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How to fix save as failed to process this document. no file was created

How to fix save as failed to process this document. no file was created.

The reason I downloaded Adobe is to convert PDF's to Word. This is no longer working and I need this fixed.

Thanks


Christine Bylina


13 Answers

Voted Best Answer

I had this problem when converting a PDF into an MS Word document. Here is what worked for me.

The Solution:
1. Export the file as an PDF X 4:2008. (See details below ONLY if you really want to know)
2. Once the PDF is created, open it in Adobe Acrobat and flatten the transparencies using preflight.
With Creative Cloud Acrobat, it was Edit >Preflight and then just find the PDF fix up tool that when clicked, will flatten it.
3. Once that is done, save the file and then using Adobe Acrobat, try to convert it to an MS Word document.



What is a PDF/X-4 file?

PDF/X-4 files are regular PDF 1.6 files.

  • The use of transparency is allowed.
  • All color data can be grayscale, CMYK, named spot colors, RGB, Lab or ICC-profile based.
  • Image data can be 8-bit or 16-bit. 16-bit images are still rarely used and may cause issues with quite a few RIPs and workflows.
  • The use of layers is allowed. In PDF/X-4 these are not the ‘regular’ PDF layers (OCG or Optional Content Groups for the techies among us) but the more sophisticated OCCD layers (which actually combine multiple OCGs in a group). If a regular PDF has for instance a layer with comments and another one with contact information, both layers could be combined in a single ‘info’ OCCD layer. When I updated this page early 2008, there weren’t any workflows on the market yet with proper support for handling OCCDs. Meanwhile callas pdfToolbox is the first PDF tool that has proper support for them.

The following restrictions apply to PDF/X-4 files:

  • All fonts must be embedded in the file. Embedding OpenType fonts is allowed.
  • OPI is not allowed in PDF/X-4 files: all image data must be embedded.
  • Compliant files cannot contain music, movies or non-printable annotations.
  • If there are annotations (sticky notes) in the PDF, they should be located outside the bleed area.
  • The file should not contain forms or Javascript code.
  • Only a limited number of compression algorithms are supported, JPEG 2000 being one of them.
  • Encryption cannot be used.
  • Transfer curves cannot be used.


By Desktop Publisher   

There is no application called "Adobe" - what software are you using to convert your PDF files to Word? Do you have Adobe Acrobat, or are you using the ExportPDF subscription service? Is this happening with any PDF file you try to process, or just one or a small subset of files? Sometimes PDF documents are of very low quality (they still look good on the screen, but the data that is stored in them is not fit for content extraction), and if you tr to convert one of those documents, it is not surprising that it did not work. So, try with a good PDF file (or just one from a different source) and see if you run into the same problem.

So again: Which software are you using?

Karl Heinz Kremer
PDF Acrobatics Without a Net
PDF Software Development, Training and More...
http://www.khkonsulting.com


Karl Heinz Kremer   

My apologies..Adobe Acrobat XI Pro.

I have had the software for around 3 months and was able to convert all PDF's with no problem. This issue occurs with every single pdf that I try. I have tried to print it to pdf and then convert it..no luck. What does no file created mean?

Thank you


Christine Bylina   

No file created means that it was not able to create an output file. This could have a number of reasons: One is that it was not able to create the output file (e.g. because of file permissions). Another reason could be - as I indicated earlier - that the PDF file is corrupt.

Just to make sure that we are not going on a wild goose chase, can you please try to convert this file:

http://khkonsulting.com/files/LoremIpsum.pdf

This is a very simple PDF file that definitely can be converted to Word. Download the file and put it on your desktop, then when you select the output file name, also put that on your desktop (this assumes that you can read and write from/to your desktop).

Do you get the same error?

If so, maybe it's time to repair your Acrobat installation: On Windows, you will find this option under the Help menu.

Karl Heinz Kremer
PDF Acrobatics Without a Net
PDF Software Development, Training and More...
http://www.khkonsulting.com


Karl Heinz Kremer   

I tried saving the file "LoremIpsum" but received Save As failed to process this document, no file was created.

I also went to Help>repair acrobat installation and it still does not work.

Thank you


Christine Bylina   

This means that there is something wrong with your setup. It could have a ton of reasons that are outside of Acrobat (e.g. a corrupt system library that Acrobat uses and depends on, but that is not part of the Acrobat installation).

The repair should have taken care of anything inside Acrobat, but there is one more option: Adobe has an experimental "Cleaner" tool that removes anything that Acrobat created from your system. You can find the tool here: http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/acrobatcleaner.html - You would have to deactivate and uninstall Acrobat, then run the cleaner, and then install Acrobat again.

There is some good news, you don't seem to be the only one with this problem. Take a look at this discussion: http://forums.adobe.com/message/5693192

There is an Adobe staff person participating in this thread, so if you post there, you may be able to work with this person directly to resolve your problem.

Karl Heinz Kremer
PDF Acrobatics Without a Net
PDF Software Development, Training and More...
http://www.khkonsulting.com


Karl Heinz Kremer   

I reinstalled Adobe and it failed. It no longer even provides the option to convert to Word.

Thanks


Christine Bylina   

When you say it failed, how did it fail? What error message did you get?

As I indicated earlier, it is possible that there is something else wrong on your system that is outside of Acrobat. Have you run a virus scan recently?

Karl Heinz Kremer
PDF Acrobatics Without a Net
PDF Software Development, Training and More...
http://www.khkonsulting.com


Karl Heinz Kremer   

I tried again to reinstall.

Update failed
Error 1321. The installer has insufficient priveleges to modify the file.

If there is a securtiy issue..can you please explain how to resolve this?


Christine Bylina   

This is not a security issue, it's caused by the permissions your Windows user account has on the Windows system. There is very likely a filename associated with this error message.

Here are a couple of links that talks about this type of error:

http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/error-1321-installer-insufficient-privileges.html

http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/error-1321-or-1309-install.html

Chances are that these problems are also the source for your original problem: Acrobat was not able to write to the file because of permissions problems.

Is this your own computer, or is it administrated by an IT department?

If you have an IT department that usually takes care of your computer, chances are that they are also responsible for these permission limitations, and you may want to talk to them about your problems. If not, then we don't know why these permissions were changed since you first installed Acrobat.

Karl Heinz Kremer
PDF Acrobatics Without a Net
PDF Software Development, Training and More...
http://www.khkonsulting.com


Karl Heinz Kremer   

I had the same problem running Adobe XI Pro. I eventually saved the file as a post script then opened the post script file and was able to convert that to a word file. Worked for me good luck to all of you.


Paula Grant   

I had the same problem getting the error. I found that if you made sure the original PDF is exported as RGB (NOT CMYK) It would do the converstion (to powerpoint anyway)

Good luck


patrick Sesko   

I have been using Adobe X Pro to convert PDFs to Word, usually with good success. Recently encountered a PDF for an old specification that I wanted to convert to make the document repeatably searchable; ran into the problem that was specified in that I would get an error after a few minutes with no file ssaved. To get over this problem, I first saved the file in the last format (10) as a reduced size PDF; after that, was able to convert to that document to word; is a little sloppy but due to the likelhood that the original was a scanned version from an unknown source, better than nothing.


Chris Dehmelt   

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