Skip to main content
U
Under S.
Inspiring
August 30, 2018
Answered

(Adobe Acrobat DC) Converting TEXT layers to SHAPES during export...

  • August 30, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 7709 views

Using Acrobat only, I would like to load up a PDF file and re-save it with the text layers converted to shapes. Ideally, with absolutely nothing else being affected.

Is there an export option to help me do this?

Thanks!

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Dov Isaacs

    There is no predefined concept in PDF of text layers. PDF files don't even have to have any layers and if they do, they are not bound by any rules (at least in terms of the PDF specification) as to whether they may or may not have text within them.

    If you wish to convert text as realized with fonts into filled (and/or outlined) polygons, you can do this with Acrobat Preflight's Convert Fonts to Outlines profile. This won't affect anything other than text as realized with fonts, but it will make your PDF file uneditable with the Acrobat text editing tools, incapable of being searched for text, incapable of reasonably being exported to Word or similar formats, could seriously bloat the file size, and may significantly reduce quality of print and especially display, typically making text look overly bold.

    Any good reason for wanting to do this? Other than for certain sign cutting equipment, there really isn't any rendering reasons that we know of that make this a good practice?!?!?

              - Dov

    2 replies

    atutton
    atutton
    Participant
    May 12, 2020

    Thanks for the awesome info - I know you felt that this was a weird need, but we used it today to get artwork from a sign vendor into outlines and over to After Effects. There's applications for this and it definitely saves hours of liaison with the sign maker to try and find someone who can convert on there end, or locating fonts on my end, or butchering the design.

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov IsaacsCorrect answer
    Legend
    August 31, 2018

    There is no predefined concept in PDF of text layers. PDF files don't even have to have any layers and if they do, they are not bound by any rules (at least in terms of the PDF specification) as to whether they may or may not have text within them.

    If you wish to convert text as realized with fonts into filled (and/or outlined) polygons, you can do this with Acrobat Preflight's Convert Fonts to Outlines profile. This won't affect anything other than text as realized with fonts, but it will make your PDF file uneditable with the Acrobat text editing tools, incapable of being searched for text, incapable of reasonably being exported to Word or similar formats, could seriously bloat the file size, and may significantly reduce quality of print and especially display, typically making text look overly bold.

    Any good reason for wanting to do this? Other than for certain sign cutting equipment, there really isn't any rendering reasons that we know of that make this a good practice?!?!?

              - Dov

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
    U
    Under S.Author
    Inspiring
    August 31, 2018

    https://forums.adobe.com/people/Dov+Isaacs  wrote

    There is no predefined concept in PDF of text layers. PDF files don't even have to have any layers and if they do, they are not bound by any rules (at least in terms of the PDF specification) as to whether they may or may not have text within them.

    In that case, I must be using the incorrect terminology. My apologies, if so.

    After 15 years of using Adobe products, I know of 3 ways to display text in a PDF file :

    1. As pixels (simply flattening the text with the images)
    2. As text (vectors + you can copy it from a PDF file and paste it into notepad)
    3. As vector shapes (vectors, but no copy/pasting)

    Currently, I have PDF files with (what I like to call) regular text. Meaning, when I saved my PDF file in Photoshop, I did not manually convert the text layer to shape first. As a result, when I open the resulting PDF file in a reader and hover over the text, the cursor changes to the TEXT cursor (allowing me to select a sentence and copy it outside the document). Web crawlers (like Google's) can also peek inside the document's text content and gather info for ranking purposes, because it sees actual words there.

    Had I converted the text layer to shape before exporting, there would be no way for the PDF file to know what words those shapes represent. Web crawlers won't see any words there. Placing my cursor on top of my text in this context does nothing, either. The cursor remains an arrow and none of the words are selectable. In this scenario, the text layers have no properties distinguishing them from other vector layers.

    So my question is...

    Is there a way, through Acrobat, to load up a PDF file with (what I like to call) regular text layers... and re-save it as (what I like to call) shapes, without affecting anything else? In other words, mimic what would've happened had I converted the text layer to shape before saving the PDF file during the original PS export.

    Thanks.

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov Isaacs
    Legend
    August 31, 2018

    I provided the solution in my response above. Use the Preflight Convert Fonts to Outlines fixup. That will do exactly what Photoshop does when it converts text to shapes (as opposed to rasterizing them).

              - Dov

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices