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SCdianebaker
Participant
April 25, 2016
Answered

How to make Adobe stop changing font and spacing?

  • April 25, 2016
  • 3 replies
  • 2615 views

We have documents that have to be ADA compliant.  They must be font Arial with a minimum size of 11pt.  The document must have a line spacing of 1.  Every time we print to PDF our font size is changed to 10.98 and line spacing is changed to 1.15.  We used to use CutePDF but we are now being required to leave the text completely selectable.  What settings will FORCE Acrobat to perform properly?  I've tried multiple things (save as and print to pdf) with no success.  I've seen other posts similar to mine without clear instruction on how to fix this problem.  If not, does someone have a recommendation on better software.

We are using Word 2010 and Acrobat Standard DC. We had hoped the problems would be gone when we upgraded.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Dov Isaacs

For better or worse, the symptoms you see have nothing to do with Adobe and any of our software.

Any printing out or saving from Microsoft Office applications under Windows seems to have this issue. Even if you were to print to a PostScript printer from Word, you would find that the intermediate PostScript has text point sizes that are a tad off from what you specified in Word.

Specifically, you get similar (albeit slightly different) “off results” when you print to Adobe PDF, save as Adobe PDF (using Acrobat's PDFMaker capability), or use Microsoft's built-in save as PDF functions. And this issue is nothing new. It has plagued Microsoft Office applications on Windows for over 20 years! We suspect it has to do with Office maintaining an internal coordinate system based on device resolution (screens are 96dpi which doesn't match well with 72 points/inch); roundoff errors occur and what you see is the result.

When this issue has come up in the past (as it certainly has! ), organizations that require minimum text point sizes have been fairly forgiving with regards to this known Office craziness.

          - Dov

3 replies

Dov Isaacs
Dov IsaacsCorrect answer
Legend
April 26, 2016

For better or worse, the symptoms you see have nothing to do with Adobe and any of our software.

Any printing out or saving from Microsoft Office applications under Windows seems to have this issue. Even if you were to print to a PostScript printer from Word, you would find that the intermediate PostScript has text point sizes that are a tad off from what you specified in Word.

Specifically, you get similar (albeit slightly different) “off results” when you print to Adobe PDF, save as Adobe PDF (using Acrobat's PDFMaker capability), or use Microsoft's built-in save as PDF functions. And this issue is nothing new. It has plagued Microsoft Office applications on Windows for over 20 years! We suspect it has to do with Office maintaining an internal coordinate system based on device resolution (screens are 96dpi which doesn't match well with 72 points/inch); roundoff errors occur and what you see is the result.

When this issue has come up in the past (as it certainly has! ), organizations that require minimum text point sizes have been fairly forgiving with regards to this known Office craziness.

          - Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
    CtDave
    CtDave
    Participating Frequently
    April 26, 2016

    "ADA compliant" isn't a standard for accessible PDF.

    Use the ISO Standard (ISO 14289, PDF/UA).

    Be well...

    G
    George_Johnson
    Inspiring
    April 26, 2016

    When you generate the PDF from the Word document, what are the exact steps that you take?

    S
    SCdianebakerAuthor
    Participant
    April 26, 2016

    @George_johnson

    The clerical staff who normally handles this problem say this is the most common method of making a PDF steps for them:

    1. Open document I wish to convert

    2. Click print

    3. Select Adobe PDF

    4. Select Printer Properties

    5. Go to the Adobe PDF Settings Tab

    6. Change Default Settings select "Press Quality" if its to be printed in mass or "Smallest File Size" if I'm emailing something not needed for printing

    In an effort to solve this problem of text changing, I've also tried the "Save as Adobe PDF" option, I've tried half of the available Default Setting options.

    @CtDave from what I understand on the ADA Compliance is the text has to exist as text for those visually impaired, but when the document is printed it must meet a minimum standard so that someone can read the page if printed.  At least that is what I was told by the clerical person who brought this problem to me

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