PDFMaker failing Acrobat=7 XPpro Office=2003

Question

Something happened yesterday and I am left with 2 of 3 ways to make a PDF file no longer working. Was working, now not
working. But with auto updates running who can tell if it was the OS, Adobe, or Office that dropped the ball.
Symptoms:
A) I can no longer use right-click to "Convert to Adobe PDF", I get the "Missing PDFMaker files. Do you want to run the
installer in repair mode?" modal dialog box.
B ) When I open Word my "Adobe PDF" menu at the top no longer contains any elements. "Acrobat Comments" has elements.
C) in Word selecting File / Print / Adobe PDF works and it does generate a PDF file that can be read elsewhere. I
understand that this uses Distiller.
Versions:
J) Adobe Acrobat Standard 7.0.9
K) Microsoft Office Word 2003(11.8202.8202) SP3
L) XP Pro version 2002 SP2
M) Microsoft Update reports "No high-priority updates for your computer..." as of 4/17/2008 11:31 PST
N) McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.501 Engine 5200.2160 DAT 5275.000 created April 16,2008
Diagnosis:
1) right-click on a word file
2) Convert to Adobe PDF
3) name sounds good, click Save
4) dialog box from Create Adobe PDF: (X) Missing PDFMaker files. Do you want to run the installer in repair mode? Yes
5) (Adobe Acrobat 7.0.9 is re-installed)
6) dialog box from Adobe Acrobat 7.0.9 Standard: You must restart your system.... Yes
7) right-click on a word file
8 ) Convert to Adobe PDF
9) name sounds good, click Save
10) dialog box from Create Adobe PDF: (X) Missing PDFMaker files. Do you want to run the installer in repair mode? No
11) Opened Word
12) noted no elements in Adobe PDF menu in Word
13) Help / About Microsoft Office Word
14) Disabled Items
15) addin: acrobat pdfmaker office com addin is on the list
16) selected it, clicked Enable, Close, Close Word
17) right-click on a word file
18) Convert to Adobe PDF
19) name sounds good, click Save
20) dialog box from Microsoft Visual C++ Debug Library: (X) Debug Error! Program: C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE abnormal program termination (Press Retry to debug the application)
I am completely dumfounded at this point trying to consider if I should debug Word, when suddenly I get
21) modal dialog box from Create Adobe PDF: (X) The Security level is set to High. Please run the application which created
this document, in the "Security Warning" dialog select the check box "Always trust macros from this source" and enable
macros created by Adobe Systems Inc.
22) not having much choice, I clicked on OK
23) I am still confronted by the Visual C++ error, so I clicked on Ignore
24) dialog box from Microsoft Visual C++ Cuntime Library: (X) Runtime Error! Program: C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE abnormal program termination OK
25) I checked my Word security level, it was low, and I was "Trust all install addons and templates" anyway.
26) consulted the Internet, selected workaround 6
27) Opened Word
28) Help / About Microsoft Office Word
29) Disabled Items
30) addin: acrobat pdfmaker office com addin is on the list
31) selected it, clicked Enable, Close
32) Tools / Macro / Security
33) set to High
34) click on Trusted Publishers tab
35) nobody was on the list
36) remove "Trust all installed add-iins and templates"
37) remove "Trust access to Visual Basic Project"
38) click OK
39) close Word
40) I determined that the PDFMOfficeAddin.dll file was located in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\PDFMaker\Office
directory
41) Start / Run
42) Typed regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\PDFMaker\Office"
43) Clicked OK
44) dialog from Regsvr32: (!) LoadLibrary("C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\PDFMaker\Office") failed- The specified module
could not be found.
so the workaround did not include the name of the dll
45) clicked OK
46) Start / Run
47) Typed regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\PDFMaker\Office\PDFMOfficeAddin.dll"

Answer 1

48) dialog box from RegSvr32 (i) DLLRegisterServer in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\PDFMaker\Office\PDFMOfficeAddin.dll
succeeded. OK
49) clicked OK
50) started Word
I think I got a dialog about trusting Microsoft macros here.
51) Dialog box from Security Warning: "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\PDFMaker\Office\PDFMOfficeA..." contains macros by
Adobe Systems, Incorporated The security level is set to High. Therefore, you cannot enable macros from sources that you do
not trust.
feeling pretty good here
52) clicked Always tryst macros from this publisher.
53) clicked enable Macros
54) dialog box from Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library: (X) Runtime Error! Program: C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the
application' support team for more information
55) clicked OK
word dies
56) started Word
57) Help / About Microsoft Office Word
58) Disabled Items
59) addin: acrobat pdfmaker office com addin is on the list
60) selected it, clicked Enable, Close
61) right-click on a word file
62) Convert to Adobe PDF
63) name sounds good, click Save
64) dialog box from Microsoft Visual C++ Debug Library: (X) Debug Error! Program: C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE abnormal program termination (Press Retry to debug the application)
I wait patiently for a few seconds and I get
65) modal dialog box from Create Adobe PDF: (X) The Security level is set to High. Please run the application which created
this document, in the "Security Warning" dialog select the check box "Always trust macros from this source" and enable
macros created by Adobe Systems Inc.
66) I clicked on OK
67) I am still confronted by the Visual C++ error, so I clicked on Ignore
68) dialog box from Microsoft Visual C++ Cuntime Library: (X) Runtime Error! Program: C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE abnormal program termination OK
69) Click OK
maybe I have a virus?
70) ensured that my VirusScan On access scan was disabled, bufferoverrun was disabled, access protection was disabled,
Autoupdate ran last night, then a nightly scan of all disks with nothing found
71) started Word
72) Help / About Microsoft Office Word
73) Disabled Items
74) addin: acrobat pdfmaker office com addin is on the list
75) selected it, clicked Enable, Close
76) Tools / Macro / Security
77) click on Trusted Publishers tab
78) two items, microsoft and Adobe are on the list.
79) change to "Trust all installed add-ins and templates"
80) change to "Trust access to Visual Basic Project"
81) click on Security Level tab
82) change to low (not recommended) level
83) close Word
84) right-click on a word file
85) Convert to Adobe PDF
86) name sounds good, click Save
87) dialog box from Microsoft Visual C++ Debug Library: (X) Debug Error! Program: C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE abnormal program termination (Press Retry to debug the application)
angry now I wait for a few seconds and I get
88) modal dialog box from Create Adobe PDF: (X) The Security level is set to High. Please run the application which created
this document, in the "Security Warning" dialog select the check box "Always trust macros from this source" and enable
macros created by Adobe Systems Inc.
From my co-workers I get the following suggestions:
W) "Gee, I have no problems in Linux"
X) "Have you tried Open Office?"
Y) "Try printing to the Adobe PDF printer, it uses Distiller"
I tried (Y) and it works.
-Thomas Harris