On a number of occasions, Acrobat Pro prints out gibberish / random characters. For instance, in Quick Books, a purchase order address becomes gibberish (see attachment). Here's the thing: when I print the identical QB page in alternative PDF makers (PDF995, ABS PDF, and Microsoft Print to PDF), the text is correct. Why do all the PDF alternatives work, and Adobe's PDF fails?!?
OK, I might be dating myself here...
I'm a long-time QuickBooks user (since its beta version on DOS circa 1990-ish) and also a PDF programmer since its beginning around the same time. Today, I'm on the ISO committee that creates and maintains the international PDF standard.
As a fellow small business owner, I know how frustrating problems like this one are.
Here's some background on what might be happening to your PDFs. (Caution: this is a LONG detailed response with several options you can try.)
First, the PDF file format is no longer owned by Adobe (the PDF standard is now controlled by the ISO), however Acrobat software that creates, opens, and uses PDF files is still an Adobe product. Today, anyone can write software to export/print/save as a PDF, not just Adobe, and QuickBooks uses a PDF Producer called Amyuni PDF Creator, not anything by Adobe.
It's the PDF Producer that determines which fonts are embedded into the PDF, and in order for the fonts to render correctly in Acrobat or any other PDF viewing program, the fonts must be 1) correctly installed on the computer, and 2) correctly embedded into the PDF per the ISO Standard for PDFs. Above screen capture shows a PDF's File / Document Properties / Description tab.
When QuickBooks is installed, it also installs its own fonts for use by QB when we export/save/print invoices, orders, registers, etc. When we export/save as a PDF from QB, it should be using those fonts and embedding them into the PDF file. When it works, it's fairly seamless: I've rarely had problems over the past 30+ years with PDFs made from QuickBooks.
I think the problem you're having is due to one or more of these issues detailed below:
1) The QuickBooks fonts that were installed.
Maybe they've become corrupted over time? Moved or have had their names changed and QB can no longer find them? You can discover which fonts are being used in your PDFs by viewing the Fonts tab in File / Description. Also note if each font is "Embedded" or "Embedded Subset" in that listing: that's required to ensure the file can be read by any PDF reader, and Adobe brand or by someone else.
2) How the PDF was created.
There are a bazillion ways to make a PDF from any program, but the best method is by using the program's built-in utility. In QB, that could be the Save as PDF utility found on most of QB's modules for invoices, reports, etc.:
Or File / Print ... and select ABS PDF Driver, which is a virtual printer installed with QuickBooks. (It's made by Atlas Business Solutions.)
If you're having problems with this print driver, check directly with QuickBooks as it's their puppy. You can also search for "ABS PDF Driver" and a zillion hits will come up. Looks like you're not alone with this! You might need to reinstall the driver by following the suggestions you find in your search.
OPTION: Print to an Adobe PDF driver.
Adobe usually gives more granular control over how the PDF is created, especially regarding fonts. Set the Options to NOT rely on system fonts: UNchecking this forces the fonts to be embedded into the PDF.
3) The fonts selected in your QB template.
I noticed that the base structure of your purchase order is coming out fine: the pre-defined labels for Purchase Order, Vendor, Ship To, and the column headers are all rendering fine. These are controlled by QB's template.
But the fonts for the field data — the vendor's name and shipping address for example — are controlled by whatever you selected in the QB template. So open your template editor module in QB. In recent editions of QB, it's called Manage Templates and is available from many menus, but often in the module you're using. So look for "Format" at the top of your Purchase Order module.
Make sure each field in your template is specking a font that is currently available on your computer. A previous font might have become corrupted or been moved or even renamed.
4) The QBW QuickBooks data file might be corrupted.
In reviewing your sample, I noticed that the gibberish text doesn't look like the usual gibberish from a missing font; it looks like code thrown into the Vendor field. And that makes me wonder if the QB database table that stores your vendor, shipping address, etc. data is OK. That could have become damaged over time, too.
To correct this:
— Make a complete backup of your QuickBooks company file. Don't overwrite any existing file but instead give it a new name, such as add today's date to the file name, because you don't want to overwrite a possibly good version with your current corrupted version. The process of saving to a new file often corrects small problems in the file's code, not just in QB but in any program.
— Open the new version: File / Open or Restore. Make a PDF from a test document and see if that corrects the font/data problem.
5) Reinstall a fresh version of QuickBooks.
Yes, it's a bit of work, but sometimes that's what cures the micro-glitches in a software program.
Be sure to back up your company file before doing this: File / Back Up Company.
It's also good to update to the latest QB software version if you haven't done that recently.
Summary:
I'm leaning toward #3 (fonts used in your QB templates) and #4 (a corrupted company QBW file/database).
Let us know what you discover and if any of these suggestions solve the problem for you.
10
Replies
OK, I might be dating myself here...
I'm a long-time QuickBooks user (since its beta version on DOS circa 1990-ish) and also a PDF programmer since its beginning around the same time. Today, I'm on the ISO committee that creates and maintains the international PDF standard.
As a fellow small business owner, I know how frustrating problems like this one are.
Here's some background on what might be happening to your PDFs. (Caution: this is a LONG detailed response with several options you can try.)
First, the PDF file format is no longer owned by Adobe (the PDF standard is now controlled by the ISO), however Acrobat software that creates, opens, and uses PDF files is still an Adobe product. Today, anyone can write software to export/print/save as a PDF, not just Adobe, and QuickBooks uses a PDF Producer called Amyuni PDF Creator, not anything by Adobe.
