Fix Outlook Closing While Converting Emails to PDF via PDFMaker
Question details
Microsoft Outlook abruptly closes or crashes when attempting to convert emails to PDF using the Adobe PDFMaker add-in.
- Product
- Microsoft Outlook 2010, Adobe PDFMaker
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- The user is attempting to convert an entire Outlook inbox into a PDF file using the Adobe PDFMaker add-in, but the process fails and closes the application.
- Observed behavior
- The PDFMaker conversion progress bar reaches approximately 55%, at which point Outlook unexpectedly closes without generating the final PDF.
Before proceeding, save any drafted emails to prevent data loss, and verify that your Adobe Creative Cloud subscription is currently active.
Enable Cached Exchange Mode and Convert in Smaller Batches
Enabling Cached Exchange Mode ensures Outlook has local access to email data, preventing server connection timeouts that cause PDFMaker to crash. Converting smaller batches also minimizes system memory load.
When Cached Exchange Mode is disabled, PDFMaker is severely limited in how many messages it can process over a live server connection. Downloading a local cache of your mailbox resolves this bottleneck.
Open Microsoft Outlook. Click on the 'File' tab in the top-left corner, select 'Account Settings', and then click 'Account Settings...' from the dropdown menu.
In the Email tab, click on your Microsoft Exchange account to highlight it, then click the 'Change...' button located just above the list.
Under the Offline Settings section, check the box next to 'Use Cached Exchange Mode'. Click 'Next', then 'Finish', and restart Outlook for the changes to take effect.
Once Outlook reboots, instead of converting the entire inbox, highlight a smaller group of emails (e.g., 50 at a time), right-click, and select 'Convert to Adobe PDF'.
Update Outlook and Adobe Acrobat
Keeping both Microsoft Outlook and Adobe Acrobat up to date resolves known compatibility bugs that cause the PDFMaker add-in to crash.
Need a More Stable Document and PDF Suite? Try WPS Office
If you are tired of plugin crashes and expensive subscriptions, WPS Office offers a lightweight, highly stable alternative to Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat. While it doesn't serve as a standalone email client, its powerful built-in PDF tools make document conversion and management effortless.
- 1. Download WPS Office: Visit the official WPS Office website and download the free installation package for your operating system.
- 2. Install the Software: Run the downloaded installer and follow the simple on-screen instructions to set up the office suite.
- 3. Manage PDFs Instantly: Open WPS Office to instantly view, edit, and convert PDF files without needing third-party add-ins.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Adobe PDFMaker crash at exactly 55% during conversion?
This specific percentage usually indicates the point where the server times out or memory limits are reached when processing a large volume of emails without Cached Exchange Mode enabled.
How many emails can I safely convert to PDF at once?
While it varies based on attachment sizes, selecting batches of 50 to 100 emails is highly recommended to prevent the PDFMaker add-in from overwhelming Outlook's memory limits.
What happens if I disable Cached Exchange Mode?
Disabling Cached Exchange Mode forces Outlook to retrieve data directly from the Exchange server for every action. This live connection can bottleneck resource-heavy tasks like bulk PDF conversion, often leading to timeouts or application crashes.
Can I use WPS Office to convert Outlook emails to PDF?
WPS Office does not function as an add-in directly inside Outlook. However, you can save your Outlook emails as HTML or Word document files, and then use WPS Office's built-in PDF tools to seamlessly convert them into high-quality PDF files.
