Acrobat Pro 64 bit won't reduce PDFs correctly

Report · Dec 19, 2023

Hi, I have recently been upgraded to AA Pro 64 bit version 23.6.20360.0, but now find the options Save as Other > Reduced File Size; Save as Other > Optimized PDF; and Reduced File Size do not correctly compress and save my PDF file and almost all of the characters in the document come out as character squares. I havent changed any settings of my own and my ICT department did the install via the Adobe Creative Cloud app.

My work involves creating a bundle of documents made up from lots of individual MS Word and PDF documents and occasionally image files. Sometimes the Word and PDF input documents will already have images embedded in them. I cannot share any of the input or output documents due to data protection. I have been using Adobe without any issue to compress the output PDF files without issue for nearly 8 years now and now thwarted by this newest upgrade.

Are there some settings I can change myself in AA Pro that might resolve the problem?

If I try and print the PDF using the Printer - Adobe PDF or Microsoft Print to PDF then I end up with output PDF file sizes way above what I started with e.g. original PDF was 38MB, Printer - Adobe PDF becomes 38MB and Printer - Microsoft Print to PDF becomes 116MB.

Cheers Paul

Report · Dec 19, 2023

Hi, can you confirm, maybe wioth a screenshot, the feedback you get when you open the File > Properties > Fonts.

It might indicate why the characters are turned into squares.

Can you also make suree your MS Office is up to date? File > Account

Report · Dec 19, 2023

Hi Eric, the Fonts list brings back a long list of fonts including the following -

Office is Microsoft 365 for Enterprise version 2302.

Cheers Paul