Printing to PDF Printer shows printing dialog, but no file

[burnsl]

When I print to the PDF-Xchange printer, i see the dialog boxes showing is spooling to the driver, but then that its.
I get no File Save.. dialog

...and no PDF file is created anywhere on the PC.

Thoughts?

[John - Tracker Supp]

Can you please advise what version of Windows you are using and the FUL name of the installation file you are using to install ?

Many thanks

[burnsl]

I am using Windows 7 64-bit.

I don't know the name of the installer, but it's easy to find.

It is the latest version (whatever was on the website as of yesterday) of PDF-Xchange "lite" that is free.

I have been trying to print from office 2013, 32-bit.

I installed the 32-bit version of office because third-party plug-ins and other add-ons are not always 64-bit.

Could it be that the 64-bit print driver is having some sort of problem with 32 bit office?
Before you answer that, know that even 64-bit programs cause the same behavior when trying to print to the PDF printer.

[Willy Van Nuffel]

I hope that I will not ask a stupid question...
Look into Devices and Printers, right click on the "PDF-Xchange x.0" printer and choose "Printing Preferences".
In the dialogbox that follows, in the column at the left choose "Save".
Now look at the settings at the right.
Is the "Show Save As... dialog" checkbox been checked ?
It should.

If it is, and it still does not work, then eventually try this if you have experience with using the Windows Registry Editor; if you do not have experience, then PLEASE BE CAREFULL or do not even try !
In Windows 7 registry :
Change the value of ForegroundLockTimeOut in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop from its default value (decimal 200 000) into the new value 0 (zero).
After that : restart the pc.

[burnsl]

It absolutely is checked.

I will make the regedit and let you know.


I have worked with windows and software my whole career, so it's no problem.
Let me know of any other things to try if this doesn't work.

Can you elaborate on why this might work?
can you offer other suggestions if this doesn't?

Just trying to get a head start on solving this

[Willy Van Nuffel]

burnsl, re-reading your post I wonder if you were printing (to PDF) on the hand of the Office add-in (Convert to PDF) or rather on the hand of the PDF-Xchange printer (via File/Office-button > Print > and really to the PDF-XChange printer driver) ?

In the first case, you are probably experiencing a similar problem as the one here:
> https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/ ... 41&t=17758
and in that case the change in the Windows Registry is actually my only known solution for what concerns PDF-Xchange 4.0 build 200 or later. It must be something about the fact that the dialogbox to save the pdf needs that it immediatly gets the focus. If not, it disappears in a fraction of a second.

Tracker software confirmed that there is no such problem when printing via the Office add-in from PDF-XChange 5.0.
Not having this version, myself I can only believe but not check...

[burnsl]

Okay,

While I appreciate the additional help, I certainly know the difference between printing to PDFxchange and using the "save as" button where you can create a PDF from office.

There is no "printer" much less then a PDF printer that comes with Microsoft office other than the XPS document format.
Very different procedures for making PDF files.

The problem exists when printing to the PDF-Xchange driver.

I have yet to try the registry entry and reboot, I will let you know how that turns out.

If there are any other suggestions let me know.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi burnsl,

Could you please advise on the build of the driver that you are using?

Cheers,

[burnsl]

I have tried the registry edit, and that made no difference in the behavior.

the build number of the driver is:

PDF-XChange Printer Lite 2012
Version 5 Build 273

I am using:
Windows 7 Professional x64 (Build 7601: Service Pack 1)

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi burnsl,

Thanks for that info. - a new build was uploaded yesterday, so please fully uninstall, restart your PC and install using this link:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFX5SA_LE.zip

and restart a second time. Please be sure to restart each time, as this is often essential for installing drivers of any kind, with Windows.

Cheers,

[burnsl]

Before I do this, can you tell me if i should uninstall first, etc.?

I need to know if you know that this will address a specific issue, and also what that issue was.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi burnsl,

I'm afraid that I don't know that a specific issue was addressed, but as a standard, I'm not able to advise any user on any issue until they a) have the latest build. This is in each and every case, without exception. And b) have attempted a full re-installation of the product, with few exceptions.

So, as per my previous post, please fully uninstall, restart your PC and install using this link:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFX5SA_LE.zip

and restart a second time. Please be sure to restart each time, as this is often essential for installing drivers of any kind, with Windows.

Cheers,

[burnsl]

New bild installed after complete uninstallation and reboot.
Also used cleaner to ensure no remnants were in registry or on PC.


Different behavior now.

