PDF/A output doesn't appear to work (free version)

System: Win 10 64bit fully updated
PDFCreator: 4.0.3 free

Problem Statement: No PDF/A output, whatsoever.

Attempts to solve the problem:

  • Created various profiles; some with PDF/A output
  • Created various printers with the profiles.
    => no PDF/A file was generated, whatsoever.

The ABSOLUTE PROOF that something wrong the PDF/A-2b output is the following; I took an existing functioning profile with Output Format = PDF, changed that to PDF/A-2b, and it DID NOT WORK at all. That is, no output file was generated and no error message was generated. Changing the Output Format back to PDF restored the previously existing capability.

I can not isolate the problem.

Is this a licencing issue?
Is this a bug?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Hi,

sorry for the trouble.
I wasn't able to reproduce this issue with PDFCreator 4.0.4, i changed the output format to PDF/A-2b for the default profile without making any other changes and successfully converted a Windows test page through it. Please check if the issue still persists after updating PDFCreator to version 4.0.4.
The business editions of PDFCreator do use a different technology for assuring PDF/A conformance, but the free version should still be able to create PDF/A in general.

Best regards

Robin

Hello Robin,

Thank you for your response.

I have updated to PDFCreator 4.0.4, but the problem persists.

I have tried the same test as you: I modified the default profile to PDF/A-2b output and set the destination folder. I used the "Print PDFCreator Test Page" button on the Profiles page; nothing happened. I also tried when the profile was linked to a printer, but that also didn't work.

If I take an existing profile that works with output format = PDF and just change the output format to PDF/A-2b it does NOT worlk.

I have now uninstalled PDFCreator 4.0.4 and reinstalled it; twice verifying the behaviour described below.

I now have new and clean install. This doesn NOT solve the problem. When I try to printa testpage with the Print PDFCreator Test Page Button, having set the default PDF/A (long term preservation) profile, and having made no change to the default paramaters in the dialog box I get a ERROR. The message is Internal Ghostscript error (29100).

This is driving me crazy.

PDF Architect is installed.

Could it be that Kaspersky Internet Security is preventing a background process or similar from not running? If so what do I look for?

Thanks for looking into this.

Further to the above:

I updated to Chrome 81 as I saw in other posts that this may be a problem and it was reported that Chrome 81 would solve the problem. The problem is that this does not solve the problem. The same error persists.

I created a Trace when trying to create the test page in PDF/A-2b format. The log file is bellow.

