An unexpected error occurred. PDFMaker was unable to produce the Adobe PDF

[HMack]

I'm using Acrobat Pro XI (Version 11.0.18)

Whenever I try to create a PDF from a word document from within Acrobat Pro, I get the error, "An unexpected error occurred. PDFMaker was unable to produce the Adobe PDF"

I also get the same error when I try to batch process the word documents from the option in Windows Explorer.

The only way I can PDF multiple Word Documents is to go into each one individually in Word (Office 2013) and save as PDF, which is really tiem consumign when I have 50 word documents. I have tried disabling the PDF add-on for Word - and same error. Also same error when I re-enable the addo-on.

I can't believe we paid hundreds of dollars for this software and yet the only customer support is this help forum. Thanks, Adobe.

[briang39368541]

Since they weren't getting back to me I chatted them today.  They had to remote in to my computer to fix the issue and now it is working.

[francinem8540733]

Good to know.  I contacted them, too.  They ran the same tool and it appears ours might be a Microsoft issue.  Time will tell.

[kassiew84149596]

I am having the same problem and would like to know the solution.  I don't understand why it is not being shared with all of us.

[megant13109297]

I'd like to know why too. This  is absolutely ridiculous that Adobe has an issue, you are not fixing it, and Staff is not posting the solution, but emailing it. Why not post it so everyone can see it and fix your darn program!

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

The issue sounds like the particular version of PDF Maker isn't compatible with the particular version of MS Office.

In the fall of 2021, both MS and Adobe released buggy upgrades to their software which caused many crashes like those described here. It's been common over the years as both companies' updates leapfrog over each other.

Both MS and Adobe have upgraded since the Fall 2021 and hopefully everyone's software now can work together. But if not, check your versions against the official release notes for MS and Adobe, and see if the latest updates correct the problem:

• Microsoft: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/
• Adobe Acrobat: https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/index.html

If the problem still exists after updating both Office and Acrobat, then the detailed steps below should clear up the problems. They were given to my firm by various Adobe and MS engineers, back when we were system integrators. We learned the hard way: don't skip any of these steps, and Office must be installed and updated before Acrobat is installed.

1. Uninstall Adobe Acrobat. Do it either via the Creative Cloud management app (if you have a CC license), or through Windows Apps/Uninstall utility.
    
2. Reboot the computer, a cold reboot, aka shut down rather than restart. This makes sure that no residual Acrobat-releated files are being held in memory.
    
3. Uninstall MS Office. Your version could have become corrupted over time and often, the regular updater doesn't restore the apps well enough.
    
4. Reboot one more time — this extra reboot seems to reassure us that nothing remains of the 2 programs. There shouldn't be any trace of either on the system by this time.
    
5. Update your Windows 10 or 11 operating system. Settings / Check for updates, and install all that are listed. You might have quite a few different updates to process before moving foreward to the next step. Note: after significant OS updates, it's a best practice to reboot, if the system didn't utomatically do it for you.
    
6. Reinstall MS Office (not Acrobat, yet). Launch, type in any registration, serial numbers, etc. to completely verify your license and make it fully operational. Ensure the apps work as expected before going to the next step, so make some quick test documents, save them, open, etc.
    
7. Reinstall Adobe Acrobat Std or Pro. As Acrobat itself is installed, it will also add the PDF Maker plug-in to your MS Office apps (that's why Office must be installed first, then Acrobat). Launch, and type in any registration/serial numbers, etc. to verify your license to Adobe Acrobat. Open PDFs and test that Acrobat works as expected.
    
8. Launch MS Word, make a test document, and try to export a PDF using the Acrobat Ribbon (that's the main PDF-making utility).

Hopefully, you'll have a fully updated and functioning system by the end of these steps.

Our best to anyone having this problem.

[Tam H.Y.]

Hi!

I have the same problem.

Can you please share with me the fix too. thank you.

[TheRealSuperMar]

I'm having the same issue. Is there a tool that exists or a known solution for this?

[billh58025271]

I am still having this issue on multiple workstations.  If there is a tool that can be provided to fix this issue it would be greatly appreciated, or even steps to address it.  This is a growing problem and there appears to be no publicly available solution for this.

[oliverar2018]

Hi,

I also have the same problem.

Can you please share with me the fix tool. TY

[c-diram]

Hi,

I also have the same problem.  Can you please share the tool with me?

[divyap69359112]

It seems that PDFMaker plugin has issues on your machine. Can you check this out: Troubleshoot Acrobat PDFMaker issues in Microsoft Office on Windows and let us know if that helps.

Launch Word and use PDFMaker from Microsoft Word ribbon and check if you are able to convert doc file to PDF file?

Also, check upon launch Word you have PDFMaker enabled.

Let us know if that helps.

[oliverar2018]

I did all steps from "Troubleshoot Acrobat PDFMaker" chapter, and now I can convert Word file to pdf, but I can't do the same with Excel docs.

The same error has occured again.

[divyap69359112]

Hi Oliverar,

Try doing an online repair for Microsoft Office.

Go to Control Panel<Program and Features<Office 2013,2016,365<change<Online repair.

Regards,

Divya

[software.registrations@ca]

I am also having the same issue!

win10 1709 64bit

Office 2013 Enterprise

Acrobat Pro DC v2017.011.30078

I'm getting error when right clicking Word doc and selecting Convert to Adobe PDF.  It works if I open the Word doc in Word and create manually but customers have hundreds of docs they need to convert in Windows Explorer

Can you please send a fix for this?

many thanks

[lanep78272571 · Accepted solution]

Folks, I had this same problem on two separate pc's.  It took me a couple of hours to figure out a way to work around it.  Specifically, using Windows 7 and 8.1, Word 365, and Adobe writer subscription or whatever, when I would right click on the word document and convert to pdf or combine as a pdf, it would return the error.  The other methods would work fine, but since I routinely compile word documents to a single pdf to circulate drafts, this was an unacceptable workaround.  There was no support online except for one very obscure mention on a thread somewhere.

Bottom line, the only way I have  solved the problem is to uninstall microsoft office, and then re-install microsoft office with the adobe product still on the pc.  In other words, install word after adobe.  Then, in word, go to file - options - add ins and make sure the acrobat pdfmaker office com addin is active.  Full disclosure, this last step may not be necessary, as it may have resulted from my previously making it inactive when trying to figure this issue out.  Also, my assistant had previously attempted to reinstall adobe, and that did not help the problem.  So it appears to be a matter of installing word after adobe.

I hope this saves you the aggravation that I have felt over this same problem for a total of four hours.