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Hiram26
Participant
August 29, 2023
Question

Combining word documents and pdf files garbles text

  • August 29, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 835 views

I've tried combining word documents and pdf files together and the text is coming out with white squares. I have checked that all fonts are embedded. I am putting the same files into pdf-xchange with no issue. 

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2 replies

Amal.
Community Manager
Amal.Community Manager
Community Manager
August 30, 2023

Hello @Hiram26 ,

 

I hope you're doing alright. I'm sorry to hear that you're facing issues with your PDF files. It can be quite frustrating, but I'm here to help.

 

To narrow down the problem, could you please confirm if this issue is specific to just one PDF file or if it's happening with all the PDFs you're trying to open? Sometimes, issues can be file-specific.

 

If the file is stored on a shared network or drive, I recommend downloading it to your local computer and trying to open it again. This can help rule out any potential network-related problems.

 

If you've noticed this problem recently, it might be related to software updates or changes. To start troubleshooting, could you let me know which version of Acrobat DC you're using? You can find this information by going to Help > About Acrobat. Make sure you're using the latest version, which should be 23.03.20284. If not, you can check for updates by going to Help > Check for Updates. After updating, a computer restart might be beneficial.

 

Another step you could take is attempting to repair the Acrobat installation. This option is available in the Help menu (Windows Only). This might resolve any potential installation glitches.

 

In case the problem persists, you could also try resetting Acrobat preferences to default settings. The process for doing this is outlined here: Adobe Community - How to Reset Acrobat Preference Settings to Default.

 

Remember, I'm here to assist you through this process. If these steps don't solve the issue, please don't hesitate to reach out again.

 

Regards

Amal

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Legend
August 30, 2023

White squares (called Tofu in Acrobatland) always mean that the font information is missing in the file. Tough to diagnose why it happens, but the root cause is when the PDF is originally created—fonts must be embedded at that time for the PDF to work seamlessly across all computers.

 

This set of steps in Acrobat often fixes the problem.

 

  1. Check which fonts the final PDF is looking for. File / Document Properties / Fonts tag and write down every font that is in that list.
  2. Check your computer and ensure that they are installed. C:/Windows/Fonts. Slight differences in the names indicate that the fonts are different and may not be recognized by the PDF file.
  3. If you think all of the PDF's required fons are installed, use Acrobat's preflight utility to force-embed the fonts into the PDF.

Open the PDF Standards or Print Production tools panel (same panel is in 2 locations).

 

Select Preflight.

Set the options shown below. Careful...make sure all of them are set.

 

Hope this fixes the problem for you.

 

 

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
Karl Heinz Kremer
Community Expert
Karl Heinz KremerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 30, 2023

This is very likely a problem with subset embedded fonts. A while ago, I found a workaround for one specific problem that has similar symptoms: http://khkonsulting.com/2015/02/missing-characters-merging-inserting-pdf-files-potential-workaround/

 

This may not work for your specific case, but you might just get lucky. 

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