Cannot save as PDF from print menu!

H

homealone

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I have enjoyed saving as PDF for quite some time on Panther, but recently I noticed that both the "Preview" and "Save As PDF..." buttons were greyed out.

When I check the "Save as File" option in the "Output Options" menu of the scroll down print menu, it only allows me to save in PostScript format, which is of no use.

I believe that the functionality was lost after an automatic update in the last few weeks.

Has anyone else had this problem? Any ideas?
 
I still have both of my functions in there.

Is your printer still selecting the correct printer?
 
Yes, I have only one printer (HP Deskjet 980C) and I have just printed out the test page.

The printing functionality has subtly changed upon each system update. I think that I lost the ability to Save As PDF from the last update "Mac OS X Update" (10.3.4). My recent update and console logs are as follows:

Software Update Log:
2004-04-06 00:08:49 +0100: Installed "iChat Update" (2.1)
2004-04-06 00:09:02 +0100: Installed "Security Update 2004-04-05" (1.0)
2004-04-30 23:30:00 +0100: Installed "iTunes" (4.5)
2004-04-30 23:43:33 +0100: Installed "QuickTime" (6.5.1)
2004-05-07 23:35:50 +0100: Installed "Security Update 2004-05-03" (1.0)
2004-05-22 00:31:21 +0100: Installed "Security Update 2004-05-24" (1.0)
2004-05-22 00:36:04 +0100: Installed "iPod Update 2004-04-28" (3.0)
2004-05-29 11:16:17 +0100: Installed "Mac OS X Update" (10.3.4)
2004-06-14 23:08:37 +0100: Installed "iTunes" (4.6)
2004-06-14 23:08:46 +0100: Installed "Security Update 2004-06-07" (1.0)

Console Log:
Mac OS X Version 10.3.4 (Build 7H63)
2004-06-22 09:53:48 +0100
2004-06-22 10:20:31.248 Software Update[395] *** -[NSCFArray addObject:]: attempt to insert nil
2004-06-22 10:20:31.294 Software Update[395] *** -[NSCFArray addObject:]: attempt to insert nil
2004-06-22 10:20:31.360 Software Update[395] *** -[NSCFArray addObject:]: attempt to insert nil
2004-06-22 10:20:31.441 Software Update[395] *** -[NSCFArray addObject:]: attempt to insert nil

The Console Log seems to be upset about something. Is it feasible that the last system update didn't install properly, causing loss of existing functionality?
 
Ok. Here is a quick way to fix this (if you have a broadband connection). Just go over to the Apple web site and download the 10.3.4 Combined update. After you install that then open Applications->Utilities->Disk Utility and "Repair Permissions" on your startup drive. Then after that re-run the software updates. Once more after the updates install open Disk Utility again and re-run "Repair Permissions". This should fix your problem. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the advice, but it didn't solve the problem. The Software Update Log remained exactly as before, whereas the Console Log looks much happier, as follows:

Console Log:
Mac OS X Version 10.3.4 (Build 7H63)
2004-06-23 10:11:14 +0100

Software Update Log:
2004-05-22 00:36:04 +0100: Installed "iPod Update 2004-04-28" (3.0)
2004-05-29 11:16:17 +0100: Installed "Mac OS X Update" (10.3.4)
2004-06-14 23:08:37 +0100: Installed "iTunes" (4.6)
2004-06-14 23:08:46 +0100: Installed "Security Update 2004-06-07" (1.0)

Searching through PDF documents that I created using the "Save As PDF..." option I discovered that I lost this functionality after 2004-06-14. If the functionality loss is due to a software update, then it must be either the "iTunes" or the "Security Update 2004-06-07" that caused it.

I shall try to perform the reinstallation procedure described above with the suspect updates to see if it resolves the problem.
 
No, that didn't do help either. I haven't installed anything new since the loss of functionality and I haven't been playing around with any settings to see what they do, so I am baffled as to what could have caused this.

Can anyone think of any diagnostic tests that may reveal what the problem is, and why it has occurred? What other information could I provide that may shed light on this matter?
 
Yes, it is true of all applications. Having said that, I just tried something different, I logged in as a different user and found the "Save As PDF..." and "Preview" buttons opperable. So somehow they have been switched off for the administrator only.

Does this smell like a plist corruption?
 
Experiment:
I copied all the plist files stored in /Users/anonymous/Library/Preferences (an account where the "Save As PDF..." buttons are opperable) into the corresponding Preferences folder of the administrator account where the buttons are not opperable, having first made a backup of my Preferences folder.

Result:
Upon restarting the computer, I could see the changed prefs take effect (different apps in the doc etc), but this still did not solve the problem.
 