2020-04-22 14:40:28.7365 [Trace] 11868-11 (MainWindowThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.UI.Presentation.Helper.SettingsChanged.HaveChanged: Settings have changed: False
2020-04-22 14:40:28.7365 [Trace] 11868-11 (MainWindowThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Services.Macros.MacroCommand.Next: Settings have not changed, skip saving.
2020-04-22 14:40:35.0766 [Trace] 11868-11 (MainWindowThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.UI.Presentation.Helper.SettingsChanged.HaveChanged: Settings have changed: False
2020-04-22 14:40:35.0816 [Trace] 11868-11 (MainWindowThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.UI.Presentation.Helper.SettingsChanged.HaveChanged: Settings have changed: False
2020-04-22 14:40:35.0816 [Trace] 11868-11 (MainWindowThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Services.Macros.MacroCommand.Next: Settings have not changed, skip saving.
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-38 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobInfoQueue.Add: New JobInfo: C:\Users\Nala Rillak\AppData\Local\Temp\PDFCreator\Spool\878c9e13-cf8c-45da-b285-decf81e15596\testpage.inf
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-38 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobInfoQueue.Add: DocumentTitle: PDFCreator Testpage
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-38 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobInfoQueue.Add: ClientComputer: KALLIR-XPS15
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-38 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobInfoQueue.Add: SessionId: 1
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-38 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobInfoQueue.Add: PrinterName: PDFCreator
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-38 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobInfoQueue.Add: JobCounter: 0
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-38 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobInfoQueue.Add: JobId: 1
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-38 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobInfoQueue.Add: Added JobInfo: C:\Users\Nala Rillak\AppData\Local\Temp\PDFCreator\Spool\878c9e13-cf8c-45da-b285-decf81e15596\testpage.inf
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-38 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Utilities.Threading.ThreadManager.StartSynchronizedThread: Adding thread ProcessingThread
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-41 (ProcessingThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobInfoQueueManager.ProcessJobs: New PrintJob C:\Users\Nala Rillak\AppData\Local\Temp\PDFCreator\Spool\878c9e13-cf8c-45da-b285-decf81e15596\testpage.inf from Printer PDFCreator
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Trace] 11868-41 (ProcessingThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobInfoQueueManager.ProcessJob: Creating job workflow
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Trace] 11868-41 (ProcessingThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobBuilder.BuildJobFromJobInfo: Building Job from JobInfo
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-41 (ProcessingThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobBuilder.BuildJobFromJobInfo: Profile: (GUID DefaultGuid)
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Trace] 11868-41 (ProcessingThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobInfoQueueManager.ProcessJob: Running workflow
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-41 (ProcessingThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.ConversionWorkflow.PrepareAndRun: Starting conversion...
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-41 (ProcessingThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobDataUpdater.GetNumberOfCopies: Number of copies from source files: 1
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6295 [Debug] 11868-41 (ProcessingThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.PageNumberCalculator.NumberOfPagesFromSourceFiles: Number of pages from source files: 1
2020-04-22 14:40:37.6422 [Debug] 11868-41 (ProcessingThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.UI.Presentation.Workflow.InteractiveWorkflow.DoWorkflowWork: Starting PrintJobWindow
2020-04-22 14:41:04.6833 [Trace] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobRunner+d__10.MoveNext: Starting job
2020-04-22 14:41:04.6833 [Debug] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobRunner+d__10.MoveNext: Output filename template is: C:\Users\Nala Rillak\Documents\PDFCreator Testpage.pdf
2020-04-22 14:41:04.6833 [Debug] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobRunner+d__10.MoveNext: Output format is: PdfA2B
2020-04-22 14:41:04.6833 [Info] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobRunner+d__10.MoveNext: Converting C:\Users\Nala Rillak\Documents\PDFCreator Testpage.pdf
