Bridget Daley
sad I’m frustrated

PrimoPDF does nothing when you click on Create PDF

At about 3:00 yesterday, our PrimoPDF stopped working. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling, but nothing seems to work. I also tried to redownload from the websited. The screen comes up when PrimoPDF is selected as the printer, but when you click on Create PDF, nothing happens. Was there an update yesterday that requires a setting change? Thank you.
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  • Bridget Daley
    I see this similar discussion was occurring over the past month . . .
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  • Hello-

    Can you try changing the location of where you're saving the files? Have you tried restarting your print spooler?

    Thanks!
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  • Lisa Esajian
    sad I’m frustrated
    Kyle, same problem. my saved files are located in many different places, so location doesn't seem to be the issue in getting the opening screen of primopdf to move forward. also tired restarting print spooler.... nothing. what next to sold this issue??????????
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  • Lisa Esajian
    I mean, what next to solve this issue? this problem is only occurring on my home computer, which had been working just fine for over a month now. the one i use at work still functions great when using primopdf.
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  • Hello Lisa-

    The location of the save is important. If the logged in user doesn't have permission to save in that location, it may fail to generate the PDF. Can you try saving a PDF to the desktop?
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  • David
    Dear Lisa,

    Was there a system update or an update to the virus definitions of your anti-virus software?

    What operating system?

    What AV?

    Thanks!

    Cheers,

    -- Nitro Team
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  • David
    I have the same problem - PrimoPDF suddenly stopped working. I didn't even get to the box where I can choose the save location, just no response at all. I run XP, Norton Security Suite w/ automatic updates. Tried uninstall/install and still nothing happened. Didn't see anything like PrimoPDF on my processes list ... frustrated also. I also looked at the similar thread from 1 month ago.
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  • David
    Dear David,

    It could be an update from Norton causing the issue as its such an invasive software suite.

    Try downloading the installer again, then unplug from the internet and then disable your Norton.

    This way you won't be in any danger since you have unplugged.

    Then try to re-install and see what happens.

    Sorry for the extra steps.

    Cheers,

    -- Nitro Team
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  • randy
    This happened to me also starting today. I'm on xp using Comodo Internet Security Premium. I upgraded to the latest PrimoPDF just in case. Whether I print from Word or any other program, or whether I drag a file to the Drop icon, it seems to send the file to the print spooler (the little printer icon appears in the taskbar). Then that icon disappears but PrimoPDF does not open up--it gets sent into the aether.

    If PrimoPDF is open, this does not help, the file never appears in it, ready to convert. Since the PrimoPDF application has never allowed you to browse for a file to convert manually (why? so simple), I cannot force a conversion in this manner, so cannot currently make PDFs

    I explicitly added all the .exe files in the PrimoPDF folders to the "trusted applications" list in Comodo, just in case. No luck.
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  • Richard Engel
    happy I’m happy
    1
    Hi Lisa,
    I've had exactly the same problem, I tried all the same things as you, as recommended by others and nothing worked ... I was feeling your frustration. Then for "SAVE AS:" I decided to select "specific folder" rather than just leaving it as "Ask when creating PDF", and proceded to select a folder to save the document in, pressed the "Create PDF" button and IT WORKED! I hope that this may help you or others too.
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  • Richard Engel
    Lisa Esajian,
    Oh good, I'm glad that it worked for you too, and hopefully a lot of others ... you're right, something so simple did the trick, who would've thought! This is the first time I ever tried using this kind of a site, not quite sure what I was doing ... sorry about the extra large pic. - real cheesy, ha, ha!
    • view 1 more comment
    • Ah, this worked for me too - I can now save the pdf files where I want 'em (and append when necessary) without having to put them somewhere else first :-) Many thanks to all you people with these suggestions here!
    • Yea! This should be the #1 answer on all these strings. I'm with carolyngethin about appending and choosing. I've used this daily for several years now, recommended it, can't live w/o. Then I downloaded Nitro and Primo stopped working. Then found that the Nitro append wasn't working either. Arrgh! So happy now. Thank you to Binh Pham!
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  • Kumar
    I have the same problem. I run XP SP2, Avira Antivirus with ZoneAlarm free firewall and PrimoPDF 1.3. All running for more than a year. Suddenly, today, Primo stopped running. Printer icon in tool bar saying "Printing", screen shows PrimoPDF but clicking on "Create" does nothing. If I say "Cancel", it disappears along with the printer icon.

    I uninstalled, downloaded latest version and installed - no go.

    Problem with Mr.Engel's solution: (a) I print from pdf to another pdf (Append) - his suggestion insists on overwriting or appending to the original file itself then crashes saying file being is in use.

    I'm not sure whether my HP Officejet could have something to do with the problem? Would a trouble shooting log file from Primo help? I have seen it and it has nothing understandably wrong in it for me.
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  • Kyle Medutis EMPLOYEE
    silly I’m amused
    Hello-

    When using the application you will need write access to the location you're saving, otherwise it won't work properly.

    Kumar, 1.3 sounds like Reader, is this the case?

