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Douglas_Campbell
Douglas_Campbell
Inspiring
July 18, 2010
Question

Fonts Not Embedding Consistently with PDF Export - Inconsistent Fix and Unknown Cause

  • July 18, 2010
  • 1 reply
  • 3203 views

I have had ongoing problems with PDF export from FrameMaker. Sometimes the correct fonts do not embed in the PDF and Times New Roman is substituted. The problem appears and disappears and is causing me a lot of lost time and frustration.

I am running FrameMaker 9.0 fully patched on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. I have seen people complain about this issue and am familiar with the suggested fixes. However, the exact cause and solution eludes me because the problem continues to recur and I am only able to recover with guesswork and workarounds.

Initially I did the following:

ACROBAT PDF SETTINGS

- In the printer properties for Adobe PDF settings I turned off the option "Rely on system fonts only; do not use documents fonts."

ACROBAT DISTILLER SETTING

Under "Font" Settings I changed the following:

- Under "Settings/Font Locations" I added the font folder for Technical Communication Suite 2.0 and made sure all the fonts existed there and in the Windows default font directory.

- Under "Settings/Edit Adobe PDF Setting/Fonts" I changed the following options:

            - Selected "Embed all fonts"

           

            - Under "Embedding" chose "Always Embed" for the target fonts.

I tweaked these settings for hours and got no results. Then I rebooted and the problem had magically disappeared. I fixed the issue in the same way on another machine and the results were permanent and I was just happy to finally have it fixed, But this time it didn't last.

I should note that upon reboot, when I used the stock "PDF Job Options," the correct fonts still embedded, leading me to believe that the fix had nothing to do with the changes I made to Distiller settings.

After reboot I generated PDFs with the correct fonts embedded. Then I shut down FM, but left the system running. The next morning I opened FM again and the same problem occurred.

So I rebooted again -- and the problem disappeared again. I therefore thought maybe the issue fixes on reboot but recurs when you shut down FM and reopen. So I shut down FM again and reopened, but it is still working fine for the moment.

I verified that the Adobe PDF settings under "Printers & Devices" that I turned off (Rely on system fonts only; do not use documents fonts) remained correctly unchecked through all these changes.

I would really like to know why this happens so I can resolve it permanently and avoid more lost time.

Thanks in advance,

Douglas


    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    M
    Mike Wickham
    Inspiring
    July 19, 2010

    How are you creating the PDF? Using the notoriously problematic Save as PDF

    method? Or by printing to the virtual Adobe PDF printer method, which is

    notoriously problem free?

    Douglas_Campbell
    Douglas_CampbellAuthor
    Inspiring
    July 19, 2010

    I was "saving as PDF." Someone mentioned in an another post to avoid the virtual PDF printer option...I had tried it some weeks ago, but encountered issues with it. However, I just tried it again after receiving your e-mail and I think you're right.

    At first FM locked up, I got a font error message, and the system told me the program wasn't responding. Then for a few minutes it was churning through pages very, very slowly. Luckily, though, it then seemed to break free and spit out the entire document. It looks clean.

    The other thing that leads me to believe that you're right is that I was also about to post about another Distiller problem about image quality, but this method seems to have resolved that problem, too. No matter what job option I chose or what parameters I tweaked in the image settings, it was exporting my images with terrible resolution, which shouldn't haven been the case since I import .ai files by reference.

    I also noticed that the despite the improvement in image quality, the file size is much smaller, too. Strange.

    The common theme I'm seeing here is that the setting edits you make in Distiller through the FM "Save As PDF" option don't seem to take effect. Do you know if that is true or could you elaborate on the notorious nature of this method for me?

    Thanks for your help.

    M
    Mike Wickham
    Inspiring
    July 19, 2010

    The common theme I'm seeing here is that the setting edits you make in

    Distiller through the FM "Save As PDF" option don't seem to take effect.

    Do you know if that is true or could you elaborate on the notorious nature

    of this method for me?

    >

    There are too many potential and transient problems to list. The only thing

    I can say is that I've been an active member of the FrameUsers listserv

    (http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/listinfo/framers) since FM version 6.0,

    circa 2001, and probably 95% of the PDF problems reported there have been

    fixed simply by using print to Adobe PDF (or to Acrobat Distiller in older

    PDF versions), instead of using Save as PDF. Common advice there has always

    been to avoid Save as PDF and even some Adobe employees have recommended

    against using it. It doesn't matter which FM version.

    The once-busy FrameUsers listserve has been fading away, recently, as this

    new Adobe forum software allows reading via e-mail, and attachment of

    screenshots. Even if you look around on this forum now, you'll probably

    find that there are two main fixes for issues with PDF. One is NOT using

    Save as PDF, which seems to fix a whole bunch of issues. The other is the

    use of a Windows hotfix to squash a Windows OS bug that causes dropped

    characters in PDFs.

    In the rare instances that someone has issues with printing to PDF, they are

    almost always related to errors in settings. Or occasionally someone can't

    embed fonts because they are trying to the embed the virtual fonts that come

    with their printer driver instead of fonts that have actually been installed

    on their computer. (The fonts are hard-wired on their printer, so the system

    can use them but not embed them.)

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