I can’t get PDF drag and drop to work when I drop a tagged PDF onto the PDF-eXPLODE Print Queue window

Issue:

If you Drag and Drop a PDF which has an embedded PDF-eXPLODE tag on each page, the exploding process does not commence immediately as it should. Generally the mouse cursor should display as a '+' over the Printer queue surface but it remains as a circle indicating no drag and drop is available.  Applies to PDF-eXPLODE V3.3.9.98/99+ and V4.0.0.0++ only

Answer:

The problem relates specifically to how ADOBE writes (or does not write) a registry entry to associate a PDF to Adobe Reader for PDF printing. It is more than likely that Adobe did not create the correct registry keys to associate the PDF with its program file. 

When you associate ANY file with an EXE program, the registry should show if the file can be printed using the associated EXE. In the case of PDFs, if Adobe Reader executable has been set to be the default PDF reader,  it MUST also show the ’print’  command in a registry setting. As it turns out Adobe has not created this and consequently drag and drop fails to works.  You can create the key manually:  

Look at:  HKEY_CLASES_ROOT\ .pdf  and take the default VALUE  on the Right pane and use that in a Search (CTRL F) for a KEY with that name. The Value will be something like Acrode.Document or PDF_auto_file and now we need to find a KEY of this same default value.  Once you search further down, you should find this KEY class. It should have a folder called SHELL which should contain 2 folders – OPEN and PRINT. Under each of these folders should exist a sub-folder called  COMMAND, i.e.: OPEN/COMMAND  and PRINT/COMMAND.
 
Both of these KEYS are generally missing (i.e. no PRINT and no sub-key COMMAND.  Under COMMAND there will be a default Value on the right hand pane, showing the path and parameters for Adobe for Printing a PDF.  A Drag and Drop of a PDF and then PRINT requires this Key/Value.   If no Shell/Print/Command folder exists then the dragged PDF is regarded as “NON-PRINTABLE” by the drag and drop code.
Create a Key and Value and insert the same string Value as OPEN but with the ‘/p’ for printing and THEN  the drag and drop starts working. 

Here is a step by step process PDF document:   https://kb.pdf-explode.com/assets/Fixing_the_registry_for_PDF_drag_and_drop.pd f   Please click the link to open and download it.

Alternatively, if you are hesitant about editing the registry, you can run the equivalent method using "Command Line".  This is done by creating a shortcut which launches PDF-eXPLODE.EXE and passes to it a parameter   "-PRINTFILE" along with the path and file name of the PDF (created by a third party PDF creation software). 

• Assume PDF-eXPLODE.EXE is installed under  C:\PROGRAM FILES (x-86)\PDF-eXPLODE  and 
• the third party PDF file (containing tags) is called  To-Be-Exploded.PDF
• saved in the  PDFs  sub-folder where PDF-eXPLODE is installed 

Here is what the shortcut should look like: 

"C:\PROGRAM FILES (x-86)\PDF-eXPLODE\PDF-eXPLODE.EXE" -PRINTFILE " C:\PROGRAM FILES (x-86)\PDF-eXPLODE\PDFs\To-Be-Exploded.PDF"

START IN: "C:\PROGRAM FILES (x-86)\PDF-eXPLODE

Notice there are no spaces in this part of the text:  -PRINTFILE " C:\PROGRAM. This is critical to the working of the shortcut. This shortcut will emulate the drag and drop by straight away exploding the PDF and then emailing the burst/exploded PDFs.