Offending command: restore

‘Restore’ is an operator that is used in conjunction with the ‘save’ operator. ‘Save’ makes a snapshot of the state of the PostScript interpreter’s memory. ‘Restore’ does what it says: it restores that snapshot.

General solutions

‘Save’ and ‘restore’ are commonly used whenever the PostScript interpreter encounters nested data: e.g. an EPS that was placed in an EPS that was put on a page. When too much nesting occurs, this can lead to ‘restore’ errors.

Simplifying the design of the document is probably the best approach to avoid this error.

Outputting page by page instead of printing a full set of pages in one go is a possible work-around.

Avoiding applications that add to the complexity of the PostScript data is also a good idea: skip the use of OPI or imposition software if possible.

Prescript and TrapWise generating restore errors

Restore errors seem to occur whenever both Prescript 2.x and TrapWise 2.4x are used in the same workflow. There are two known workarounds for this problem:

  • Use the Imation LPX or Agfa MSX xtension for QuarkXPress to create the PostScript file.
  • The “restore” error also disappears whenever the last page in the PostScript file is omitted while outputting the imposed flat. Create a dummy extra page in the page layout application, then create a PostScript file that consequently contains one page too many, trap the file and ignore the last page in the imposition software.


Acrobat Distiller and booked publications from PageMaker
When distilling a PDF file you exported from booked publications in PageMaker 6.5x, Acrobat Distiller generates a PostScript error, “invalidrestore” offending command “restore”. This problem is very well documented on the Adobe support section of their website. Have a look over there for all possible solutions. Here are some of the things they suggest:

  • Avoid using RGB colours in the files.
  • Export each publication to PDF separately, and combine the publications in Acrobat Exchange (nowadays simply called Acrobat).
  • If you are creating the PostScript file in Windows NT 4.0, use the AdobePS 5.0 PostScript printer driver.
  • If you are running Windows NT, convert any metafile graphics (e.g., WMF, pasted or inserted graphics ) in the publications to TIFF images, place the TIFF images into the publication, then create the PDF file.