PageMaker PMD to PDF

[TheGarpster]

As one of the remaining diehard PageMaker 7.0 users worldwide I am beginning to have even more problems converting a native PMD file to PDF. Acrobat 4, originally packaged with PageMaker continued to Distill decent PDFs from PMDs until quite recently, then no longer.

I have spent much of the past few weeks looking into a bunch of the growing number of PDF print apps, and even though some of them appeared to install successfully, they didn't.

If there are any other PMers out there (or even ex-PMers), can you please tell me how you solved this problem.

TIA

 

[Magnus59]

Ghostscript ?

 

[gregbatch]

Are you saying that you can't successfully print to the Adobe Acrobat "printer"? Or are you using the PDF utility in Pagemaker?

 

[TheGarpster]

Thanks for your replies.

Ghostscript has been installed, several times, although I do not know how to check if it is installed correctly.

When I print to the Adobe Acrobat "printer" and now the Adobe PDF Converter I get a message saying that I do not have a PS printer file installed "Please install one."

I don't want to sound paranoid, but considering Adobe's history with ex-Aldus PageMaker I'm wondering if they have jinxed my system because they have discerned that I reinstalled Acrobat 4 and 5. Say it ain't so.

 

[scotts]

When it is saying you need a PS printer installed, that could mean you need one installed on your system (Mac or Windows). You can do a search for postscript.ppd to find one for your system. Then install it, and that should solve this issue. Hopefully.

 

[TheGarpster]

Well, I just did a search for "postscript.ppd" on the whole Computer and there was none found! Hmmmmm. Supposedly it has been installed several times. Just a thought, what would the name of the postscript.ppd install file be called? I'll look for that.

Just in case I come up empty on that, where's the best place to get one?

 

[scotts]

Sorry I wasn't clear enough about where to search, as I meant on the internet, and not on your computer.

For Windows, here is a link to Adobe's Knowledge Base https://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/325924.html

You can probably use the same PPD for the Mac, but I can not remember where it would need to be placed.

 

[TheGarpster]

And I thought I'd mentioned my system in the first message, but I didn't. This bloody PMD to PDF has got me so frazzled!

So, I'm running a Dell desktop 64 bit on WIN 7 Ultimate, Sp1and I see that the Adobe link you gave me (thank you, Scotts) says:
Note: Installing the AdobePS printer driver on 64-bit systems (such as Windows XP x64) is not supported.

So, that PPD won't work on my DT, however my laptop is a 32 bit Dell with the same Win system. Hmmm. If it ain't one thing it's another, huh? So, any idea where to get a 64 bit PPD?

 

[Magnus59]

I would have expected Dov Isaacs to have replied here by now,
Please see his response to your issue here:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/PostScript/Installing-PostScript-Printer-driver-in-Windows-10/td-p/10358633

 

[TheGarpster]

Well, I've still not been able to improve my PMD to PDF conversion status. Despite being assured by the Add Printer robot that there's already a particular print driver installed, it will even install another, I'm guessing, updated one if I like. And then just a little later I'm told by my own damn turncoat computer that I really don't have a PS print driver installed after all, and then snarkily "Please install one." Harrumph!!

I clicked the link for Dov's response to my "issue" hoping there'd be a solution, but nope. I just cannot get my head around the fact that for us folk running Win 7 on a 64-bit PC there's just no way to convert PMDs to PDFs because there's just not a PS driver up to the job? Aw, c'mon!

What about Xerox's "Global" print driver the UNIV_5.675.6.0_PS_x64_Driver? I am sure I've iinstalled that at some point. Shouldn't it have satisfied my PS need? sigh I just don't get it!

 

[Dov Isaacs]

Well, I've still not been able to improve my PMD to PDF conversion status. Despite being assured by the Add Printer robot that there's already a particular print driver installed, it will even install another, I'm guessing, updated one if I like. And then just a little later I'm told by my own damn turncoat computer that I really don't have a PS print driver installed after all, and then snarkily "Please install one." Harrumph!!

I clicked the link for Dov's response to my "issue" hoping there'd be a solution, but nope. I just cannot get my head around the fact that for us folk running Win 7 on a 64-bit PC there's just no way to convert PMDs to PDFs because there's just not a PS driver up to the job? Aw, c'mon!

What about Xerox's "Global" print driver the UNIV_5.675.6.0_PS_x64_Driver? I am sure I've iinstalled that at some point. Shouldn't it have satisfied my PS need? sigh I just don't get it!

