Adobe Distiller Dilema 7.0

[Bansheei]

Hi guys,

I am posting this on behalf of another operator, so I have limited information.
***NOTE: WE WANT TO USE DISTILLER for pdf creation, we are aware you can make pdfs without distiller, our workflow is old and very tempermental.

Ive been told that his Distiller refuses to make any pdfs at all.
He said one day, it just stopped producing pdfs, no errors in the log at all.
Also it seems like when you dump a postscript in distiller it doesnt look like it is doing anything at all, but when you quit is says 'do you want to stop distilling'... even for files that should shoot through with no problem. we tested newly created files with just some solids, nothing complex.

The problem is we don't have a copy of his distiller anymore, so we cannot just re-install.

Ive tried replacing his settings files with mine & even that has not worked.

Is there a way around this??? Adobe...
If the profiles have corrupted is there a way to over-ride them...
Are there prefrences I can dump?
Anything? Meow...

Thanks in advance guys, any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Lukas Engqvist]

Have you tried processing "known to work" files, in that distiller, and processed files that have failed in another distiller to be assured if it is the input or the distiller that is not working?

[leonardr]

Ive been told that his Distiller refuses to make any pdfs at all.
He said one day, it just stopped producing pdfs, no errors in the log at all.
Also it seems like when you dump a postscript in distiller it doesnt look like it is doing anything at all, but when you quit is says 'do you want to stop distilling'... even for files that should shoot through with no problem. we tested newly created files with just some solids, nothing complex.

The problem is we don't have a copy of his distiller anymore, so we cannot just re-install.(

Normally when a customer can't find their copy of the software to re-install, our recommendation is to contact support with your registration number and obtain new disks. HOWEVER, support for Distiller 7 just ended (at the end of 2009), so that that is no longer an option for you.

I would recommend that you purchase the upgrade to Acrobat 9, since that will not only get you the latest and greatest versions of Acrobat but solve your unsupported problem as well.

Leonard Rosenthol
Adobe Systems

[kyle]

If you are making a PDF from Indesign, you can probably still export to PDF using Acrobat 4.0 compatibility, which will flatten transparency. An inability to process transparency in the RIP is probably why Distiller is preferred. You can also try printing to the printer "Adobe PDF...," which I'm guessing won't work because it invokes Distiller. Printing to the "Adobe PDF..." printer does exactly the same thing as printing to a Postscript file and distilling, but maybe you would get lucky and side-step the bug that way.

[rich apollo]

You need to find out what changed on the system. I don't believe that Distiller simply quit working.

And I'm trying to remember - back with Acrobat 7 didn't you have to create a PDF Printer before Distiller would operate?

[designthatrocks]

You could also try finding and deleting the distiller preference file. It will remake it upon relaunch, so its a simple option to test out.

If that doesnt work, I agree an upgrade may be needed for the support aspect.