Amharic Text Disappears/Dots Appear When Filling PDF Form

Report · Jun 16, 2025

I'm filling out a pdf form in Adobe Acrobat (Windows 10). When typing in Amharic, letters apears at first but turn into dots when I press space/move the cursor. The form doesn't save the Amharic text Properly.

Tried: Adjusting keyboard settings, different PDF readers (Foxit works, but need Adobe).

Issue persists: Even with the latest Acrobat updates.

How can I fix this to ensure Amharic text displays and saves correctly in Adobe?

Report · Jun 17, 2025

Hi @B_3644,

Thank you for reaching out.

Amharic is not currently listed among the fully supported languages for interactive form fields in Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader. When a script or font is not supported, form field content may display incorrectly, commonly as blank fields, boxes, or placeholder dots, especially if the required Unicode font is not embedded in the PDF.

Have you ever tried this before? If so, when was it working fine?

Recommended Steps:

Use a Unicode-Compatible Font

Ensure the form uses a font that supports Amharic script (e.g., Abyssinica SIL, Noto Sans Ethiopic). This font should be embedded in the PDF to ensure consistent display across systems.
Embed Fonts When Creating the Form

If the form was generated from another application (such as Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign), make sure the export or print-to-PDF setting includes font embedding.
Check Font Support in Acrobat

In the PDF, go to File > Properties > Fonts and confirm the font used is listed and marked as Embedded or Embedded Subset.

Additional Notes:

Language rendering in form fields is limited to fonts installed and supported within Acrobat’s rendering engine.
This issue does not impact the underlying Unicode data — the content may still be correct, even if not visibly rendered.
Adobe is actively working to improve global language support in PDFs. You may submit feedback or feature requests here:

https://adobe.ly/44kBelx

~Tariq