Adobe Acrobat Pro DC garbled text [2020]

[GenXer]

I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. I was sent a timesheet from another employee. When I opened the document, it showed the text in the image below. I have been able to open it using Adobe Reader. However, when I try to open it with Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, the text is garbled. No other PDF file is garbled, and when I open it using Microsoft Edge it seems to work just fine.

I have tried running updates on the software, but it says, "no updates are available." I have also tried performing a installation repair, but I continue to get the same results. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to change the garbled text back to normal? Also, can someone explain to me why it happens?

[Amal.]

Hi GenXer

We are sorry for the trouble. As described the PDF text is garbled when you open it in Adobe Acrobat DC and works fine when opening it in Microsoft edge.

Web browsers use their own PDF technology to render and display the PDF content. The issue occurs when the font in the PDF file is not embeded properly or not installed on your computer.

Please try the following preference settings and see if that works for you:

Go to Edit > Prefernces > Page display > Under rendering select 'Use local fonts' > Click Ok and check.

You may also try to use single fixup to embed the fonts. Go to Tools > Optimize PDF > Prefilght > Select Single Fixups and selsct embed fonts and click Fix and proceed with the steps prompted and see if that works for you.

Keep us posted with the results

Regards

Amal

[GenXer · Accepted solution]

Amal,

I went to try this fix and when I opened the same PDF, I was able to read the file in cleartext. I'm a little confused because I don't know the why. Why did the text garble in the first place? Why was it able to correct itself? I'd like to know for furture reference. Thank you for your help, by the way.

[defaultofnavn3q93bd]

This did not work for me as that box was already checked when I looked.   The text only becomes garbled when I try to edit it.  If I hit "Undo" It goes back to normal.  

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

The text only becomes garbled when I try to edit it.  If I hit "Undo" It goes back to normal.  

By @defaultofnavn3q93bd

That's what expected when you don't have the font installed on your computer.

In order to edit a PDF, you must have the fonts used in the PDF installed on your computer.

This is different from having the fonts embedded in the PDF.

To discover which fonts the PDF uses, select File / Properties / Font tab and you'll see a list of fonts used in the PDF. Check your system's font folder and ensure they are installed. Then edit the PDF.

[defaultofnavn3q93bd]

The font is Arial.  It's definitely installed on the computer and the computer is set to use system fonts. 

[SteveR - TX]

We are getting the same issue, and I followed the advice by trying to "Use Local Font" ... and that did not solve the problem. It was working fine, but on Monday... it went to garbled text. Everything since Monday has been garbled. So far, our work around is... pull it up in Edge, print it to PDF, and then everything is fine. This is not a "fix", though. They're having to go through extra steps to correct the garbled text.

[Ben5C3F]

I am getting the same just recently with some docs.  interesting that it happened to you one month ago wonder if there was an update in the last month or two that created this.

[Seth5023]

I too, have been experiencing the same problem for the past few days.  However, in my case, in addition to garbled text, some text has disappeared.  We use Box so even when we go back in time to previous versions, the garbled and missing text persists.

[defaultjox1nu584ysg]

I am having the same issue. I'm creating the PDF from one of our files then when I try and look at it the text is all garbled. It will open fine if I use Edge to view it. I also have Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro with will not allow us to view the document either. I have searched for updates and apparently my software is current. I'm hoping someone can tell me how to fix this as the work around mentioned above is time consuming and frustrating.

[Chad Wills]

I had this error also and nothing I found worked.  On a separate Windows user account it works fine.  Deleted preferences in user folder/registry, uninstalled/reinstalled, reinstalled associated fonts, checked/unchecked use local fonts, same problem.

Fixed it by going to:
Go to Edit > Prefernces > Page display >  then uncheck Use page cache

Something appartently got borked, and resetting everything didn't clear where the page was caching.  So maybe/probably a combination of resetting things and clearing the old cache fixed it.

[Jordan34906085b4cf]

This is how you fix the issue, uncheck this box in Adobe PDF printer properties 

To whom this may concern 

[distro_0693]

heya Jordan, probably too late to the party here but, can i ask how you got to this window?

[ztamnane CT]

Distro, not Jordan, but searched around myself this morning to see if this solution works.  To get to the window I went through settings-bluetooth&devices-printers&scanners into my adobe PDF, then printing preferences. Hope that helps.

[S. S]

Hi @distro_0693 @ztamnane CT,

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for writing in!

@ztamnane CT Thanks for sharing a workaround to get to the window.

@distro_0693 When you open a PDF and use the print workflow, select the printer as Adobe PDF Printer.

Once on that printer, click on "Properties" and you should see the settings on how you want to create the new PDF.

Hope this helps.

-Souvik