My pdf conversion in MS Word 2010 is not working

[BW in Florida]

Can anyone recommend a free pdf converter since I am currently unable to convert a Word 2010 file to a pdf file. It would be nice to have one that allows me to convert in low, medium, or high quality.

[macropod]

Is there a reason you can't use Save As to save as a PDF, with the resolution options that provides?

[BW in Florida]

When I do a Save As, it says "This file could not be found." Ditto if I use "Save and Send, Create a PDF file." It had always worked until December 2015 on my desktop PC and still worked in December on my laptop.

[macropod]

Have you tried repairing the Office installation (via Start > Windows Control Panel > Programs > Programs & Features > Microsoft Office (version) > Change > Repair)?

[BW in Florida]

I did Repair my MS Office 2010 Pro, but I still receive the prompt, "This file could not be found."

The motherboard on my Dell Inspiron all-in-one was replaced by Dell the middle of November 2015. (It did not resolve the problems I was having.) I just realized I have not been able to produce a pdf file from Word since then. However, I was able to produce a pdf from an Adobe InDesign document in December after the motherboard was replaced.

[macropod]

In that case, either the document is empty or corrupt, you have an errant third-party addin or the problem relates to a faulty Windows installation.

Try starting Word in Safe mode (hold down the Ctrl key while starting Word). If you can save as PDFs in Safe mode, an errant third-party addin is the likely culprit.

Corrupt documents can often be 'repaired' by inserting a new, empty, paragraph at the very end, copying everything except that new paragraph to a new document based on the same template (headers & footers may need to be copied separately), closing the old document and saving the new one over it.

[BW in Florida]

Yes, I could create a pdf in Safe mode.

Is there a way to identify an errant third-party addin? If I cannot identify the addin, is there any harm in creating the pdf in safe mode routinely? (I'm only doing it once a month on a two-page, 11 x 17 document.)

[macropod]

Basically, to identify the errant addin, you'd start by disabling all non-MS addins, then re-enabling them one at a time until you find that one that prevents you saving as PDF.

Sure, you can use Safe mode whenever you want, but fixing the problem rather than wresting with the symptoms would be more satisfactory.

[BW in Florida]

I'm not sure how to disable non-MS addins since I'm not sure where to find them. I've looked in the control panel under Programs but am not able to disable anything there, mostly uninstall, some can be changed, some repaired.

I probably won't answer now until tomorrow if you should reply again tonight.

[macropod]

See under File|Options|Addins.

[BW in Florida]

I opened the Word document I was trying to make a pdf from. Went to File|Options|Addins. They were all MS addins.