Inspiring

Answered

Cannot extract the embedded font

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
July 23, 2025
2 replies
1365 views

Hello,

I'm getting an error "Cannot extract the embedded font ...." and some caracters are not displayed (

The file reads perfectly on edge, firefox, pdf24, evince and okular.

The font is Raleway. The same error occurs with Montserrat and Arimo.

It happens only with italic or italic-bold sections of the file.

Example file attached.

test.pdf

PDF

Correct answer e._8131

A new information : I tried to use the very last version of Raleway (v4.101) for the generation, and it is actually WORSE : the message comes sooner and more glyphes are missing.

Damn, I've found a solution : by using the otf files instead of the ttf, I do not have the error anymore !

The difference between these two formats is obscure for me, but the document reads perfectly now.

Thanks a lot @creative explorer and @Randy Hagan for your support, I've really appreciated.

creative explorer

Community Expert

@e._8131 You can also download and use Google Fonts, https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Raleway And make sure you embed your fonts. You an't extract a font from a PDF.

m

E

e._8131Author

Inspiring

I already have the fonts and they are embeded in the PDF file. It may be a misunderstanding there : I am not trying to extract the fonts myself, it is acrobat reader that complains it can't extract the embeded fonts.

R

Randy Hagan

Community Expert

Sorry, what's a Font Manager ? The only adobe product I'm using is Acrobat Reader.

Plus, I doubt the fonts have any problem, they are displayed just fine with other pdf viewers, and I have downloaded them directly from this site : https://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/raleway

On Macs, many users have font managers which let them select and de-select fonts used on the system. The font managers let users open and use their applications with only the fonts they need at any given time. It makes dealing with large numbers of typefaces from multiple sources much easier for day-to-day tasks, and helps computers run more quickly and smoothly.

While there are also font manager programs for Windows users, most people don't bother with that and use Windows itself to open all the fonts on the system every time they start it. While convenient, opening all the fonts all the time, and can result in complications like you're having with your PDF files. This is why I recommended above that you 1) delete all the offending fonts you have now, 2) turn off Adobe Fonts service so they can't conflict with the fonts you have installed and then 3) reinstall the Google Fonts you want to use with your PDFs. If you try to shortcut that workflow, it'll bite you in the end.

Please don't ask me how I know. I don't want to relive the experience.

Randy

R

Randy Hagan

Community Expert

If you don't mind me asking, where are you getting these fonts?

If you're getting them from Adobe Fonts, they're not going to be embedded in your PDF. It will provide reference to Adobe Fonts to access the font and display it, but the characters are not intrinsic to the PDF itself like they would be if you used resident fonts in your system that have perpetual licenses.

It doesn't surprise me that you would be able to see them in web browsers, especially if the fonts used have Google font equivalents. The browsers can access those Google web font equivalents, but that's not intrinsic to the PDF file either.

As a general rule, I would recommend against using Adobe Fonts in PDF documents. If only because it can cause conflicts with recipients who don't have access to the Adobe Fonts service.

Hope this helps,

Randy

E

e._8131Author

Inspiring

I have downloaded these fonts from the creator web site, some from Google fonts and some were preinstalled in my system.

I created the pdf file so the fonts are embedded, in order so they are in fact intrinsic to the PDF file and so that the reader doesn't have to rely on the fonts installed on the system or on an internet connection.

R

Randy Hagan

Community Expert

Google Fonts can cause conflicts with Adobe Fonts service files. If you have previously used Certain Adobe Fonts products on your system, and then went to use the same typefaces in Google Fonts because you wanted to provide "real fonts" that download onto your system rather than the "lent fonts" that Adobe Fonts offer, it can cause conflicts that result in issues like you're having.

Many users have found that the way to get past these issues is to 1) uninstall all copies of affected fonts on their system, anywhere they may be stored. After that, 2) shut off access to Adobe Fonts through the Creative Cloud application. Then 3) reinstall Google Fonts to clear the conflicts and be totally sure that you're running off the Google Fonts versions of your typeface(s).

Hope this helps,

Randy

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