Adobe Acrobat showing some text as white boxes in downloaded PDFs

[David251756581syf]

I work for a law firm and, since last week, a few staff members are having this issue. They download medical records from a certain medical records company. It opens in a Google Chrome tab and it is fine. They click the Download button and download it...when it opens in Adobe Acrobat Standard desktop app, a lot of the text is little black outlined white boxes.

I know it is a font issue somewhere...I just don't know where. I highlighted some of the white boxes and right-click, copied and then pasted into Word using the same formatting. It is only an arial font...some bold, which our Windows 10 computers certainly have.

So, why is Adobe Acrobat desktop not able to recognize it?

Thanks in advance.

Dave G.

[S. S]

Hi @David251756581syf,

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for the experience! 

We are aware of the issue and working on a fix. The fix should be live by the next update.

We request your kind understanding and patience while the updates is live.

-Souvik

[David251756581syf]

OK. Thank you.

[AtulPuri]

Hi David,

We in Adobe Acrobat team released a patch for a related issue recently. Could you please try updating Acrobat by choosing "Menu" -> "Help" -> "Check for Updates" and let us know if it resolved the reported issue?

thanks.

[David251756581syf]

Yes, I tried that already and got the same result after updating.

[Tariq Ahmad]

Thank you for the quick response, @David251756581syf. 

Would you please share the version of Acrobat installed on your machine? https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/identify-product-version.html  

~Tariq

[David251756581syf]

2024.003.20054

[AtulPuri]

Hi David,

Could you please share with us a document that illustrates the issue, as a sample for us to investigate this more deeply. Please share a document that is not confidential or sensitive in nature. The team will investigate this more deeply. 

[Adam363357620p1z]

Also seeing the same issue with a client from a law firm, dowloading medical documents and getting the white boxes for some of the text. Posting to stay updated on this

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hi, @Adam363357620p1z - thank you for reaching out and sharing your observation. Sorry for the troubling experience. 

Would it be possible to share more details, like:

• OS name and version
• Acrobat version number: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/identify-product-version.html  
• Is this happening with all documents?  
  
  

~Tariq

[Adam363357620p1z]

Sure,

Windows 11 Home Premium Edition (Build 22000) (64-bit) (Release ID 21H2)

Adobe Acrobat (24.003.20054)

Seems to just be happening with these medical documents that were downloaded. 

Checked for updates and it said it was up to date. Tried repairing install and didn't seem to help. 

[William32836449buil]

Same issue here. Law firm receiving records from medical records facility.

- Windows 10 64 bit

- Adobe Acrobat Pro 64 bit 2024.003.20054

- The files having issues with the font are from a specific medical provider. Not the same as OP but they use the same formatting. The records look exactly the same.

[David251756581syf]

William, out of curiosity, is the medical record provider MRO?

[William32836449buil]

Yes it is. I had the thought that it was MRO's records software that is having issues but the Adobe team above said they are working on a fix. So, not sure on who's end it is.

[David251756581syf]

OK. Thanks for confirming that. I figured it probably was. 

[Daniel321187747rhd]

I'm also with a lawfirm trying to open records from MRO and getting the white boxes.  Any updates on this?  

[Daniel321187747rhd]

By the way, I tried opening the MRO disc with Microsoft's Edge PDF viewer and it's basically the same: no white boxes, but all the data entries are blank.  Maybe it's a problem over at MRO?

[Daniel321187747rhd]

I was able to open the records using FireFox (right click --> open with --> FireFox).  It works in a pinch, but I don't know what metadata is lost, so I do hope that Adobe comes up with a fix soon.

[Khaldun]

Yes, users at our firm are getting the same thing. This is very annoying. Has adobe release a fix?

[William32836449buil]

I was told the following by an Adobe employee that reached out:

"Appreciate the swift response.
If all goes as planned, we have a fix tentatively scheduled to be released in a few weeks this month.

Also for anyone that may need to print the files, printing with Adobe results in the same font issue.

Printing through a browser does not cause issues.

[Celeste37297209skmo]

Having same issue with records from MRO.  Weird thing is, I was able to read some records previously and now have the white boxes when I open several documents.  We have saved on a document management site with multiple users.  So it's not new downloads.

-Celeste 

[S. S]

Hi Celeste @Celeste37297209skmo,

This has been worked upon, and the fix is set to go live with the upcoming update.

I request your kind understanding and patience till we get the update live.

-Souvik

[Khaldun]

optimize the PDF and reduce file size

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hi @David251756581syf @William32836449buil @Adam363357620p1z 

If you have the latest version installed on your machines: 2024.003.20054 https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/release-note/release-notes-acrobat-reader.html, you are still experiencing the issue. 

I want to update you that we’re aware of the issue and assure you that our team has identified the fix. We’re working on implementing it as soon as possible. Once the fix is available, we will update this discussion.

In the meantime, we appreciate your patience and understanding. If you have any other questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Thanks, Tariq.

[David251756581syf]

Thanks for the updare, Tariq.