2020-04-22 14:41:04.6833 [Trace] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.ActionExecutor.CallPreConversionActions: Setting up pre conversion actions
2020-04-22 14:41:04.6892 [Trace] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.ActionExecutor.CallActions: Starting Actions
2020-04-22 14:41:04.6892 [Debug] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Conversion.Ghostscript.Conversion.GhostscriptConverter.GetGhostscript: Ghostscript Version: loaded from C:\Program Files\PDFCreator\Ghostscript\Bin\gswin32c.exe
2020-04-22 14:41:04.6892 [Debug] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Conversion.Ghostscript.Conversion.GhostscriptConverter.DoConversion: Starting Ghostscript Job
2020-04-22 14:41:04.7081 [Trace] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Conversion.Ghostscript.Conversion.GhostscriptConverter.DoConversion: Output format is: PdfA2B
2020-04-22 14:41:04.7081 [Debug] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Conversion.Ghostscript.OutputDevices.PdfDevice.SetPdfAParameters: Shortened Temppath from
"C:\Users\Nala Rillak\AppData\Local\Temp\PDFCreator\Temp\Job_1gayz5rw"
to
"C:\Users\Nala Rillak\AppData\Local\Temp\PDFCreator\Temp\Job_1gayz5rw"
2020-04-22 14:41:04.7081 [Debug] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Conversion.Ghostscript.OutputDevices.OutputDevice.GetGhostScriptParameters: Created metadata file "C:\Users\Nala Rillak\AppData\Local\Temp\PDFCreator\Temp\Job_1gayz5rw\metadata.mtd"
2020-04-22 14:41:04.7081 [Debug] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Conversion.Ghostscript.GhostScript.Run: Ghostscript Parameters:
gs
-IC:\Program Files\PDFCreator\Ghostscript\Bin;C:\Program Files\PDFCreator\Ghostscript\Lib;C:\Program Files\PDFCreator\Ghostscript\Fonts
-sFONTPATH=C:\WINDOWS\Fonts
-dNOPAUSE
-dBATCH
-sOutputFile=C:\Users\Nala Rillak\AppData\Local\Temp\PDFCreator\Temp\Job_1gayz5rw\intermediate\output.pdf
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite
-dCompatibilityLevel=1.4
-dPDFSETTINGS=/default
-dEmbedAllFonts=true
-dAutoRotatePages=/PageByPage
-dParseDSCComments=false
-sColorConversionStrategy=RGB
-dProcessColorModel=/DeviceRGB
-dConvertCMYKImagesToRGB=true
-dAutoFilterColorImages=true
-dAutoFilterGrayImages=true
-dEncodeColorImages=true
-dEncodeGrayImages=true
-dColorImageFilter=/DCTEncode
-dGrayImageFilter=/DCTEncode
-dEncodeMonoImages=true
-dMonoImageFilter=/CCITTFaxEncode
-dPDFA=2
-sPDFACompatibilityPolicy=1
-sOutputICCProfile="C:\Users\Nala Rillak\AppData\Local\Temp\PDFCreator\Temp\Job_1gayz5rw\profile.icc"
C:\Users\Nala Rillak\AppData\Local\Temp\PDFCreator\Temp\Job_1gayz5rw\pdfa_def.ps
-f
C:\Users\Nala Rillak\AppData\Local\Temp\PDFCreator\Spool\878c9e13-cf8c-45da-b285-decf81e15596\testpage.ps
C:\Users\Nala Rillak\AppData\Local\Temp\PDFCreator\Temp\Job_1gayz5rw\metadata.mtd
2020-04-22 14:41:04.9185 [Error] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Conversion.Ghostscript.Conversion.GhostscriptConverter.DoConversion: There was an unexpected error while converting the Job C:\Users\Nala Rillak\AppData\Local\Temp\PDFCreator\Spool\878c9e13-cf8c-45da-b285-decf81e15596\testpage.inf: System.InvalidOperationException: Sequence contains no elements
at System.Linq.Enumerable.Single[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
at pdfforge.PDFCreator.Conversion.Ghostscript.GhostScript.CollectIntermediateFiles(Job job)
at pdfforge.PDFCreator.Conversion.Ghostscript.GhostScript.Run(OutputDevice outputDevice, String tempOutputFolder)
at pdfforge.PDFCreator.Conversion.Ghostscript.Conversion.GhostscriptConverter.DoConversion(Job job, ConversionMode conversionMode)
2020-04-22 14:41:04.9185 [Error] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobRunner+d__10.MoveNext: The job failed: Ghostscript execution failed (Conversion_GhostscriptError)
2020-04-22 14:41:04.9185 [Trace] 11868-27 () pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.JobRunner+d__10.MoveNext: Calling job completed event
2020-04-22 14:41:04.9565 [Error] 11868-41 (ProcessingThread) pdfforge.PDFCreator.Core.Workflow.ConversionWorkflow.RunWorkflow: Error Conversion_GhostscriptError: Ghostscript execution failed

This is very time consuming and frustrating.

If PDF/A-2b output isn't supported, remove it as an option.

I can understand this is very frustrating but we do test everything through a large amount of automatic and manual tests before releasing it.
Unfortunately, there are always some system configurations or third party software which can cause issues but can't be tested as there are simply too many. You could try if temporarily disabling Kaspersky solves the issue.
PDF/A is generally supported in the free version, the issue you are encountering isn't reproducible here on our test systems. I did however encounter a different issue when converting the PDFCreator Testpage to PDF/A, so please use the Windows test page instead.
Thank you very much for the trace log.
We will have a close look at it and try to help you resolve the issue.

The printing from Chrome issue is not connected to PDF/A, but a general issue with the printing data Chrome 80 produces.