Acrobat 5.05 Distiller not Producing .pdf Files

Question

When I first purchased Acrobat 5.05 and installed it, to produce a .pdf file from an application, I printed the file from the application choosing Acrobat Distiller as the printer.  This prompted for a file name and location.  When the OK button was clicked, Acrobat 5.05 launched, and the .pdf file appeared, and was able to be saved.  No other steps were needed.
Now when I attempt to do this, the application indicates that it is printing, but Acrobat 5.05 does not launch, and no .pdf file is produced in any folder.
Re installing Acrobat 5.05 does not correct the problem.
What needs to be done, to make this version of acrobat distiller operate as it originally operated?

Answer 1

Normally it is only needed if you are requesting a PS file that may be sent to someone else and they do not have the fonts OR if you are printing another PDF that had embedded fonts that you do not have one your system. Otherwise, Acrobat will go to find the fonts on your system as per the distiller font list.
The print to file is the most fundamental PDF creation process in AA 5. All of the other options build on it. The repeating the process, but unchecking the print-to-file button. In that case a PS file will be created by the print driver (directed to the Adobe PDF port or such -- I would have to go to my other machine to check the name for sure, but should be obvious unless it is missing) and then AcroTray is supposed to recognize that the file exists and then run distiller in the background. PDF Maker is just a front end processor for the Acrobat Distiller printer. Note that the name has since been changed since folks got the print driver confused with the program Distiller. They did the same change in name to Reader since folks keep thinking they had Acrobat when they only had the Reader. (At least that is my take on their reasons that I have not really seen.)
AcroTray is found in the Distiller folder. It should be in the startup folder of Win XP, listed as Acrobat Assistant. If you look at the running processes with ctrl-alt-del, it should be listed (just click on the program columns to get an alphabetic list). If it is not running, then start it. If it is running and you are having problems, then try ending it and then restarting it from the Distiller folder (just double click on the program).
Also, be aware that unless you change a preference in Distiller, the settings you pick in the Acrobat Distiller printer properties will over ride those of Distiller for the most part. And any changes you make in the printer properties from within a program will over ride the default printer properties, but will not be carried over to the next use of the program -- the defaults will again be loaded. So if you want a particular default setting, use the Start>Printers>Acrobat Distiller (right click for properties) to set the default properties. I never use the standard job settings for instance, but always use something like the press or print settings that embed all fonts. I reality I use a job settings created by a publisher.
So all I am trying to step you through are the basic trouble shooting steps that are necessary to get your system working. Finding where the problem is becomes the first step. We now know that you can print-to-file and produce a PDF with Distiller. Actually, I loaded AA5 on a Win7 Starter system and was able to create PDFs using this process. The AcroTray from AA5 does not work in Win7. Actually, for Win7, I just tried it by changing the port to File and so I don't even have to check the print-to-file button. That was really more of a test to see what broke, and I was surprised that it even installed on the 32-bit netbook. My guess is it may not work at all on a 64-bit system. However, on XP, your AA5 should work fine once we trace down the culprit.