Hindi Unicode PDF – Search and Copy-Paste IssueI am facing a problem with Hindi Unicode PDFs created from both Adobe InDesign CC 2026 and Microsoft Word on Windows 11.The source text is proper Unicode and works correctly in InDesign, Word, and Notepad. However, after exporting to PDF: Some Hindi words are searchable, while others are not. Copy-Paste does not reproduce the original text correctly. Certain conjuncts and matras are altered during text extraction. PDF displays perfectly, but search and text extraction are unreliable. For example, words such as "अहिंसा" and "ट्रिब्यून" are not consistently searchable, and copied text differs from the original Unicode text.In Acrobat Document Properties → Fonts, Mangal appears as: TrueType (Encoding: ANSI) TrueType (CID, Encoding: Identity-H) Has anyone successfully created Hindi PDFs where: Search works correctly, Copy-Paste works correctly, Fixed page layout is preserved? Are there any recommended export settings or workflows to generate a proper To Unicode mapping for Devanagari text?Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Hindi Unicode PDF – Search and Copy-Paste Issue

Forum|Forum|1 hour ago
June 24, 2026
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Hindi Unicode PDF – Search and Copy-Paste Issue

I am facing a problem with Hindi Unicode PDFs created from both Adobe InDesign CC 2026 and Microsoft Word on Windows 11.

The source text is proper Unicode and works correctly in InDesign, Word, and Notepad. However, after exporting to PDF:

Some Hindi words are searchable, while others are not.
Copy-Paste does not reproduce the original text correctly.
Certain conjuncts and matras are altered during text extraction.
PDF displays perfectly, but search and text extraction are unreliable.

For example, words such as "अहिंसा" and "ट्रिब्यून" are not consistently searchable, and copied text differs from the original Unicode text.

In Acrobat Document Properties → Fonts, Mangal appears as:

TrueType (Encoding: ANSI)
TrueType (CID, Encoding: Identity-H)

Has anyone successfully created Hindi PDFs where:

Search works correctly,
Copy-Paste works correctly,
Fixed page layout is preserved?

Are there any recommended export settings or workflows to generate a proper To Unicode mapping for Devanagari text?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Uday+MahajanAuthor

Participant

Thank you for the reply… I checked properties.. Its editable.. I am using InDesign CC 2026 and Acrobat is with that creative cloud only, Also I tried older version InDesign CS6 and Acrobat X Pro.. I tried Print as well as Interactive presets.

T

Tariq Ahmad Dar

Community Manager

Hello @Uday Mahajan ,

Thank you for reaching out and for the detailed write-up.

Before we can point you to the right resolution, we have a couple of questions to better understand your setup:

Please check whether your Mangal font license permits embedding. On Windows, right-click the font file in C:\Windows\Fonts, select Properties, and check the embedding permissions listed there. Some system fonts carry restrictions that prevent full embedding in PDF, which can cause the mixed encoding behavior you are seeing
Which version of Adobe InDesign and Acrobat are you using? You can find the Acrobat version under Help > About Adobe Acrobat
When exporting from InDesign, which PDF export preset are you using?

We also want to be transparent about one important point. Acrobat's text extraction and search features currently have limited support for Indian languages, including Hindi and the Devanagari script. This is a known limitation, and we encourage you to register this formally as a feature request at: https://adobe.ly/3QkjxyB

For further reference on language support in Acrobat, please visit: https://adobe.ly/4w8pz4t

Please share the details above, and we will be happy to assist further.

~Tariq

Uday+MahajanAuthor

Participant

Thank you for the reply… I checked properties.. Its editable.. I am using InDesign CC 2026 and Acrobat is with that creative cloud only, Also I tried older version InDesign CS6 and Acrobat X Pro.. I tried Print as well as Interactive presets.

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