Skip to main content
ita9625804
ita9625804
Participant
August 18, 2025
Answered

Adding a PDF into another PDF turns text to blocks - weird font

  • August 18, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 493 views

Hi all,

 

I've searched this issue in this community and it seems to be a fonts issue that occurs. But I don't understand how it is in this case.

 

Our CEO's assistant writes her document in Word. Then prints it as a PDF. She then inserts that PDF into another PDF she created.

 

When reviewing the PDF, some text of the inserted PDF is rendered as blocks and unreadable.

 

The weird thing is, it only shows like that on her PC. Everyone else who reads it doesn't have the same issue. If it were a font issue, surely it would show on other users Acrobat? She's not using any odd fonts. Just the Microsoft standard fonts. And why should it show on hers when she has all the fonts she using installed on her laptop?

 

Has anyone seen this before? Should I reinstall Acrobat?

 

Thanks!

Correct answer creative explorer

@ita9625804 The fact that the CEO's assistant's computer displays the original PDF correctly, but not the combined one, is the smoking gun. It indicates that her computer's font cache or a specific font file is the root of the problem. When the CEO's assistant "prints" her Word document to a PDF, the process may not be fully embedding all font data or a specific type of font data is being corrupted during the "Print to PDF" process. 

At this stage, ask the IT team to clear the font cache on the CEO's assistants computer. And if needed, to reinstall 

troubling font' directly from the Microsoft Office installation files.

1 reply

creative explorer
Community Expert
creative explorerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 18, 2025

@ita9625804 that is 100% a font issue! The weirdest thing is when she 'Prints as a PDF' the fonts are NOT being embedded.  This is crucial for ensuring the document looks the same on any computer, regardless of whether that computer has the fonts installed. When she views the PDF, her system recognizes the corrupt reference and tries to display the text, but since the full font data isn't there, it renders as the "blocky" characters you see. While others see, Acrobat sees the broken font data and ignores it. and instead, they fall back to a "substitute" font that is already on their system to make it readable!

On the CEO Assistant, I would restart better yet, shut down the computer for a couple of minutes. And then restart the computer. Hopefully, that will clear the system's font cache. if you can know the font causing the issue (check the PDF's properties for font information - Control D (PC) or Command D (MAC), you can try reinstalling just that one font on her computer. And instead of 'Print to PDF', I would 'Save As a PDF'  - File - Save As - PDF

 

m
ita9625804
ita9625804Author
Participant
August 21, 2025

@ita9625804 thanks for the detailed reply, but if it was the font, why does the PDF she makes look fine? It's only when she adds it to another PDF on her PC that the font goes weird? Both PDFs are perfectly readable until she inserts one into another, and then the one she inserts gets the blocky characters. Not all of the characters are blocky, just some paragraphs. And it's the same font throughout the document.

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices