing deadline that’s a huge issue.

Getting them distilled to your exact preset, ensures that they rip first time no issues….that’s the efficiency from a magazines point of view.

Andrew

[Abambo]

You cannot attach here to the forum. Yo need to upload to a cloud space and post a link. Or you could post a link to the page where the file can be found.

Distiller is a kind of leftover from the good old times when the method creating PDF files was printing to a Postscropt printer and distilling that to PDF. At that time most programs had none to very limited PDF creation possibilities. Today the recommended way creating high quality PDF files from Adobe products is using the programs capabilities. Adobe has built in all the tools to create high quality and optimized PDF files. The big advantage is that all the features are transformed in an optimized way. Example transparency: Postscript does not allow for transparency.

[Dov Isaacs · Accepted solution]

Why not install that set of joboptions, if they are not already so-installed, into InDesign and export PDF using them? That should work.

          - Dov

[Abambo]

Installing the jobobtions will make them available to all Adobe products. Look here: Where are the .joboptions stored on a Mac for InDesign CC? This is not only for Indesign, but will also be valid for Illustrator.

[andrew boddy]

Yes , I am looking to do that..

to be honest I have been using illustrator since about 1992 and I think until v9 eps was the only file option, so I never really switched over, I was not aware that it reduced the quality of images.

So thanks for the advice never to old to learn something.

Andrew

Sent from my iPad

[Abambo]

PDF supplanted EPS since some time. It's that much more flexible that getting out print ready files is an easy task today.

[QuantumPress]

In my situation, I receive PDF files with fonts not embedded. So I can open matching fonts, eps the PDF and re-distill to embed fonts to ensure it will print correctly. Now distiller fails me.

[SSM4043]

Can you please tell me how to get a PDF out of InDesign using the PRINT BOOKLET function? It prints to a PostScript file, which then has to be distilled, and Distiller keeps crashing. I've tried using the "Create PDF" in Acrobat, but it then opens Distiller "in the background" and it still crashes, so I still can't get a working PDF for a booklet.  

Any assistance would be appreciated.