Participating Frequently

Question

Inconsistent text bolding on Chrome

Forum|Forum|11 months ago
May 1, 2025
5 replies
2372 views

Hi everyone,

I'm stuck on a PDF report that must work well when emailed/downloaded through Google. Unfortunately, there seems to be a bug in how certain text is displayed (first photo is one example). When downloaded from Google Drive/Gmail and opened in the Chrome web browser, this odd bolding appears around some text. It does not happen when opened in Preview, Acrobat, Slack, etc. This needs to be a publicly available doc, with links included.

I've tried downloading an interactive PDF, print PDF, checking the text, and everything else I can think of. If helpful, the text is Roboto, size 9.5. There is no image behind the text. There is a color text box behind the text, but I tried removing it, and it still happened (second photo). I'm losing my mind and would appreciate any advice!!

Thank you!

SA

Willi Adelberger

Community Expert

Please be aware, that onky Acrobat is the onöy valid PDF viewer. Any other viewer, like Chrome, are not able to show all flairs of PDFs. There is not a problem with the PDF or with the used font, do not use Chrome to view PDFs and inform the recipients on those problems.

SAronsonAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you. Unfortunately, there is no way to control for how the public views my work in this case. It is a public link that folks can download and then read -- and many people just go to the Chrome viewer. I suppose I could propose that my client adds a disclaimer to their website? Perhaps that is a solution if I word it in the right way.

BobLevine

Community Expert

Thank you. Unfortunately, there is no way to control for how the public views my work in this case.

By @SAronson

That is the sad truth and there is nothing you or anyone else can do about. When you export from InDesign it's important to note you are exporting Adobe PDF, not Chrome PDF. They didn't throw that in there for nothing.

rob day

Community Expert

Hi @SAronson , Is there any transparency on the spread? Does it happen using a presetmthat flattens (e.i., PDF/X-1a)

SAronsonAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi, no, no transparency and I've tried just about every export option (both Interactive and Print). It shows up when opened via Chrome no matter what unfortunately.

Brad @ Roaring Mouse

Community Expert

How well a particular viewer works is totally "on them". Most third party viewers, and especially browsers, are bad at it. Chrome is typically the worst. Adding to the misery is technology like Microsoft Cleartype, which can shift characters slightly in each independent channel RGB to "make it look better" on LCD screens*. If you are viewing this on a Windows install, turn off Cleartype if it's on and see if there's any difference. If not it's completely a Chrome issue.

*Your screen grabs actually shows this effect, but not consistently. If you open one in Photoshop and toggle between the R G and B channels, you can see letters shift one pixel either direction. This doesn't happen on evey line though, so on the ones that it does, the overall effect is that the line looks "lighter" than the ones that don't.

Regardless, this has NOTHING to do with the PDF itself.

SAronsonAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you for this -- it's validating, if also frustrating. The nature of my work means people will always be viewing PDFs on Chrome and all sorts of other viewers. If there is any way to control for this AT ALL in the future (different font? something else...?), I am all ears.

leo.r

Community Expert

(different font? something else...?)
By @SAronson

Do you have this issue with any font you try, or Roboto only?

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @SAronson,

Just checking in to see if the issue was resolved after trying expert's suggestion, or if you're still facing the same problem with the bold text in Chrome. If the issue persists, would you be able to share a sample file (or a mockup, if the original is confidential) so we can test it on our end and help further? Moreover, please shared the screenhot of the export settings as well.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Abhishek

SAronsonAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi, folks below were helpful, but the issue, as they identify, is not resolved and likely cannot be due to Chrome's viewer settings. I do wish there was a way to fix this as I cannot control how the public views my client's products. For now, it appears that I am simply between a rock and a hard place as I cannot change my client's brand fonts, etc., and the products must be publicly available. Thanks!