Scalebar or scalebar text causes ArcMAP to hang when exporting to PDF; assume that AI and EPS also hang. SVG also hangs.

Description

Exporting to PDF stops responding at 50% or 51%.

Note:
This article pertains to ArcGIS versions 9.x only. Later versions of ArcGIS may contain different functionality, as well as different names and locations for menus, commands and geoprocessing tools.

Cause

There are two known causes for this problem:

• There is a known defect related to scale bars and scale text.
• The Normal.mxt is corrupted.

Workaround

Select one of the two options below:

• There is a known defect when exporting maps to PDF that contain some scale bars or scale text. If exporting a map with a scale bar or scale text, convert the scale bars and/or scale text to graphics.
• If the Normal.mxt is corrupted, delete or rename Normal.mxt with the following steps:
  1. In Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\<your_login_folder>\Application Data\ESRI\ArcMap\Templates.
  2. Delete or rename Normal.mxt.
  3. Start ArcMap. Normal.mxt is automatically recreated from defaults.
  4. Open the MXD and export to PDF again.

Steps to Reproduce