Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

Welcome beginner. Please answer all of the questions below which may provide information necessary to answer your question.
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Which version of OpenOffice.org are you using? 2.4
What Operating System (version) are you using? OSX 10.5.4
What is your question or comment? I'm having trouble printing a .pdf document from an OpenOffice Writer document saved with a .doc extension. I'm using Acrobat Professional 8.0 and the document is continually paused in the print queue.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Just trying to be clear about what your issue is. Are you saying you created a .docdocument from OOo, and also saved a PDF version? And the PDF version won't print?

Does the PDF open OK in your PDF viewer?

If it isn't sensitive (and smaller than 128K) could you attach the PDF document here? Or a dummy test document?

jrcommercialofficer wrote:I'm having trouble printing a .pdf document from an OpenOffice Writer document saved with a .doc extension.

Do you mean "creating" a PDF document? Why use Acrobat Profesional for that in any event if not editing? You can do it directly from OpenOffice, or through a free program like PRIMO.

David.

Two things. When I try to create a .pdf in Acrobat, Acrobat tells me that it could not open/create a .pdf of the document ( saved with a .doc extension) because it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged. I created the file in Microsoft Office. Acrobat then tells me to create a PDF by going to the source application and then to print the document to Adobe PDF. However, when I do this Acrobat will pause the print and I cannot resume the print to a successful print of a PDF.

jrcommercialofficer wrote:I created the file in Microsoft Office. Acrobat then tells me to create a PDF by going to the source application and then to print the document to Adobe PDF. However, when I do this Acrobat will pause the print and I cannot resume the print to a successful print of a PDF.

If I understand this right you created the file in Microsoft Office, and then you tried to use Adobe Acrobat to create a PDF?

If this is the case why are you asking this question in an OpenOffice forum? Wouldn't this be a question for Microsoft or Adobe?

But either way, why not open the .doc in OpenOffice and then use the PDF button right there on the toolbar to create a PDF? Or use File, Export to PDF to fine tune the export if required?

I also do not understand why you are asking about this in an OpenOffice forum. You are using the most powerful [and expensive] of tools to do a rather simple task. Why not give OpenOffice a try? You can create your document, and also create a copy as a PDF directly. Or you can also use free software [e.g. PRIMO] to create the PDF from the document [or any other printable document]. Why Adobe Acrobat, which is primarily for editing PDF files as well as being an expensive way to create them?

David.

Dave wrote:Why Adobe Acrobat, which is primarily for editing PDF files as well as being an expensive way to create them?

Adobe Acrobat is primarily for creating PDF files, and for working with the content. I'd personally much rather use Acrobat to convert .odt files but .odt is not a supported file type.

Acrobat gives much more control over the PDF printing process, providing page rotation for landscape printing, precise image compression and resampling, file tagging for screen readers, document structuring, presets for quality (press quality, optimizing for screen display, etc.), colorspace handling, edge smoothing, line conversion to curves, font embedding (which ones to embed or never embed; and whole fonts or just the subset of characters used in the document), thumbnail creation and embedding, job logging and error handling... A lot of data and a lot of processing go into producing a PDF file, and Acrobat offers control over it in ways free PDF creators haven't come close to reproducing.

The PDF tool that's built into OOo is by comparison inferior, as well as outdated. Please understand I'm not by any means saying it's useless, but I am saying it is limited. I've posted about this before. My employer provided Acrobat and I'd really like to use it, because it is the best PDF printer (the Adobe PDF printer, formerly Distiller, is part of the Acrobat installation and is a virtual printer for PDF output) as well as a top-notch PDF file editor.

Acrobat is expensive, true, so having a free tool to convert files is very nice for people (like me) who can't afford Acrobat privately and who can settle for something that in many cases is adequate for the need. But don't try to talk someone out of liking Acrobat who has Acrobat at their disposal! You're unlikely to succeed.

jrcommercialofficer wrote:Acrobat tells me that it could not open/create a .pdf of the document ( saved with a .doc extension) because it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged. I created the file in Microsoft Office.

Please tell me if my guess is correct...

What I think you're trying to explain is that the document was originally created in MS Word (2003?), but then opened with OpenOffice Writer, edited, and saved again with a .doc extension, is that right? And it's this edited .doc file that Acrobat is having trouble with? Hopefully someone out there on OS X will be equipped to try to duplicate your problem. I could try on WinXP with Acrobat 7.0 but am not certain it would be all that helpful, since I'm not testing the same environment.

Subsequent patches to Acrobat 8 Professional do allow for a smooth PDF create or print process from OpenOffice Writer.

I wouldn't dream of arguing with you on that point, Foxcole. In fact, I'm not. However, I use some pretty heft math programs, which, among many other attributes will produce 2D graphs. The thing is that 99.99% of the population don't need those attributes. Also, I used Acrobat with one of the said math programs [Mupad] to produce a PDF. The formulas were scrambled and unreadable. I turned to PRIMO PDF creator, and had no problem. So, I'll simply defer and ask again why jrcommercialofficer wouldn't at least try another to see if the result is satisfactory. Then, "If it ain't broke [no particular missing attributes are needed], don't fix it."

David.

jrcommercialofficer wrote:Subsequent patches to Acrobat 8 Professional do allow for a smooth PDF create or print process from OpenOffice Writer.

Good to know! Thanks for posting the solution.

Please edit your original post (Edit button, to the right above the message area), select the checkmark post icon and add [Solved] to the subject line.

Dave wrote: Also, I used Acrobat with one of the said math programs [Mupad] to produce a PDF. The formulas were scrambled and unreadable. I turned to PRIMO PDF creator, and had no problem.

Could be many different reasons for that result (including lack of support for the Mupad format), some of which can be fixed by different advanced settings. More often, though, the cause of issues like that is the font itself. What version of Acrobat did you try this with? AA's font handling has increased in complexity and copyright protection over the years, so perhaps it was forced to substitute a font that wasn't quite right for the Mupad layout. Previous versions of Acrobat (3.x and earlier) and many free PDF creators were/are less vigilant; they blithely ignore many font structure or licensing issues as they go ahead and spit out a legible PDF file.