I use word 2003 (I know, ancient) with a separate PDF software, worked great for at least 10 yrs or more. Suddenly the "Preparing to background print" green line goes half way and then stops. The longest time took around 5 hours as I left it for a half day, and it still didn't work, so I quit.



I went to other websites but no one really seemed to offer a reason/advice.

Have you tried repairing the Office installation (via Help|Detect & Repair)? Have you cleared any left-over temporary files (see http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm)

Failing that, you may need to uninstall/reinstall the PDF software

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Word works fine, it's just the pdf software I guess.

That's not the point. A fault you're not aware of could interfere with the PDF driver.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]