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S
Stoothoff
December 19, 2025
Answered

Problem with fonts listed in Properties resulting in bloated PDF

  • December 19, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 771 views

In editing  the 700KB PDF I replaced many of the fonts, and many, many subsets of the new fonts were embedded in the revised PDF. So now the list of embedded fonts in it is huge, some subsets being duplicated or even triplicated with different encodings, and some fonts not used at all in the file (e.g. sans serif fonts) as well as the font that I replaced in editing the file also appear in the list,.  I've made screenshots of this huge list of fonts, which I would attach to this post if that could be done. I'm attaching a folder containing screenshots of the list of fonts in the Properties of thefileApart from the fact that the file is now bloated because of the embedded fonts, it has also been deemed unacceptable for POD publishing by Ingram Spark because its list of fonts includes AS USED BUT NOT EMBEDDED  fonts which in fact are not used in it. I wonder if anyone has ever encountered this sort of problem. 

Correct answer AnandSri

Hello @Stoothoff

 

I hope you are doing well, and thank you for reaching out.

 

This is a known and expected behavior when editing fonts in PDFs. When text is edited or fonts are replaced, Acrobat often creates multiple embedded font subsets, sometimes with different encodings. Even if it’s the same font family, these appear as separate entries in Menu > Properties > Fonts, which can result in:

  • A very long font list

  • Duplicate or unused-looking font entries

  • Increased file size

The Fonts list also shows all referenced fonts, not just those visibly used on pages. This can cause POD systems (like IngramSpark) to flag fonts as “used but not embedded,” even if they aren’t actively used.

 

Suggestions: 

 

Preflight (Print Production > Preflight):
  • Run a PDF/X or PDF/A /A conversion profile. This will enforce font embedding and flag any issues.
  • If the profile fails, check the Preflight report for fonts that are still referenced but not embedded, and replace or re-embed them as needed.
Optimize PDF (File > Save as Other > Optimized PDF):
  • Use the “Audit space usage” feature to view which fonts are consuming space.
  • Enable “Subset all embedded fonts” to consolidate font subsets.
  • Remove any unused embedded fonts if possible.
If issues persist:
  • Print the PDF to PostScript and re-distill it using Acrobat Distiller with “Embed all fonts” enabled. This can rebuild the font table from scratch and remove duplicates.
  • Go back to your source file (Word, InDesign, etc.), ensure all fonts are installed and embeddable, and then export a fresh PDF with “Embed all fonts” checked.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

2 replies

J
james_3754
December 19, 2025

This looks like a font cleanup issue that can happen after heavy PDF editing. It may help to run the file through a PDF optimizer to remove unused and duplicate fonts. Re exporting the PDF with fonts fully embedded can also fix false warnings. Some tools let you subset or flatten fonts to keep things simple. Before uploading again test the file with a preflight check. This should help reduce size and make the website upload smoother.

S
StoothoffAuthor
December 20, 2025
James,

My editing was indeed heavy, and I naively assumed that replacing text in one font with text in another having the same ‘dimensions’ (which is what I did) would result in a subset of the new font being embedded in the file, and this embedded subset would be used when I made the same replacement for different text. I’ve tried the tricks you suggest, but without success. I tried saving the file as a Word file in the hope of cleaning it up in Word or placing it in InDesign for a real clean-up, but his doesn’t work.

I would classify this feature of Acrobat as a bug, and wonder why the Adobe engineers haven’t tried to fix it, so that the job of repairing the file ex post facto isn’t left for naive Acrobat users like me to do

Bob Stoothoff
AnandSri
AnandSri
Legend
December 21, 2025

Hello @1073695 

 

Thank you for sharing these details and for testing the suggestions.

 

What you’re seeing is not exactly a bug, but rather a limitation of how Acrobat handles font embedding during heavy edits. When you replace text with a different font, even if the dimensions match, Acrobat does not automatically subset and embed the new font for all subsequent edits. Instead, it often keeps the original font references and applies the new font only at the object level. This can lead to inconsistencies and missing font subsets, which is why accessibility and structure checks fail.
 