Spooler shows doc spooling to PDF printer - all 20 pages.

However, still no dialog to save a file, and no file is placed anywhere on my system.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi burnsl,

Thanks for the info. and for updating - this is especially odd because I'm not seeing this issue here. While your license may not be valid for PDF-XChange Standard, could I please have you try installing Standard and trying to print to the PDF-XChange Printer 2012 and see if that works?
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFX5SA.zip

Also, does this happen with all files, or just one specific file? If the latter, could you send us a copy of this file?

Cheers,

[burnsl]

The behavior is uniform.

Since the job makes it to the spooler, and then vanishes, I assume spooling is not the issue, and we should investigate from that point forward.

I will install this (standard) build and see what happens.

[burnsl]

Okay, so THAT printed.

It made a second PDF printer, and used a different "PORT" than the Lite version.
See attachment. - forget it, it wont allow me to add any image file of any type - wtf.

Also it placed "Gold Badges" in the corners of my PDF document.

What is wrong with the Lite version?
Will it make "Gold Badges" in my documents or mark them up in any way?

[burnsl]

Also, iI just noticed that the product doesn't make bookmarks or translate click-able content in my document.

I spend a great deal of time making my documents click-able and with navigation bookmarks using headings.

Will the Lite version do this once we make it work?

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi burnsl,

As stated in my previous email, this was merely to test, as your license does likely does not cover the use of the Standard printer. Provided that your license is valid for the latest Version of Lite, you shouldn't see the same problem.

With regards to the printing issue, can you tell me if this is document specific, or specific to a set of documents? Or does this happen with any document?

Also, please try printing with Lite from another application, like Chrome or Firefox and see if the issue is present there too.

Lastly, can you please send a screen-shot of what you see when trying to print - please be sure to get the entire screen in the shot.

Cheers,

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Also, iI just noticed that the product doesn't make bookmarks or translate click-able content in my document.

I spend a great deal of time making my documents click-able and with navigation bookmarks using headings.

Will the Lite version do this once we make it work?

Lite functions exactly the same as a physical printer would, except that instead of printing to paper, it prints to PDF. Windows strips information about links and bookmarks when sending print jobs, which is why generated the Office Add-in as part of PDF-XChange Standard. I'm afraid that Lite is not capable of this and you will need the Office Add-in.

[burnsl]

I cannot send screenshots, as that is what I tried before but as I stated, the system forbids uploading images.

I also stated that "The behavior is uniform." when asked about application specificity in the previous posts.

What happens when i print is that it opens the print dialog, and i can print. I can slo go into printer properties and see the driver properties dialog, but in the end, nothing i change makes it print when using the lite version.

The standard version does print.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi Burnsl,

Thanks for the info. - as for the screen-shots, these can be uploaded by wrapping them in ZIP files or RAR/7ZIP archives, so please try wrapping these and the screen-shots should upload. Failing that, sending them to support@pdf-xchange.com, with a link back to this topic, should help.

Cheers,

[burnsl]

PDF Printers do not have to strip the information when sending links, etc.
Drivers can detect heading data to make bookmarks.

In any case, PDF print drivers can do this - using some content detection (see PDF995 as an example)

Anyway, I can send you a screenshot, but all you will see is MS Word.
It flashes the print spooling dialog for about 1/3rd second, and then I get nothing - including no file.

Surely the fact that the Standard driver and lite driver have different behavior is significant.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi

PDF Printers do not have to strip the information when sending links, etc.
Drivers can detect heading data to make bookmarks.

It's not the driver that strips this, but the Windows printing engine. The same is true with the Standard driver, but I believe that we are detect and re-add such information. This is one of the headline features of the Standard driver and the Office Add-in and has intentionally not been added to the Lite driver.

Please do send the screen-shot. Also, please could you send a screen-shot of the Save Preferences of the driver, as the Dev. Team have requested this.

Surely the fact that the Standard driver and lite driver have different behavior is significant.

I requested that you try this to see if the Windows GDI, which the Standard driver uses, and the XPS engine, which the Lite 5 driver uses, differed.
Something else to check would be that Lite 4 (link below) works for you, as Lite 4 and 5 both use differing engines to generate files.
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFX4SA_LE.zip

Cheers,

[John - Tracker Supp]

Windows strips all superfluous content from a file when sent for printing - all clickable information and embedded links and bookmarks etc are lost - in our Office Addin we actually rebuild this content from the original file and add it back into the PDF after the content has been formatted to PDF in a temporary file before creating the final file you see.