Home Installation FAQ

College Produce · CCE v1.0.10 · Windows & macOS

Print smarter,
spend less.

CCE automatically converts color print jobs to grayscale — transparently, in the background. Your team prints the same way. Your toner bills shrink.

⊞ Download for WindowsWindows 10/11 · 64-bit · v1.0.10 ⌘ Download for macOSApple Silicon · v1.0.10 ⌘ Download for macOSIntel · v1.0.10

FAQ & Help

Common questions, setup tips, and fixes for known issues.

General

Does CCE upload my documents anywhere?

No. CCE is fully local. Every document, every page, every analysis result stays on your machine. Logs and job history live under %APPDATA%\CCE\.

Does CCE work offline?

Yes. The only optional network access is PDFCreator's update check — disable it in PDFCreator → Settings → Updates for fully air-gapped operation.

What's the difference between Preview and Print mode?

Set via tray icon → Settings:

  • Preview (default) — processed PDF opens in your viewer for review before printing to paper.
  • Print — processed PDF is sent silently to a real printer with no review window.
Does the report's $ saved figure include paper costs?

No — it's pages_converted × (cost_per_color − cost_per_bw). Savings come from the per-page color markup your print shop charges. Set your prices in tray → View Report → ⚙ Set Cost per Page.

Does CCE process scanned PDFs?

Yes. The engine works on any rasterizable PDF — text PDFs and fully-scanned image PDFs alike.

Can multiple users on the same machine use CCE?

Yes. CCE is installed per-machine but settings and job history are per-user under each user's %APPDATA%\CCE\.

Setup

Can I uninstall PDF Architect 9 safely?

Yes, always. It's a PDF editor PDFCreator sometimes bundles. CCE doesn't use it. Removing it has no effect on CCE, PDFCreator, or Adobe Acrobat / Reader.

Why do I see PDFCreator in Apps & Features?

CCE installs it as a dependency. Don't uninstall it — PDFCreator is the virtual printer engine CCE depends on.

How do I update CCE?

Right-click the tray icon → Check for Updates. Or download and run the latest installer — it upgrades in place, preserving all settings and history.

Troubleshooting

A save dialog pops up every time I print

Cause: PDFCreator's Save settings aren't set to Automatic, or the Target directory is blank.

Fix: Open PDFCreator → Profiles → Save action. Set toggle to Automatic and Target directory to %APPDATA%\CCE\output. Click OK, exit PDFCreator from its tray icon, then try again.

CCE doesn't start — no tray icon after install

Check 1: Task Manager → Processes. If CCE.exe is listed, the icon is just hidden — go to Win → "Tray icon settings" and set CCE to show.

Check 2: If not running, launch from Start menu. Allow any SmartScreen warning — the installer is signed by College Produce LLC.

Check 3: If it crashes, send %APPDATA%\CCE\logs\cce_stdio.log to support.

Report shows $0.00 for every job

You haven't set your per-page price yet. Tray icon → View Report → ⚙ Set Cost per Page. Enter what your print shop charges (typical: $0.50 color, $0.10 B&W). Applies to new jobs only.

Page colors are wrong in the processed PDF

For a one-off job: print it directly to your physical printer. For a recurring pattern: contact support with the PDF and the page numbers — the engine's rules are tunable per document type.

Processed PDF doesn't open in Adobe

Win → Default apps → PDF (.pdf) → set to Adobe Acrobat Reader. Or switch to Print mode (Tray → Settings) to skip the viewer entirely.

Where do log files live?
File Contents
%APPDATA%\CCE\logs\cce_stdio.log Last CCE.exe launch — first place to look for crashes.
%APPDATA%\CCE\logs\cce_YYYY-MM-DD.log Per-job processing log (one file per day).
Where do I report a bug?

Contact your CCE support channel (your IT admin will have the address). Include a description of what happened, cce_stdio.log, and if relevant the source PDF or a redacted sample.