2015 - Warning box says: distiller will not open ".tps" file when trying to create a PDF.

[CW6er]

If I open a new, blank FM document to create a test file, it saves a PDF. But if I open a specific, previously created doc and make changes, I get the warning box. If I look in the folder where the ".tps" file is supposed to be, it is not there. (I assume the ".tps" file is a Temperary PostScript file that distiller uses to make the PDF?) This sounds like a corrupt file, so I got a new copy from the archives and tried again; no luck. I have tried "print to PDF" using the Adobe printer, no luck (same warning box).

[Matt S - Tech Comm Tools]

See FrameMaker PDF Tips and Tricks - Tech Comm Tools  for the settings that resolved all my PDF creation issues.

[Bob_Niland]

Theoretically, there should be no .tps hanging around for old documents. They are created on-the fly during render, then deleted.

Some things that can cause a .tps not found error probably include but are not limited to:
- .tps directory write-protected

- insufficient file system (or user quota) space for .tps file
- .tps file size exceeded 2GB, 4GB or some other limit (OS & FM version dependent)

- error during .tps writing that you aren't seeing

- .tps file exists but is hidden

You can try Print-to-file deliberately to a .ps file and see what happens.

[CW6er · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the responses!

I believe I have it figured out. The warning box gives the entire path name for the ".tps" file it is looking for and says to make sure the path and file name are correct. Well, I checked and the warning box matched the actual path name on the computer. The enclosing folder for the ".tps" file location had a file description in the name and our IT guy noticed that it had a comma in it and suggested I remove it. I replace the comma/space with an underscore and FM happily started saving PDF's again!

[Matt S - Tech Comm Tools]

So to paraphrase, you found a nonstandard character in a directory name that seems to have been causing the issue?

I knew this was an issue for other formats like EPUB, HTML5, but hadn't seen an issue with PDF. Thx for reporting back!

[Bob_Niland]

re: ...it had a comma in it ...

Yep. Forgot about that one. Windows FM, up through 7.x, could not handle commas in the file name or path. I haven't ever tested it in later versions.