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How can I print to a file? Msg: "Could not open the file, access denied"

  • 7 replies
  • 10 have this problem
  • 11 views
  • Last reply by gag5212

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How can I print to a file? Printing itself works fine, but I get this error message when I select the "print to file" box.

How can I print to a file? Printing itself works fine, but I get this error message when I select the "print to file" box.

Chosen solution

jscher2000: Thanks for advice. I ran Malwarebyte full scan and SUPERAntiSpyware Quick scan. Combined scans found 15 potential problems. Don't know if any of the potential problems caused my pdfforge.com issue, but nice to know my system is (relatively) clean - for now.

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Have you reset the download location? You can do this by going to Firefox Button => Options => Downloads => Select the download folder under your profile

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By the way, if you want to print to a format that's easily viewable by humans rather than machines, consider printing to PDF. If you do not have software such as Adobe Acrobat or NitroPDF, you can use a free PDF printer driver, or an add-on to create the PDF.

Printer drivers:

Firefox Add-on:

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I don't know what the location is, but I can enter a full path in that box —

C:\prn\filename

— to get around the error. (I looked into it because another user asked Where do I change the default directory for print to file? - unresolved)

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I loaded the add-on Print pages to Pdf. Selecting the Print to File box does not offer file type .pdf as an option.

Clicked link to www.primopdf.com. The page is out of order. Closed window.

Clicked link to www.pdfforge.org. Downloaded program file identified only as "Setup". Ran setup. Wanted me to buy 3 different services. I declined all. Got message "Thanks for installing..." and a pop-up window from Norton protection telling me, "Norton blocked an attack by Web Attack: Fake Application Download" Did not register. Closed registration window. Search of This PC > All subfolders for file named PDFCreator finds nothing.

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Hi gag5212, the "Print pages to PDF" extension does not use the normal print dialog. Instead, right-click the page and look for its menu there, or you can add its button to one of your toolbars.

I'm surprised by your results with the other sites.

The http://www.primopdf.com/ page layout is completely whacky. The product was acquired by the NitroPDF people, but what is going on here? Probably best to ignore that one for now.

On http://www.pdfforge.org/ you should get something like the attached on the download page. I'm alarmed to hear you got something strange. Do you have any extensions that you don't recognize? You might be infected with something that redirects your downloads in some way. Although Norton is generally a solid product, you should consider some supplemental scans. This article lists tools that other Firefox users have found helpful: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware

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The download window I got for pdfforge looked nothing like the one you included with your reply. I am running Windows 8.1 on a one-week-old-PC after using a Mac for the last 12 years. Surprised that option to create a .pdf file is not included with the Windows version of Firefox.

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Chosen Solution

jscher2000: Thanks for advice. I ran Malwarebyte full scan and SUPERAntiSpyware Quick scan. Combined scans found 15 potential problems. Don't know if any of the potential problems caused my pdfforge.com issue, but nice to know my system is (relatively) clean - for now.