Comments on: Why won't my Mac save pdfs?

Question: Why won't my Mac save pdfs?

O9scar — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 07:27:04 -0800

The "Save as PDF" option in the Print dialog box on my Mac has mysteriously become disabled. How do I get it back?

I'm on Panther. I've tried the obvious (rebooting, repairing permissions, google) and nothing's changed. The buttons are there, but they're dimmed.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 07:47:52 -0800

You might want to check this
For some possible solutions, a number of causes are discussed.

By: mdeatherage

mdeatherage — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 09:20:45 -0800

In at least one case, this can be a side effect of making a new printing "preset" at the wrong time. If you're looking at a password-protected PDF file in Preview, then all of the options in the "Print..." dialog box that might allow you to create an unprotected copy of that PDF file are disabled.

If you create a new print "preset" while that's the case, then at least sometimes, those "disable PDF" settings can get saved with the preset and carry through to other applications. Try backing up your "~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.print.custompresets.plist" file and deleting the original, then relaunch the application in question and see if PDF printing is back.

(This comes from an idea by DG himself, posted to Apple's printing development mailing list back in January.)

By: O9scar

O9scar — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 18:55:13 -0800

Thanks for the help. Trashing the prefs did the trick.