Classic and PDF creation

[bassi]

I use Clarisdraw for a few files and want to create PDF files from the CDRAW files using classic on top of OS X.1.2.
I have Acrobat 5.0 for X and I was wondering if there is a way? Any help would be appreciated.

Thx

[lerkfish]

can you try printing with a postscript printer description, only instead of "print" select "save as file"?
This will create a postscript file which many other programs can then open (but not edit)
Freehand can open that and export it as a non-editable pdf.

Since I don't have clarisdraw, but I assume its similar to macdraw, perhaps you can have both clarisdraw and freehand open, select all in your claris document (which moves it to the clipboard) and then paste in freehand. If you don't have freehand, you might have illustrator or other programs which will accept the clipboard contents.

Not sure if any of this helped, but it might start you off in a different direction.

[griffman]

What options are in your OS 9 (Classic) printer dialog box under the "Save as File" pop-up? I have Acrobat installed in Classic, and have "Acrobat PDF" as a choice in Classic apps.

I just tested it, and it worked just as expected - it saved a PDF of the Classic document I was looking at.

If you don't have Classic Acrobat, you could probably save it as an EPS file and then convert it in OS X to PDF from EPS (I believe there are a few ways to do this).

-rob.

[Craig R. Arko]

If I recall, MacDraw (and maybe ClarisDraw) used PICT as the default file format.

I bet GraphicConverter X or AppleWorks could open the file, and then you could just use the normal 'Preview->Save as PDF' method.

[Phil St. Romain]

I was using Print to PDF, a shareware chooser extension, to create PDF files in OS 9, and it works very well, in Classic, too. You can find it at .Version Tracker (http://versiontracker.com) .

Another option, fwiw.

[Craig R. Arko]

Aha, an administrator convention! :D

I bet no two people solve this problem in exactly the same way.

[bassi]

Thanks for the advice everyone. This is a great start. I do have Freehand, Illustrator and Adobe Acrobat 5.0 for X so that should help my translation problems.
I'll try the suggestions and see which one fairs better in terms of productivity.

By the way, what a great forum!! :)

[bassi]

I tried several of the methods and none seemed to work.

The most promising was selecting the Adobe PS printer in chooser (under classic) and use the "print to PDF" option. When I did this it prompted me to save the PDF file, then it proceeded. I got a print dialog etc. I went to the folder where I asked it to save the file and it wasn't there.

In the end I bit the bullet, restarted in OS 9 and made my PDF docs within 10 min. I wonder if this is a distiller problem? I did start it up and leave it running in the background under classic but it made no difference. It sucks that Adobe haven't updated that portion of Acrobat, yet.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.

[hschickel]

The most promising was selecting the Adobe PS printer in chooser (under classic) and use the "print to PDF" option. When I did this it prompted me to save the PDF file, then it proceeded. I got a print dialog etc. I went to the folder where I asked it to save the file and it wasn't there.

Possible solution to your problem if you were saving to the desktop:

If you save to the desktop while in a Classic application funny things may happen. For most applications the file will end up in the "Desktop Folder" of the partition that the Classic "System Folder" is on. You can find the file there. I like to keep a file on my X desktop called " Classic" (space in front intentional) so that it's the first item in the Classic save dialog when I save to the desktop. I also keep an alias to my Classic partition's "Desktop Folder"in the dock for the times I forget to drop into the " Classic" folder.

Hugh

[Auricchio]

Sorry to be the exception to your rule Craig. I'm the second who solves the problem with PrintToPDF. I've used it for a few years on native MacOS. Runs fine under Classic; pick it with the chooser (pick or choose?) and go.

Since PrintToPDF is installed via dragging, installation under classic is easy too. I recently upgraded it to the latest version.