diff --git a/plugins/ktstandard/PDFGeneratorAction.php b/plugins/ktstandard/PDFGeneratorAction.php
index 76d081b..e99c333 100644
--- a/plugins/ktstandard/PDFGeneratorAction.php
+++ b/plugins/ktstandard/PDFGeneratorAction.php
@@ -255,9 +255,10 @@ class PDFGeneratorAction extends KTDocumentAction {
         $converter->setDocument($this->oDocument);
         $res = $converter->processDocument();
 
-        if(!$res){
+        if($res !== true){
+            // please contact your System Administrator
             $default->log->error('PDF Generator: PDF file could not be generated');
-            $this->errorRedirectToMain(_kt('PDF file could not be generated, the file may be of an unsupported mime type or the PDF Generator could not connect.'));
+            $this->errorRedirectToMain($res . ' ' . _kt('Please contact your System Administrator for assistance.'));
             exit();
         }
 
@@ -268,7 +269,22 @@ class PDFGeneratorAction extends KTDocumentAction {
             }
             exit();
         }
-        $this->errorRedirectToMain(_kt('PDF file could not be generated'));
+
+        // Check if this is a office 2007 doc
+        $mime = $this->getMimeExtension();
+
+        $o2007_types[] = 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document';
+    	$o2007_types[] = 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation';
+    	$o2007_types[] = 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet';
+
+        if(in_array($mime, $o2007_types)){
+            $error = _kt('The document is an MS Office 2007 format. This may not be supported by your version of OpenOffice. Please contact your System Administrator for assistance');
+            $default->log->error('PDF Generator: Document is an MS Office 2007 format. OpenOffice must be version 3.0 or higher to support this format. Please upgrade to the latest version.');
+        }else{
+            $error = _kt('PDF file could not be generated. The format may not be supported by your version of OpenOffice. Please contact your System Administrator for assistance');
+            $default->log->error('PDF Generator: PDF file could not be generated. The format may not be supported by your version of OpenOffice. Please check that you have the latest version installed.');
+        }
+        $this->errorRedirectToMain($error);
         exit();
     }
 
diff --git a/plugins/pdfConverter/pdfConverter.php b/plugins/pdfConverter/pdfConverter.php
index bb2c38f..7068177 100644
--- a/plugins/pdfConverter/pdfConverter.php
+++ b/plugins/pdfConverter/pdfConverter.php
@@ -48,6 +48,25 @@ class pdfConverter extends BaseProcessor
 		$this->ooPort = $config->get('openoffice/port','8100');
 
 		$this->xmlrpc = XmlRpcLucene::get($javaServerUrl);
+
+
+
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Check that open office is running
+     *
+     * @return boolean
+     */
+    private function checkOO()
+    {
+        $available = SearchHelper::checkOpenOfficeAvailablity();
+
+        if(is_null($available)){
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        return false;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -63,17 +82,26 @@ class pdfConverter extends BaseProcessor
 
         if(!file_exists($path)){
             global $default;
-            $default->log->debug('Document, id: '.$this->document->iId.', does not exist at given storage path: '.$path);
-            return false;
+            $default->log->debug('PDF Converter: Document, id: '.$this->document->iId.', does not exist at given storage path: '.$path);
+            return _kt("The document, id: {$this->document->iId}, does not exist at the given storage path: {$path}");
         }
 
+        // check for OO
+        $available = $this->checkOO();
+
         // do pdf conversion
+        if(!$available){
+            global $default;
+            $default->log->error("PDF Converter: Cannot connect to Open Office Server on host {$this->ooHost} : {$this->ooPort}");
+            return _kt('Cannot connect to Open Office Server.');
+        }
+
         $res = $this->convertFile($path, $ext);
 
-        if($res === false){
+        if($res !== true){
             global $default;
-            $default->log->debug('Document, id: '.$this->document->iId.', could not be converted to pdf.');
-            return false;
+            $default->log->debug('PDF Converter: Document, id: '.$this->document->iId.', could not be converted to pdf.');
+            return _kt("The document, id: {$this->document->iId}, could not be converted to pdf format. The following error occurred: \"{$res}\".");
         }
 
         return true;
@@ -169,11 +197,11 @@ class pdfConverter extends BaseProcessor
 	    // Get contents and send to converter
         $result = $this->xmlrpc->convertDocument($sourceFile, $targetFile, $this->ooHost, $this->ooPort);
 
-        if($result === false){
+        if(is_string($result)){
             $default->log->error('PDF Converter Plugin: Conversion to PDF Failed');
             @unlink($sourceFile);
             @unlink($targetFile);
-            return false;
+            return $result;
         }
 
         $pdfDir = $default->pdfDirectory;
@@ -196,7 +224,7 @@ class pdfConverter extends BaseProcessor
         $res = @copy($targetFile, $pdfFile);
         @unlink($sourceFile);
         @unlink($targetFile);
-        return $pdfFile;
+        return true;
 
     }
 }
diff --git a/search2/indexing/lib/XmlRpcLucene.inc.php b/search2/indexing/lib/XmlRpcLucene.inc.php
index 156c929..38fc01c 100755
--- a/search2/indexing/lib/XmlRpcLucene.inc.php
+++ b/search2/indexing/lib/XmlRpcLucene.inc.php
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@ class XmlRpcLucene
 
         if($result->faultCode()) {
             $this->error($result, 'convertDocument');
-            return false;
+            return $result->faultString();
         }
         return php_xmlrpc_decode($result->value()) == 0;
     }