MVPs -- can you report the Excel 2004 SP1/Acrobat PDFMaker.xla bug?

[Steve Maser]

If you have Acrobat 6.0.2 installed and you install the Office 2004
Service Pack:

When you *quit* the updated Excel, you will be greeted with a dialog
box that says:

"Compile Error in Hidden Module: AutoExec".

If you remove the "PDFMaker.xla" file from the /office/startup/excel
folder, then this message goes away.

Why nobody at MS caught this, you got me.



Can an MVP report this up the chain to the MacBU ASAP so MS can release
a patch for this?


Yes, I know the workaround (replacing the PDFMaker.xla file with a
folder), but that's a band-aid.


Thanks!

 

[JE McGimpsey]

If you have Acrobat 6.0.2 installed and you install the Office 2004
Service Pack:

When you *quit* the updated Excel, you will be greeted with a dialog
box that says:

"Compile Error in Hidden Module: AutoExec".

If you remove the "PDFMaker.xla" file from the /office/startup/excel
folder, then this message goes away.

Why nobody at MS caught this, you got me.

You're making an assumption that isn't necessarily warranted...Adobe has
in the past been as bad or worse at improper code than MS. While I'm
sure that MS is looking at it, I'm also not sure that it's MS's problem
to fix.

Can an MVP report this up the chain to the MacBU ASAP so MS can release
a patch for this?

No need - you're reporting it here will be seen by MacBU. You should
also, IMO, use the Help/Feedback menu item in XL.

Yes, I know the workaround (replacing the PDFMaker.xla file with a
folder), but that's a band-aid.

It's a band-aid required by Adobe's poor design, IMHO. It should never
require that kind of workaround to prevent reintroduction of the add-in.

And all for a function that exists natively...

 

[Steve Maser]

Why nobody at MS caught this, you got me.

You're making an assumption that isn't necessarily warranted...Adobe has
in the past been as bad or worse at improper code than MS. While I'm
sure that MS is looking at it, I'm also not sure that it's MS's problem
to fix.

It's warrented in the scope that:

Excel 2004 worked with the plug-in.

Updating to Excel 2004 SP-1 introduced the error *to Excel*.

No need - you're reporting it here will be seen by MacBU. You should
also, IMO, use the Help/Feedback menu item in XL.
Done!


And all for a function that exists natively...

Agreed (somewhat). There's a size difference, though, in the "native"
files vs. what Acrobat can generate. If you need to put things up on
the web or pass them along, then size can matter.


Hopefully, the MacBU will respond accordingly. Or at least indicated
that it's Adobe's problem to fix and they didn't break anything. ;-)

- Steve

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Agreed (somewhat). There's a size difference, though, in the "native"
files vs. what Acrobat can generate. If you need to put things up on
the web or pass them along, then size can matter.

You have two options in this regard: use the System to create the PDF
and optimize it in Acrobat, or use the Adobe virtual printer in the
print menu to generate the PDF. I really, really have no use for the
toolbar,


Corentin

 

[JE McGimpsey]

It's warrented in the scope that:

Excel 2004 worked with the plug-in.

That may be a bit strong, too... It never worked well for me - made
startup take much longer, and screwed up my own add-ins, depending on
which order I loaded them.