Why can't I save my Word 07 docs as PDF files anymore

Anonymous
2012-09-01T00:17:03+00:00

Hi Folks,

I've just found that I no longer can save my Word docs as a PDF file using the "Save as" option. Each time I try I get "File could not be found". I've ran the 'Diagnostics/Repair in MS tools and also followed that with placing my DVD back in the machine and choosing "Repair".

In both cases, it failed. I have Windows 7 64bit and MS Office 2007 Standard I've been running both for about 3 years. I also tried reinstalling Adobe Reader.

There is a strange thing I should mention: When I ran my DVD this last time in an attempt to repair this problem, The window opened identifying itself as the Office 2007 Standard "Trial" !!! So I opened a word doc, went to "Word Options" and then through the several clicks until I got to the "About" window.

Incredibly, it identified me as the registered owner of Office 2007 Standard but the key number it shows is way different than the key number I saved with my DVD I purchased. I'm going to have to uninstall this program if I can't get that Word to PDF option working.

I was able to convert in the past but i can't remember the last time I did.

Thanks, Rich

PS I can worry about that key number mix up later, I just want to know why I can no longer save as a PDF.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-02-04T20:09:28+00:00

    A contact on the Word team tells me that they are unable to reproduce the problem, but he recalls a similar situation in Publisher (unable to save as PDF) where the problem was that no printer was set as the Windows default. He suggests that you (and others who are having this problem) check to make sure that one of the printers in the list in Word's Print dialog has a green check mark indicating that it is set as the Windows default printer. If not, go to the Printers folder in the Windows Control Panel, right-click one of the printers (if there's no physical printer available, you can select the Microsoft XPS Document Writer), and choose Set as default printer.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-02-02T21:05:48+00:00

    That's certainly an odd error message to get when you're trying to save a file as opposed to opening it. I'll see what my Microsoft sources know about this, but I'll warn you that bugs in Word 2007 (Word 12) are fairly low-priority when they're at work on designing Word 16.

    It may be odd, but as I said it is very common.  Here are just a few of the many threads complaining about this; unfortunately the answers don't really seem to solve the problem:

    Jul 2, 2010 - Save as PDF/XPS plug-in cannot make a PDF/A file ... titled "Microsoft Word" and the body of the window says "This file could not be found.".

    Why **can**'t I **save** my Word 07 docs as **PDF files** anymore

    Sep 1, 2012

    **Save As PDF** Problem with **PDF**/A Setting Checked.

    Nov 30, 2011

    **Can**'t **save** word docs as a **PDF**

    Jan 27, 2011

    **Save as pdf** in Office 2010 **pdf file will not** display

    Aug 27, 2010

    https://forum.winehq.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=19850

    Sep 24, 2013 - 6 posts - ‎2 authors

    I tried out the "save as PDF" function in Word 2010, and it did ... got a popup error message "This file could not be found" and the save failed

    answers.microsoft.com/.../save-as-pdfxps...cannot...pdfa-file/7681454d-...

    http://superuser.com/questions/359327/word-2010-save-as-pdf-a-results-in-this-file-could-not-be-found

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-word/save-as-pdf-in-office-2010-pdf-file-will-not/ab158b05-4711-4a18-b313-86c84504be77

    (You made a comment on this one.)

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-office_other/publisher-2010-error-when-try-to-save-a-file-as/e2df6b52-0359-447d-8b5d-7d4545052ea3

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  3. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-02-02T20:21:30+00:00

    That's certainly an odd error message to get when you're trying to save a file as opposed to opening it. I'll see what my Microsoft sources know about this, but I'll warn you that bugs in Word 2007 (Word 12) are fairly low-priority when they're at work on designing Word 16.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-02-02T18:01:33+00:00

    Repairing Office 2007 is actually more straightforward than later versions. Click the Office Button and choose Word Options. Select the Resources tab and click Diagnose.

    Thank you for providing the instructions.  I ran the diagnostic; one issue was found and repaired.  But I still get "This file cannot be found" error message when I try to save as PDF.

    This seems to be a common problem, based on the many online threads that are found by Googling "This file cannot be found" or similar.  And most of the threads don't seem to have found any solution.

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  5. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-02-02T04:37:07+00:00

    Repairing Office 2007 is actually more straightforward than later versions. Click the Office Button and choose Word Options. Select the Resources tab and click Diagnose.

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