I still have both of my functions in there too, after updating some time ago to Panther... but this option is TOO BAD!!!

I posted this:

black and white plotters usually don't take jarge documents. 20 to 30MB are the limits of such machines... the size of my documents is A0 (81x112 cm aprox.), and contain planty of images jpg, what make them really large (130MB).

And plotters manage best PDF files, both those reasons are why I need to convert the files into a PDF document before sending away.

This guys: http://www.jwwalker.com/pages/pdf.html
have such a software to run on OS9, very usuful, but doesn't run on OSX, due to unknown OSX printing programming information.(Apple seams to provide very poor information about this topic).

I'm looking for similar programe... ideas?

Aparently I found a solution thanks to many replys I got. But, the PDF file made by OSX is just too poor, and too bad. Grey blocks will appear behind you text lines..., the images will be on a very light grey background too, etc.
I've got fed up :mad: , and then the solution:
for extremely good printing quality, go to OS9, run the desires program from there (Photoshop, VectorWorks, form•Z, etc), and with the download I 've already sugested b4 you are done!!!! Perfect, text and images could be perfectly converted into a small PDF file.

::ha::
 
I've solved it!

It was a plist issue after all. In my Preferences folder there was a file called "com.apple.print.custompresets.plist" which contained a key called "PDFIsProtected". This should be set to false, othewise you cannot use either the "Preview" or "Save As PDF..." buttons!

Thanks to all those that contributed.
 
...could you tell something about the quality of those PDF files that you are able to make now?

...and if that's still so poor, ...is it any way to change settings to improve it?
 
homealone said:
I've solved it!

It was a plist issue after all. In my Preferences folder there was a file called "com.apple.print.custompresets.plist" which contained a key called "PDFIsProtected". This should be set to false, othewise you cannot use either the "Preview" or "Save As PDF..." buttons!

Thanks to all those that contributed.
Click to expand...
So how did it get set to "true" in the first place?
 
Yes. fernando.alonso, I use PDFs to store A4 sized documents in a consistent non-editable form, to capture information and pictures from the web or to print nicely formatted source code from the PCs and printers at college.

I have always been satisfied with the results. Rather than describe their quality I have attached some samples for your inspection...

After fixing the problem with the missing buttons, I noticed that saving a web page as PDF doesn't work as well as it used to. I find that:

1) The PDF produced SOMETIMES (for certain web pages) breaks up the image, placing a thin strip of image at the top of each page - A worthless unusable result. NB[It worked properly for this site]

2) Using the "Select Tool" no longer allows you to create another PDF from just the selected area, but creates one as a copy of the entire page containing the selected area.

Can anyone else confirm this functionality? Or do I still need to alter my plist prefs?

Copying code from Xcode to Microsoft Word and adjusting the formatting yields good results (see attachment Timer.pdf).

Trying to grab a "Tartiflette" recipe from the following site yielded poor results with redundant empty pages:

http://www.aufeminin.com/__r386_Tartiflette.html

You should be able to select the recipe using the select tool and create a new PDF from the first (I used to do this), but it no longer works for me, instead it merely reprints the same entire page.

The way I get round this problem is to copy the selected area from the PDF of the web page and paste it into Photoshop. From Photoshop I "place the image" and save as Photoshop PDF. I open the Photoshop PDF in Preview and use the Save As PDF function to create a standard PDF format that can be used on any computer. It is a bit long winded, but does the job. (see attachment Tartiflette_Good.pdf).

Let me know what you think about the quality, and whether you like the recipe?

ps: I could not upload the original PDFs as they were too big for this site's upload capacity (>100K). I have fiddled with the Tartiflette_Good.pdf quality reduce its filesize, so bare in mind that the true image quality will be slightly better. Also Zoom in to the image to appreciate its detail.
 

Attachments

TommyWillB, I have no idea how this happened! I am not in the habit of changing things that work!

I originally blamed it on the "Mac OS X Update" (10.3.4), but when I checked the date of the last successfully created PDF, it revealed that 10.3.4 was not responsible.

Can these things just happen by themselves?

Could it possibly be conflicting plist files? I have 4 plist files associated with printing:
com.apple.print.custompresets.plist
com.apple.print.PrintCenter.plist
com.apple.print.PrinterProxy.DESKJET_980C.plist
com.apple.print.PrintingPrefs.plist

What do you think? What could I look at to determine the cause?
 
thanks for all he suggestions in first place, Homealone.

I'll have to try to print it, but I must say the text looks good. Although some problems may happen when choosing to print at 300dpi... we will see. The picture is low resolution anyhow... so that won't be necessary to try at all.
 
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