No, there is no built-in driver in Windows 7 that is going to properly create PostScript from your applications to create PDF via an ancient version of Distiller that might remain on your system. And no, using a physical printer driver and associated PPD to create PostScript will normally not produce PostScript that is appropriate for distillation. Forget about the Xerox so-called “universal driver” – it produces PostScript appropriate for physical Xerox printers (and maybe a few others).

I assume that on your Windows 7 system, you have a copy of PageMaker 7. Uninstall whatever remaining dregs of ancient Acrobat versions you have on your system. License a copy of Acrobat DC and that will install the Adobe PDF PostScript printer driver instance as well a modern copy of Acrobat and Distiller. From PageMaker print to Adobe PDF and that will easily produce PDF for you.

That having been said, you may be “one of the remaining diehard PageMaker 7.0 users worldwide” but at this point, you have had over twenty years notice that PageMaker was a dead product. Even current versions of InDesign will no longer open PageMaker 7.x files anymore. You would be very well advised to find someone with an InDesign CS6-equipped system to open your remaining PageMaker files and convert them now before you end up with a situation in which your PageMaker files are totally unusable.

- Dov

 

[Magnus59]

No, there is no built-in driver in Windows 7 that is going to properly create PostScript from your applications to create PDF via an ancient version of Distiller that might remain on your system. And no, using a physical printer driver and associated PPD to create PostScript will normally not produce PostScript that is appropriate for distillation. Forget about the Xerox so-called “universal driver” – it produces PostScript appropriate for physical Xerox printers (and maybe a few others).

I assume that on your Windows 7 system, you have a copy of PageMaker 7. Uninstall whatever remaining dregs of ancient Acrobat versions you have on your system. License a copy of Acrobat DC and that will install the Adobe PDF PostScript printer driver instance as well a modern copy of Acrobat and Distiller. From PageMaker print to Adobe PDF and that will easily produce PDF for you.

That having been said, you may be “one of the remaining diehard PageMaker 7.0 users worldwide” but at this point, you have had over twenty years notice that PageMaker was a dead product. Even current versions of InDesign will no longer open PageMaker 7.x files anymore. You would be very well advised to find someone with an InDesign CS6-equipped system to open your remaining PageMaker files and convert them now before you end up with a situation in which your PageMaker files are totally unusable.

- Dov

As Dov says, we all have to move on eventually, otherwise you will find yourself with files that are completely useless. Many years ago i was also a diehard user, not of Pagemaker, but of Ventura Publisher on Gem, I had to learn to step outside of my comfort zone to eventually let go, progressing through Pagemaker 3 to 7, Quark Xpress and Indesign from it's early beginnings up to the current Creative Cloud.
While it can be hard to accept that you have to let go after all your years invested in honing your skills on a particular program, you will find that once you get to grips with modern programs, you will soon wonder why you didn't make the move sooner.

 

[prepressdork]

Although it's not an answer to your question, do you by chance have InDesign installed? I could be wrong, but I believe that InDesign can open PageMaker files (someone please correct me if I am wrong here).

pd

 

[Joe]

Newer versions of InDesign won't. Dov mentioned above that CS6 will.

 

[Dov Isaacs]

Newer versions of InDesign won't. Dov mentioned above that CS6 will.

Let me reinforce the urgency of converting those old PageMaker files now. CS6 is no longer available from Adobe. CS6 will not install and/or run under the latest MacOS version and is somewhat dicey under Windows 10. And I don't know of any standalone PageMaker to InDesign (or to anything else) conversion software out there at this time. You are pretty now at the mercy of someone with an old system with an old OS version running an otherwise unavailable and unsupported application version.

- Dov

 

[Repro_Pro]

How about Virtualizing your old computer?
I "future-proofed" all our older 32 bit Windows systems by turning them into Virtual Machines.
Since then, I can easily run all our old apps anytime, under a modern 64bit windows OS.
But I admit, I still keep the old boxes "just in case"...

 

[Joe]

Let me reinforce the urgency of converting those old PageMaker files now. CS6 is no longer available from Adobe. CS6 will not install and/or run under the latest MacOS version and is somewhat dicey under Windows 10. And I don't know of any standalone PageMaker to InDesign (or to anything else) conversion software out there at this time. You are pretty now at the mercy of someone with an old system with an old OS version running an otherwise unavailable and unsupported application version.

- Dov

Not me...running InDesign 2020. Not a PMD in sight here.

 

[Dov Isaacs]

Not me...running InDesign 2020. Not a PMD in sight here.

Mazel Tov!