Fixing a PageMaker-Acrobat Bug

I'm not just a book author; I also design and typeset books. I use PageMaker 7.01 to typeset the pages, and then export them as a PDF file.

The Problem

Distiller is the software that takes the .ps file (PostScript format) generated by PageMaker and converts it to PDF format. Sometimes, Distiller refuses to do the conversion, and provides clearly-worded error messages that help me pin down the problem almost immediately:

%%[ Error: typecheck; OffendingCommand: get ]%%
Stack:
0
/DeviceGray
/DeviceGray
0
-mark-
%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%

I write in bitter sarcasm. The only part I understand is: "No PDF file produced."

I have complained to Adobe, and Distiller 7 makes a minor step towards clarity: it now tells me the page number with the error. Perhaps Distiller 8 or 9 will be able to tell me the nature of the problem. I am sure that a corporation worth US$14 billion could hire a programmer to do that.

A Solution

Anyhow, I have found a workaround to Distiller throwing up and refusing to complete the conversion:

1. Identify the page range containing the error.
2. Remove those pages from the document temporaibly. In my case, I leave out the chapter file from the book list. Alternatively, slide the text boxes off the edge of the problem pages.
3. Convert the rest of the document to PDF.
4. Realign the problem pages, and output them separately as another PDF file. I find that the range of problem pages often convert to PDF without problem.
5. In Acrobat Pro, use the Document | Insert Pages command to combine the two PDF files into one.

Another Solution

Another thing that makes Distiller throw up are images pasted directly into PageMaker documents from PaintShop Pro.

The workaround is to save the images in PaintShop Pro as TIFF files, and then use Ctrl+D to insert the images in the PageMaker document.

Comments

[J. Daniel Smith]

How about switching to InDesign? You can export a PDF directly, rather than going through the PS->PDF conversion. You'll probalby love all the other productivity enhancements in InDesign too.

[ralphg]

I would, but I need this question answered: does InDesign support inline figures, like PageMaker?

PageMaker also outputs directly to PDF (in the background, Distiller is still at work). The problem is that I need to specify a .joboptions file specific to the publisher, and hence I take the two-step route.

In any case, going direct to PDF does not sovle the problem of outputting error-free PDFs -- ironic, given that PageMaker and Distiller and Acrobat are all from the same company.

[Candy]

When I print to pdf, or even if I export to pdf from pagemaker, when I open the pdf file, my file has reduced in size, is there anyway to fix this so that my pdf is the same size as my pagemaker document.

[Candy]

When I print to pdf, or even if I export to pdf from pagemaker, when I open the pdf file, my file has reduced in size, is there anyway to fix this so that my pdf is the same size as my pagemaker document.

[Emilie]

When I print to pdf from Pagemaker 7.0, it used to be that a postscript error came up. I seem to have fixed that problem to where a pdf is now created, however, it is in mostly grayscale and certain graphics are left out while others are simply not formatted (they aren't rotated and placed where I want them).

[Worderella]

I have an error where, using Adobe Pagemaker 7.0, when I print to pdf all of the images within the document have been cropped to a specific size if the image happens to be larger than that mystery size. Is there any way to change this so the cropping doesn't happen?