Save as pdf won't quit the process and release FrameMaker

[FrameMaker-dk]

I am running FrameMaker Version: 17.0.1.305 - Unstructured.

When I use the Save as Pdf feature, with or without Distiller, the process quite often won't finish.

A pdf IS generated, but the dialogue is still open and won't close and the tps file is not being deleted.

Eventually I will have to force a closing of FrameMaker leaving lots of *.lck files everywhere.

It seems to make no difference whether I am using Save as Pdf or Publish to PDF. The only way to avoid it, is using Print to PDF. 

What might be the problem and is there a fix?...

regards

Bjørn

[Winfried Reng]

Hi Bjørn,

Save as PDF and publish to PDF is the same. No difference.

Also when you switch from FrameMaker's PDF engine to Distiller, both do the same. Did you create the PDF also with save as PDF via Distiller?

You said that you can create the PDF reliably only when you print to a PDF. What happens, when you print to a PostScript file and distill that? (Probably the same.)

When there are issues, you might also do a MIF wash for all relevant files.

Your issue sounds very vague. Good luck.

Best regards, Winfried

[FrameMaker-dk]

Hi Winfried

Thank you for replying. Yes, the process ought to be the same when running Save as Pdf and Publish, except that the publish option gives access to some other features. And you are right that the print to pdf / ps works no matter whether I print to ps and let Distiller take over or merely print to pdf.

These are manuals with mostly technical drawings in png and some 2-300 page and 30-40 chapters with conditional settings. The documents are super well structured and made and shouldn't pose problems. But this issue is recurring on different machines and different documents, so I don't believe it is related to the documents. Would you know whether this might be a Win10 issue, for instance? ...

[Winfried Reng]

When this issue appears on different machines with the same files, then I would tend to think that there is something with the files.

Although: I had this issue (the same?) also about once a year. Too rarely to find out where this came from. And when I repeated the step everything was fine. I always ignored this. However, maybe Windows is involved. Maybe something with the clipboard.

In my case everything is better now.

When you think that it's Windows 10, can you test this on Windows 11?

Does this happen regularly?

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Any chance you are converting to CMYK? I've always had bad luck doing that in Frame. I usually export to RGB (or unchanged) and convert in Acrobat Pro.

[FrameMaker-dk]

Thanks for the suggestion! That was something which I didn't even consider. I shall have to check it out. Right now I suspect it being win11 not clearing network cache properly. Or maybe it is FM having a shaky relationship with cache. That was a major problem in one of the earlier releases...

[mk-will]

Hi, Björn ( @FrameMaker-dk ),

you are naming "win11 not clearing network cache properly" as a possible problem.

So you are working with a network share involved?

Then my first idea is: Does the same problem occur when NO network share is involved (working just localy).

Regards

Stephan

[FrameMaker-dk]

Good suggestion @mk-will ! I shall have to do some more tests. I am not really sure how and what ends the distiller process. The last part of the process of generating the pdf is essentially handled by Distiller. The dialogue with the process detailing what documents have processed, I would expect was handled by FrameMaker. So is it Distiller not telling FrameMaker that it is finished with the job? Or is it FrameMaker not properly watching Distiller and executing the close down of the dialogue. And what process, actually, deletes the tps file?...

Regards

Bjørn

[Barb Binder]

Hi Bjørn:

Yes, the process ought to be the same when running Save as Pdf and Publish, except that the publish option gives access to some other features.

You likely already know this, but to clarify for others reading this later... File > Save as PDF uses the settings from the Publish panel. If you want to change the settings, open the Publish panel, tweak the output settings and since you are there anyway, just click the export button.

Later, if you want to use the last-defined settings from the Publish pod, you can just go with File > Save as PDF, or use return to the Publish panel and use the export button. In either case, Fm is using the .sts file to determine the settings.

~Barb

[FrameMaker-dk]

I think I have found the culprit in most cases. It seems the Acrotray program is not alltogether stable. It is supposed to invoke the Distiller, but sometimes it just doesn't. A workaround can be to use Distillers watched folders.

[QuintinSeegers]

We regularly run into the same 'issue'. We do have the option to "Covert text and graphic colors to RGB" selected, but not the option "Use Acrobat Distiller for PDF generation". When looking at Task Manager, the "Node.js: Server-side JavaScript" task becomes unresponsive during this as well.

We sometimes have to wait up to 30 minutes before the dialogue closes. The PDF only appears on the location folder once the dialogue closes.