TechNote

Message "Missing PDFMaker files" when you right-click a file to convert to PDF

Issue

Deutsch | English | Espaol | Français | Italiano

When you right-click a Microsoft Office file to convert to Adobe PDF, the application returns the message, "Missing PDFMaker files," and does not create an Adobe PDF file.

Reason

This error may occur when you try to convert files from Microsoft Office 2003 (Word, Excel, Publisher).

Your system may have recently performed an automatic check for updates (for Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Office, or Windows).

Solution

Remove Adobe PDF from the Disabled Items list in the Microsoft Office application.

To manage your Disabled Items list in a Microsoft Office application:

Open the Microsoft Office application (Word, Excel, Publisher).
Choose Help > About [the application name].
Click Disabled Items.
Select Adobe PDF from the list, and then click Enable.
Quit the Microsoft Office application, and then restart it.

View an Adobe Captivate demo of this procedure

If the error message continues to appear after you enable Adobe PDF, then check the security level for macros in Word:

Choose Tools > Macro > Security.
In the Security dialog, click the Security tab.
Choose Medium or High.
Do one of the following:
- If you chose Medium, then click OK.
- If you chose High, then continue with steps 5 through 7.
Click the Trusted Publishers tab.
Check Trust all installed add-ins and templates.
Click OK.

PDFMaker and the right-click context menu should function again.

View an Adobe Captivate demo of this procedure

Adobe Captivate Demos of the Procedures

For more information about viewing these demos, see Viewing Captivate Demos in Knowledgebase Documents (TechNote 403894).

Remove Adobe PDF from the Disabled Items list

The Adobe Captivate demo below illustrates how to remove the Adobe PDF add-in from the Disabled Items list in Microsoft Office.

Check the macro security level settings

The Adobe Captivate demon below illustrates how the check the macro security level settings in Microsoft Word.

Additional Information

Microsoft Office automatically disables applications it perceives as causing functionality problems. Adobe Acrobat and the Adobe PDF plug-in do not cause functionality problems; however, Microsoft Office may mistakenly mark Acrobat or PDF plug-in functionalityas a problem when updates are run or when Office closes prematurely.

PDFMaker is unavailable in a Microsoft Office application (Acrobat 7.0, Acrobat 3D on Windows) (TechNote 330984)