I will share your observations with the product team, and you can also use the Acrobat Wish form to file a feature request/Bug with the product team.
 
Suggestions: 

 

Use Preflight to Embed Fonts Properly

  • Go to Print Production > Preflight > Fixups.
  • Search for “Embed missing fonts” or “Create ToUnicode maps” and apply the fixup.

Convert to Tagged PDF and Run “Make Accessible”

  • All Tools > Accessibility > Make Accessible wizard.
Regards,
Anand Sri.
AnandSri
AnandSriCorrect answer
Legend
December 19, 2025

Hello @Stoothoff

 

I hope you are doing well, and thank you for reaching out.

 

This is a known and expected behavior when editing fonts in PDFs. When text is edited or fonts are replaced, Acrobat often creates multiple embedded font subsets, sometimes with different encodings. Even if it’s the same font family, these appear as separate entries in Menu > Properties > Fonts, which can result in:

  • A very long font list

  • Duplicate or unused-looking font entries

  • Increased file size

The Fonts list also shows all referenced fonts, not just those visibly used on pages. This can cause POD systems (like IngramSpark) to flag fonts as “used but not embedded,” even if they aren’t actively used.

 

Suggestions: 

 

Preflight (Print Production > Preflight):
  • Run a PDF/X or PDF/A /A conversion profile. This will enforce font embedding and flag any issues.
  • If the profile fails, check the Preflight report for fonts that are still referenced but not embedded, and replace or re-embed them as needed.
Optimize PDF (File > Save as Other > Optimized PDF):
  • Use the “Audit space usage” feature to view which fonts are consuming space.
  • Enable “Subset all embedded fonts” to consolidate font subsets.
  • Remove any unused embedded fonts if possible.
If issues persist:
  • Print the PDF to PostScript and re-distill it using Acrobat Distiller with “Embed all fonts” enabled. This can rebuild the font table from scratch and remove duplicates.
  • Go back to your source file (Word, InDesign, etc.), ensure all fonts are installed and embeddable, and then export a fresh PDF with “Embed all fonts” checked.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

S
StoothoffAuthor
December 20, 2025
Anand Sri,

My editing of the file was very heavy, and I naively assumed that replacing text in one font with text in another having the same ‘dimensions’ (which is what I did) would result in a subset of the new font being embedded in the file, and this embedded subset would be used when I made the same replacement for different text. I’ve tried the tricks you suggest, but without success. I tried saving the file as a Word file in the hope of cleaning it up in Word or placing it in InDesign for a real clean-up, but his doesn’t work.

I would classify this feature of Acrobat as a bug, and wonder why the Adobe engineers haven’t tried to fix it, so that the job of repairing the file ex post facto isn’t left for naive Acrobat users like me to do.

Bob Stoothoff
S
StoothoffAuthor
January 6, 2026
Anand,

I just attempted to post the following query under the subject "Mysterious font used in creating PDF” on the Adobe Acrobat Users Forum, but failed because your system found something wrong in it. What? No errors were highlighted.

R H. Stoothoff

****************************
A few weeks ago I posted a query about a bloated PDF tht resulted from my heavy editing of it causing many new fonts to be embedded, or listed as used but not embedded, in the PDF file. Most of this editing involved changing text using the mysterious font Palosf to text using a non-mysterious font like Minion Pro or Times New Roman.

The font labelled "Palosf" is mysterious in so far as it's unknown not only by internet search engines but also by AI (ChatGBT).

It seems, however, that in 2002 I created this PDF file using that mysterious font. But I've found that in 2000 I created exactly the same file using the well-known font Palatino. Comparing the two files, it looks as they use the same font – in other words, Palosf=Palatino. I don't recall creating the Palosf file on 2002, but I can well believe that I created the Palatino file in 2000.

My question is simply whether anyone knows anything about "Palosf", which seems to be a pseudonym for "Palatino" .

R.H. Stootthoff
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