Issues with Acrobat and Montserrat

When fonts are embedded in a PDF, they are subsetted, meaning only the characters used in the document will be stored instead of the entire font set. This requires a special name for the subset, so that's where the "AIWIKX" comes from. The prefix will be a different set of 6 letters for every time a font is subset. In normal circumstances, you won't see this naming convention as it's just how the fonts are stored internall, ie. if you look at your file's Document Fonts, it will just list the referenced font, Monstserrat.

Now, why your file is erroring I can't say. It points to a corrupted PDF which can result from any number of reasons, including a bad file transfer/network file server, corrupted font caches, etc, etc... none of which I can diagnose without seeing the file.

Can you post one of the bad files (or DM one)?

Hi there 

Hope you are doing well and thanks for reaching out and sharing the details. We are sorry for the trouble you are experiencing.

The message you’re seeing usually happens when the font embedding process in InDesign doesn’t complete correctly, or if there’s a conflict with the font files installed on your system. The “AIWIKX+” prefix is automatically added by InDesign as a font subset tag—it doesn’t come from the font itself.

A few things you can try:

1. Check your font source – Make sure you’re using the official Montserrat font (for example, from Google Fonts or Adobe Fonts). Sometimes duplicates or older versions cause embedding issues. https://adobe.ly/3JF0F9O 

2. Clear duplicate fonts – If you have multiple versions of Montserrat installed (system, Adobe Fonts, local), try deactivating/uninstalling duplicates so only one source remains.

3. Export settings – When exporting the PDF from InDesign, under File > Export > Adobe PDF (Print), check the Advanced tab to ensure fonts are set to be embedded.

4. Test with a new doc – Create a fresh InDesign file, add just a text box with Montserrat, and export again. This helps isolate whether it’s a document-specific issue.

If you’ve already tried reinstalling InDesign, Acrobat, and the font, I’d suggest first making sure you’re using the official Montserrat release and removing any duplicates.

~Amal

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