Up until a couple of days ago I could save my Word 2007 Documents as a PDF by choosing the "Save As' option and then picking "PDF or XPS". Now when I do this I am getting the error message "This file is in use by another application or user" and the PDF is not created.



At first I thought the error message was related to the file I was trying to save as a PDF but after trying this with a new document I get the same error.

I have searched the web and found many possible solutions but none of them seem to work for me. It does not appear to be a problem with my anti-virus software and I am not using macros or any automation that I am aware of, I have re-booted my PC several times and I am not using any new fonts.

I did discover that if I disabled the option "ISO 19005-1 compliant (PDF/A)" in the "Save As" options that the error does not occur.

The PC environment is Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit on Intel Core Extreme CPU Q9300, 2.53 GHz, 8 GB RAM

Does anyone have any suggestions or idea as to what happened? I do have Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 installed as well as Adobe Reader 9.1. As far as I know I am current on all Windows 7 and Adobe updates.

Hi dcabrames,

Are you running Office as a 32-bit or 64-bit app? Have you tried repairing Office (Word Options|Resources|Diagnose)? Have you cleared out any/all left-over ~*.* and *.tmp files (see options 5 & 6 at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827099)?

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

Dear Paul,

Thank you for your reply.

I am using the 32 bit version of Office Ultimate 2007

I did see the knowledge base article you referenced but the searching that steps 5 and 6 call for don't seem to work on Windows 7 Ultimate. For one thing there is no "Search" option on the Start menu. There is a search field but entering ~*.* seems to select everything and I not found any files on my system in the format of ~*.*.

I will try the repair option of Office and see if that does anything.

Do you know where specifically I should look for temporary files that could be preventing the Save As PDF from working correctly?

David

Hi David,

What you refer to as the search field is what the article refers to. Searching for ~*.* should only return files whose name begins with a tilde (~). Be that as it may, there are other ways of finding these files. The most likely locations are:
C:\Users\%UserName%\Appdata\Local\Temp
C:\Users\%UserName%\Appdata\Roaming\Microsoft\Word
You can insert these paths into Windows Explorer, which will convert the '\%UserName%' to your username. You can then delete any .tmp files that aren't locked or otherwise in use.

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

I'm just spit balling here, but my first guess is that some small file in your Adobe Acrobat software has gone corrupt. A quick attempt at a fix would be to completely uninstall whatever Adobe Acrobat software you are running and then reinstall it anew. If there is a corrupt file, that may replace it.

Possibly, but that's unlikely to affect Word's "Save As" with the "PDF or XPS" option, since this is a Word function, not an Adobe one. Nonetheless, repairing the Acrobat installtion wouldn't hurt - uninstalling & reinstalling seems overkill, though.

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

OK thank you both for your replies. Unfortunately, deleting the contents of the temp folders did not resolve the problem.

I then did a repair install on both Acrobat Pro 9 and Adobe Reader 9.4.1 and this also did not correct the problem.

Not sure what to try next. Is there any way to figuring out what file it is having a problem with? The error message that pops up is less than worthless.

I am having problems with Acrobat Pro, too. In my research, I came across a comment that having two versions of Acrobat on one machine can cause problems. My next shot in the dark would be to uninstall both of them and only reinstall the Pro version. Just spitballing though.

Hi David,

Some anti-virus software apparently conflicts with the Save process. See if disabling that (temporarily) solves the problem. If so, you'll need to do something about your anti-virus software (update/repair/reinstall/replace).

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

Nope still not working.

Hi David,

I take it you're not trying to save to a PDF file of the same name & extension as one that is already open.

It's possible an app crash has left a file related to the PDF/XPS untility in a locked state or crrupted. In that case, uninstalling & reinstalling the add-in might resolve the problem.

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

OK I uninstalled Acrobat Pro 9 and Adobe Reader 9 and I am still having the same problem. This Save As Option does not appear to be related to Adobe at all. Does Word have a built in ability to create a PDF file?

If so, what files are used to do this? Where are the temp files for this process stored?

I think you are correct that there is a corrupt file and it is related to the ISO 19005-1 compliant (PDF/A) option but I can't locate it.

Hi David,

What I suggested was not to uninstall/reinstall Adobe Acrobat, but to uninstall/reinstall Microsoft's PDF/XPS Add-in.

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

OK, I looked in the Add In section of Word Options and don't see any Add In for Microsoft PDF/XPS Add In. I also ran Office Setup and don't see an option for it there either so where would I uninstall this?

Hi David,

You should find it in the Windows Control Panel (Prgrams & Features).

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