Acrobat composes code in the wrong font -- once. Why?

[Orthoducks]

      I finished editing a Word document for an internal client, and made a PDF (using Acrobat Pro version 2025.001.20693). The client complained that a couple of filenames were in the wrong font.

      I looked at the Word document. The filenames were correct. I looked at the PDF. They were in the wrong font. Furthermore, every bit of text in the document that should have been in our usual code font was in the wrong font (in Times New Roman, as it happens).

     I searched for a possible reason. All I found was, "The font must be installed on your system." Well, the font most certainly is installed on my system. If it weren't, the document would have looked unintelligible when I edited it.

     I closed all of my open Word documents, then reopened the document in question, and generated a new PDF. It looks just fine.

     So the immediate problem is solved, but the underlying problem is not. What made this happen, and how can I prevent it from happening again? It's not reasonable to expect me or anyone else to inspect every part of a large document after making a minor change to see if Acrobat changed something that I didn't touch.

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Orthoducks,

Thank you for reaching out, and sorry about the trouble caused.

The issue generally occurs when the fonts are not embedded in the document when creating the PDF. And if the fonts are not available on the system.

Please check the fonts showing under the document properties for the document. In Acrobat, launch the PDF and go to Menu > Document Properties > Fonts.

Let us know if the issue still occurs.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

[Orthoducks]

     In the original PDF the code font did not appear in Document Properties > Fonts.

     But that is not a solution to the problem, or even an explanation of the problem. It is just another way of describing the problem. I need to know how to prevent this problem from recurring.

     Whether you choose the describe the problem as "source text in code font is composed in the wrong font" or as "code font does not appear in Document Properties > Fonts," a measure that corrects one will correct the other.

[ls_rbls · Accepted solution]

Hi @Orthoducks ,

I believe that @Meenakshi Negi  implied that you are to manually embed the fonts in the document prior to exporting or importing.

The most important observation, however,  are you actually embedding fonts in your source Micrososft Word document to begin with (before it is converted to a PDF)?

See here:

• https://docs.prospect365.com/en/articles/5642928-embedding-fonts-in-word-documents-for-pdfs

From my understanding, embedding fonts prior to any export also guarantees that your shared document look the same for every user (on every computing device that they view it). 

Additionally,  there are four methods (listed below) that users usually employ when converting a MS Word document to PDF:

• Adobe Create PDF add-in (that is deployed through Office365 Acrobat ribbon)
• Save As
• Export to
• Print to PDF

Which method are you using? 

In my experience at work, all of these methods also revealed that they may render different results when a PDF is produced. 

Manual configuration of the Acrobat Distiller may be necessary in order to embed the desired font(s) correctly.

See if the guides linked below add some additional value to your inquiry:

• https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/desktop/create-documents/explore-advanced-conversion-settings/embed-...

• https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/desktop/create-documents/explore-advanced-conversion-settings/distil...

I hope this helps.

[Orthoducks]

     Thank you, that's a much more useful answer, and it should resolve the problem. (Since the problem is intermittent, I can't test it immediately.)

     I was not aware that embedding fonts in Word documents was possible, much less necessary, so I read @Meenakshi Negi's response to mean that I have to embed the fonts in Acrobat. I saw no way to do that, so the suggestion seemed meaningless.

[ls_rbls]

You're welcome.

Let us know if you need assistance.

It is not as hard as it sounds though, but more of a trial and error process until the desired result is achieved.

If you have a dummy file (with no sensitive data on it) that you can share as an example I may be able to test it on my end and share it back with you with the tested output.