    David, Nice picture :)
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  • Jim Meek the Geek
    happy
    1
    I may have solved this issue.

    First a little background:
    I did some testing and found that this issue only occurs when you write to the root of a given drive letter. For example C:\ or E:\.

    This problem does not occur if you are writing to a folder. For example: C:\pdfs or E:\docs.

    The posts by Binh Pham really helped. Deleting the PrimoSet.xml file did help initially, but then the problem returned a short time later. Sound familiar to anyone?

    I found that the work around to change the "Save As:" from "Ask when creating PDF" to "Specific folder" did work, however, it was a tad annoying that it didn't just work properly.

    I compared the PrimoSet.xml file that worked and one that did not and found that the following line made the difference (4th line in the PrimoSet.xml file):
    Working: C:\PDFs
    Not Working: C:\

    I hypothesized that the "\" character as the last character in the OutputPath was causing the problem. To test this, I edited the PrimoSet.xml file and made this one small change:
    C:\.
    If you missed it, I put a period "." after the "C:\" as this is a common requirement in some programming languages.
    And guess what happened? It worked!

    Synopsis:
    Simple Solution:
    Don't write to the root of any drive letter, always a folder within the drive.

    Better Solution (requires help from PrimoPDF programmers):
    Update the programming code to put a "." after the "\" if someone writes to the root of a folder. Then this problem with be put to bed and PrimoPDF with again return to its grandeur of a premium PDF writing solution.
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  • konce7
    Ah, I finally have my PrimoPDF back! I had missed it greatly. Thanks to the info about editing the PrimoSet.xml file I was able to fix the problem and determine how it happened to start with.

    When I opened the xml file, I noticed that the was set to E:\ Well, that's strange. I changed it to C: using Notepad, but messed up somewhere (I think I used a forward slash instead back slash). Then I tried the "Specific Folder" option under Save As and that made it work. Now I can use "Ask When Creating PDF" again just fine.

    I believe the problem started when I printed a PDF and saved it to a removeable drive ("E:\). Once that drive was removed, there was no place to save the subsequent pdf's. If I would have had a removeable drive with me, I would have stuck the thing in and tried to print there again to see if it would work (I'm guessing it would have). Anyway, thanks guys, I'm back to appending to PDF's again!!

    ~Konce
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  • fjumayao
    happy I’m happy
    Thanks everyone for the posts. This resolved my issues as well. Could not find the PrimoSet.xml, but I after I selected - "Specific folder" it fixed my issues.
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  • Janine
    Jim Meek, I was never writing to the root of the drive always to a folder and still had the original problem. Glad it worked for you, but that didn't seem to be the issues for me.

    Kyle, I have read/write permission to all the drives on my computer (Admin rights) so that wasn't the issue either.

    Using Richard's solution fixed the issue. I changed the Save As one time, then was able to use PrimoPDF just fine from that point on.
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  • min8888
    sad
    Hi,

    I have been using PrimoPDF for work since 2009 without any problems. In the past week, whenever I would click on the "Create PDF" button, nothing would happen, then come to find out the job would just sit in the PrimoPDF printer queue, and deletes itself after about a few minutes of inactivity. I have installed PrimoPDF on my work laptop (runs on Windows 2003) and I have not done anything differently so I am not sure why it would stop working all of a sudden.

    Hope you can assist as this has become quite a headache.

    Thank you,
    Mindy

    This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
    PrimoPDF stopped working.
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  • rori
    silly
    I have been able to successfully convert my Word docs to PDF EXCEPT for docs written with Mrs. Eaves font. I love this font and want to use it.
    Any ideas what would prevent only this font from converting?
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  • kharaditbs
    sad I’m Anand Lodha
    Hi,

    I have been using PrimoPDF for work since 2011 without any problems. In the past week, whenever I would click on the "Create PDF" button, nothing would happen, then come to find out the job would just sit in the PrimoPDF printer queue, and deletes itself after about a few minutes of inactivity. I have installed PrimoPDF on my work Desktop (runs on Windows XP) and I am getting the same message & i get a error that says "Value does not fall within the expected range".

    Hope you can assist as this has become quite a headache.
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  • Ifor Love
    sad I’m confused
    Hello I dont think this will answer your problem but it will show you I like you have just had a similar problem. I have used Primo PDF since 2010. This afternoon I just went to use it as normal and up came a pop up box saying it needs NITRO PDF to read it. My own letter converted into a Promo PDF. I clicked and downloaded the Nitro PDF converter on trial and it allowed me to read my Promo PDF letter.

    So it seems to me that Primo PDF service is "changing" the Primo PDF to NITRO PDF and is giving a trial before then charging for the service. I hope I am wrong but thats what it looks like.

    It is obvious it is PRIMO PDF that has stopped the normal PDF conversion from being read or used without the new NITRO service without asking or notifying users.

    This is not the normal way business services operate and it is costing me time and causing confusion. I intend to try to contact Primo PDF but it seems at the moment when I try, it takes me to NITRO PDF. Hope this is some help but it will not solve the problem. I would appreciate help myself from anyone that can offer it.
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