Sherry Kissinger at myITforum.com

Internet Explorer, Right-click 'Convert to Adobe PDF' Fails - Adobe Acrobat 8.1.1

Product: Adobe Acrobat Pro 8.1.1

Symptoms: In Internet Explorer, with Adobe PDF integration enabled, right-click on a web page and choosing "Convert to Adobe PDF" does nothing.

Cause:  Actually, not 100% sure on what the cause really is, but in testing of machines exhibiting this problem, it seemed to be centered around "Adobe PDF Content Menu Helper", which is an ActiveX control with AcroIEFavClient.dll. On some machines, the option was missing completely, and would not appear until the fix was done. On others, the option was there; but the fix below had to be done in order for the ActiveX control to be successfully registered.

Fixing: I tried various combinations, repairing Adobe, reboots in between, etc. These steps, in this specific order, fixed the problem in the shortest amount of time.

1. Close all open applications
2. Launch Add or Remove Programs, Adobe Acrobat 8.1.1 Professional, Change, Next, Modify. Under the choices presented, select +Create Adobe PDF, + Acrobat PDFMaker. For the feature "Microsoft Internet Explorer", modify the selection from "This will be installed on local hard drive." to "This feature will not be available". Next, Update. Click Finish when done.
3. Right-click on the computer desktop, properties. Settings tab. Change "Color Quality" from "Highest (32 bit)" to "Medium (16 bit)". Click OK. Confirm you can still see the display by clicking Yes at the prompt.
4. Add or Remove Programs, Adobe Acrobat 8.1.1 Professional, Change, Next, Modify. Under the choices presented, select +Create Adobe PDF, + Acrobat PDFMaker. For the feature "Microsoft Internet Explorer", modify the selection from "This feature will not be available." To "This will be installed on local hard drive." Next, Update. Click Finish when done.
5. Launch Internet Explorer and confirm you can right-click "Convert to Adobe PDF".
6. If it does not work at first (it’s about 50/50 success while I was testing this fix), go to Tools, Internet Options, Programs Tab, Manage Addons… Highlight "Adobe PDF Content Menu Helper". At the bottom, "Disable" this addon; confirm, OK, OK. Exit Internet Explorer. Go back into IE, the same location, and "Enable" this addon; Ok. Ok. Test again (should work now).
7. Optional: Now that it’s working, you can go back and change Color Quality back to ‘Highest (32 bit)’. In my testing, that did work; but I noticed online for others which had to use the 16-bit to fix the issue; if they went back to 32-bit, after some undeterminite time the right-click Convert to Adobe PDF stopped working, and they had to run through the fix again. I suspect if this control has to be re-registered, when you are running at 32-bit Color Quality the re-registration fails. You may want to ask the person if they notice any different in color / video from 32bit to 16bit. You may decide to leave the setting at 16bit to avoid possible future problems.

Ok, now for the minor rant… I’m by no stretch of the imagination a programmer, so perhaps some activex / IE plugin programmer out there can tell me… why would my Color Quality set at 32bit prevent a plugin from registering?  I’m sure there’s a sound, valid technical reason—but I just don’t get it.

By the way.. yes, I know Adobe Acrobat 8.1.2 update was released a few weeks ago.  I haven’t tested it to see if it fixes this specific issue yet.