PDF process hanging up

[Guest]

I've been trying to pdf a multi-chapter book, but the process keeps hanging up on about half the chapters and giving me the message "Couldn't open [chapter file name]." I have to stop and open up each of the files that hangs up the pdf process. I did not see any illegal characters in any of the headings. What can I do to fix this problem? Thanks!

[Arnis Gubins]

Open all files in the book prior to creating the PDF. Use the shift+File > Open All Files option to do it in one fell swoop. Deal with the error messaages as they come up and then create your PDF.

[Guest]

That's the problem...there were no other error messages than that the processor couldn't open the file. I did open all of them to get the book pdf'd, but was wondering if there was anything else I could do to fix the problem.

Thanks, Arnis!!

Arlene

[Arnis Gubins]

Arlene,

Did you check the FM console? It's quite possible that you may have some missing fonts. Perhaps you've used a printer font and when creating a PDF, FM has to switch the system default printer to the AdobePDF printer instance, resulting in a missing font.

[Guest]

I did a search for the fonts that came up as missing and found none. Also the fonts used throughout the book are the same in every chapter, yet only half the chapters won't open in the pdf process.

[AxialInfo]

I don't think you've mentioned what version of FM you're using (from Help > About, including the "pxxx" numbers) yet.

Also, what version of Acrobat, and whether you installed full Acrobat Pro, including Distiller, or do you use the Distiller that came with FrameMaker?

[Guest]

Thanks...Adobe Acrobat 8 and Frame 8.0p236.

[Arnis Gubins]

The missing fonts can be hidden on Reference pages and in the Table Catalog (totally inaccessible unless you want to try editing the MIF version of the FM file).

However, if you're using a version earlier than FM9, the easiest way to fix this is to turn off your preference (File > Preferences) to "Remember Missing Font Names". The open all of your files (letting FM make the substitutions). Now save all of your files and then change the preference back.

With FM9, there is a new Global font replacement option that makes this fix a snap.

You should be able to proceed with creating the PDF now. If you don't have all of yor book component files open before trying to create a PDF of the book, FM has to silently open each file during the process. If FM runs into any errors (missing fonts, broken cross-refs, missing graphics, etc.,)  during this operation, it will simply fail and you will get no notice of what the problem was. By opening all files first, you will at least get some indication of what the errors are and can deal with them (even the missing fonts have been substituted so you should be go to creating the PDF at this point).

However, if FM does generate a temporary postscript output file and the failure occurs during the distilling phase of the PDF creation, then the issue is with either the joboptions settings (force the run to fail if fonts can't be emebedded or found)  or most likely some wonky graphics in your FM files.

[Guest]

Thanks SOOOO much!!

[AxialInfo]

If missing fonts do turn out to be the culprit, one good solution for preventing this in the future is to use the freebie SetPrint utility from

http://www.sundorne.com

which works "invisibly" to set your printer to be Adobe PDF printer whenever FM opens. With SetPrint,  FM is unaffected when the printer is changed to a local hard-copy printer for use with other apps etc.  The idea is that printer-resident fonts won't be seen in FM at all, thus not be able to cause problems when you change to the Adobe PDF printer, make a PDF and suddenly the fonts aren't available any more.