Why does Adobe Acrobat change font spacing after editing a PDF?

Question

I’ve noticed that when I edit a few words in an existing PDF, the character spacing sometimes changes slightly even though the font appears to be the same. It becomes especially noticeable when the edited text is next to the original text.

Is this usually caused by the original font not being fully embedded in the PDF, or is there an Acrobat setting that controls how the font is substituted during editing?

Randy Hagan · Answer

More that Acrobat doesn’t have the superior type packing/font metrics of layout programs like InDesign (or even Microsoft Word, for that matter). Even moreso if you used type tricks in that layout program to custom-fit text in a given space.

When you edit type in most any program, you rely on the capabilities of that given program to pack/align your type. Acrobat uses its tools, and they work well for the most part, but they don’t have the capabilities of dedicated page layout programs.

Hope this helps,

Randy

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.