It's the PDF Producer that determines which fonts are embedded into the PDF, and in order for the fonts to render correctly in Acrobat or any other PDF viewing program, the fonts must be 1) correctly installed on the computer, and 2) correctly embedded into the PDF per the ISO Standard for PDFs. Above screen capture shows a PDF's File / Document Properties / Description tab.
When QuickBooks is installed, it also installs its own fonts for use by QB when we export/save/print invoices, orders, registers, etc. When we export/save as a PDF from QB, it should be using those fonts and embedding them into the PDF file. When it works, it's fairly seamless: I've rarely had problems over the past 30+ years with PDFs made from QuickBooks.
I think the problem you're having is due to one or more of these issues detailed below:
1) The QuickBooks fonts that were installed.
Maybe they've become corrupted over time? Moved or have had their names changed and QB can no longer find them? You can discover which fonts are being used in your PDFs by viewing the Fonts tab in File / Description. Also note if each font is "Embedded" or "Embedded Subset" in that listing: that's required to ensure the file can be read by any PDF reader, and Adobe brand or by someone else.
2) How the PDF was created.
There are a bazillion ways to make a PDF from any program, but the best method is by using the program's built-in utility. In QB, that could be the Save as PDF utility found on most of QB's modules for invoices, reports, etc.:
Or File / Print ... and select ABS PDF Driver, which is a virtual printer installed with QuickBooks. (It's made by Atlas Business Solutions.)
If you're having problems with this print driver, check directly with QuickBooks as it's their puppy. You can also search for "ABS PDF Driver" and a zillion hits will come up. Looks like you're not alone with this! You might need to reinstall the driver by following the suggestions you find in your search.
OPTION: Print to an Adobe PDF driver.
Adobe usually gives more granular control over how the PDF is created, especially regarding fonts. Set the Options to NOT rely on system fonts: UNchecking this forces the fonts to be embedded into the PDF.
3) The fonts selected in your QB template.
I noticed that the base structure of your purchase order is coming out fine: the pre-defined labels for Purchase Order, Vendor, Ship To, and the column headers are all rendering fine. These are controlled by QB's template.
But the fonts for the field data — the vendor's name and shipping address for example — are controlled by whatever you selected in the QB template. So open your template editor module in QB. In recent editions of QB, it's called Manage Templates and is available from many menus, but often in the module you're using. So look for "Format" at the top of your Purchase Order module.
Make sure each field in your template is specking a font that is currently available on your computer. A previous font might have become corrupted or been moved or even renamed.
4) The QBW QuickBooks data file might be corrupted.
In reviewing your sample, I noticed that the gibberish text doesn't look like the usual gibberish from a missing font; it looks like code thrown into the Vendor field. And that makes me wonder if the QB database table that stores your vendor, shipping address, etc. data is OK. That could have become damaged over time, too.
To correct this:
— Make a complete backup of your QuickBooks company file. Don't overwrite any existing file but instead give it a new name, such as add today's date to the file name, because you don't want to overwrite a possibly good version with your current corrupted version. The process of saving to a new file often corrects small problems in the file's code, not just in QB but in any program.
— Open the new version: File / Open or Restore. Make a PDF from a test document and see if that corrects the font/data problem.
5) Reinstall a fresh version of QuickBooks.
Yes, it's a bit of work, but sometimes that's what cures the micro-glitches in a software program.
Be sure to back up your company file before doing this: File / Back Up Company.
It's also good to update to the latest QB software version if you haven't done that recently.
Summary:
I'm leaning toward #3 (fonts used in your QB templates) and #4 (a corrupted company QBW file/database).
Let us know what you discover and if any of these suggestions solve the problem for you.
I had no idea PDF spec was no longer controlled by Adobe, but entered "public domain." Good to know.
By @drizdraz
It's not exactly public domain. It's a standard that is maintained by a group of contributors and that group contains people from Adobe but is not Adobe any more. https://www.iso.org/news/ref2608.html
By @Abambo...It's a standard that is maintained by a group of contributors and that group contains people from Adobe but is not Adobe any more. https://www.iso.org/news/ref2608.html
Yep! I'm one of those people! But I'm not from Adobe.
Better terms would be "public standard" rather than public domain. Means it's no longer a proprietary standard from Adobe.
... For now, any PDF print client (other than Acrobat) works fine ...
By @drizdraz
And that piqued my interest.
Theory: Adobe is still the gold standard for anything PDF. Everyone else mainly copies Adobe because following the ISO PDF standard's back-and-forth requirements is a nightmare for most humans.
One area where Adobe beats the competition is with fonts. The standard requires that fonts be embedded into the PDF when its created (there's also a utility in Acrobat's Preflight panel to force-embed fonts) or they can possibly be swapped by Acrobat when the PDF is viewed. Because Adobe is a font dealer (its Creative Suite programs come with fonts from other vendors), it knows full well all of the ramifications of fonts in PDF.
So Acrobat is more strict about fonts than its competitors; it might not know what font to swap in for the missing custom font from QuickBooks. Or it might not WANT to do that, either.
I haven't seen such dillegence from other brands of PDF viewers, so they may just swap in basic system fonts like Arial and Times New Roman and you won't be able to tell unless you're a typophile or typesetter.
That's my theory!
AdChoices