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susan5C10
susan5C10
Participating Frequently
February 13, 2021
Question

Help! How do I resolve error with fonts in my pdf?

  • February 13, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 14972 views

I've worked with and taught software applications at the college level. This is not a simple problem.

 

The Acrobat Pro DC software tells me that I have duplicate copies of the same uploaded system fonts. The text is not allowing me to use the font that I use the my magazine text body (Chronicle Text G1), no matter what I do.

 

The errors are inconsistent and sporadic. Font (and spacing) settings are changing on their own and text is become corrupt and requires multiple retypes. My acrobat is like working with a moving target of errors!

 

Sad that this tool is likely not usable solution for my magazine. 

 

Thank you. 

 

Moved from Using the Community (which is about the forums) to the correct forum... Mod
To find a forum for your program please start at https://community.adobe.com/

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2 replies

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Brainiac
February 14, 2021

@susan5C10  asked: "Out of curiosity, what do YOU use Acrobat for?"

 

Definitely no one uses Acrobat to write and design a magazine, that's for sure!

You can manage some small editing to the text and graphics with Acrobat, but not significant changes or designing/writing the content. (See details below.)  And the publishing industrys uses it to tweak settings for various publishing technologies, such as preparing the file for press (pre-press).

 

There are 2 things being discussed in this thread: 1) the Adobe Acrobat software program, and 2) the PDF file format (which is a generic file type that many programs can create).

 

Acrobat is not for creating content in a PDF file, and it has lousy tools for editing a PDF file. It was never intended to do these tasks. It's just a program used to perform certain technical tasks for certain industries, such as printing & graphic arts (prepress adjustments), accessibile documents (tagging), and professional archiving (government & corporate requirements).

 

Content is written and designed in an authoring program, such as Word or Adobe InDesign, and then exported to a PDF file. In many cases, you don't need Acrobat at all, once the PDF file is created, but the industries above "complete" or "adjust" the PDF with Acrobat for their specific purposes.

 

Why you might have problems with fonts in a PDF:

  • You must have the exact font on your workstation that was used in the original source file (Word, PPT, InDesign, etc.) when the PDF was exported and created. And the font must have been embedded into the PDF at the time it was exported from the source file in order to have a chance to edit the text in the PDF.
  • If your version of the Chronicle font is in any way different from the version used in the original source document & its PDF, then you'll have a font conflict that will cause the problems you're having.
  • Some fonts restrict your ability to embed them into a PDF or other file formats, and Chronicle has some restrictions on its usage. It is copyrighted by Hoefler & Frere-Jones, a font foundry. From the GettyFonts website, https://gettyfonts.net/font/chronicletextg1boldpro/download

Chronicle Text G1 Bold Font Author: Hoefler & Frere-Jones

Version: Version 1.200 Pro

About This Font: Chronicle is a trademark of Hoefler & Frere-Jones, which may be registered in certain jurisdictions.
Hoefler & Frere-Jones
www.typography.com
Chronicle Text G1
Bold


You may Download Chronicle Text G1 Bold typeface for Free but for personal use only. Please delete font after the review.

 

Note the section "You may Download Chronicle Text G1 Bold typeface for Free but for personal use only."

 

Hoefler & Frere-Jones's website shows the packages and pricing for its Chronicle font at  https://www.typography.com/fonts/chronicle-text/styles  It is NOT a free font, unless you intend to only look at the font on your computer for your own personal use. But it can't be embedded into the PDF file, and the PDF can't be edited without a full paid license of the font installed on your workstation. Read sections 1.5 and 1.6 at the company's EULA webpage: https://www.typography.com/policies/eula

 

This is not an Adobe Acrobat problem: your font is an unlicensed knock-off that can't be used for your purposes.

 

Suggestions on how to get out of this mess:

  1. Use a real authoring program to recreate the document, like Word or InDesign. InDesign would be the right choice for a magazine, but it's a professional level program with a long learning curve.
  2. Use fonts that allow you to embed them into the PDF. Just because they're free doesn't mean you have free use of them. Read the EULA with each font (that's End User License Agreement). A good source of fonts that are monetarily "free" and allow you to embed them are available at:
    • https://fonts.google.com/
    • If you do purchase a subscription to Adobe InDesign (a professional level graphic design program), you'll have access to Adobe Fonts included with your paid subscription.
    • Or purchase a license of Chronicle from Hoefler & Frere-Jones.
  3. Export to PDF and check the option to embed the fonts.
  4. When editing, don't do them in Acrobat unless it's something very minor, like changing a comma to a period. Instead, do the edits in the source authoring program and export a new PDF file.

 

Remember, nothing is free anywhere in life, especially with copyrighted intellectual property like fonts. There's always a string or two that's attached, in most cases, directly to your wallet.

 

Sorry to be the messenger of bad news, and I hope you find a viable solution for your magazine.

 

 

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
    susan5C10
    susan5C10Author
    Participating Frequently
    February 14, 2021

    Thank you so much for this fabulous information!!  

     

    I checked my downloaded 'version' of the font, and on the site I used, it clearly did not have a copyright notice limitation. I clicked on the README link to the site I got it from, and it did not provide limitations. The Adobe Acrobat is returning the font to the bold. I also saw that Chronicle also has text g1, text g2, text roman g1, etc.  

     

    I am a MAC person and my friends are sending their PC Word document in .docx.  I'm hoping to try it on Pages, Gimp, OpenSource Office programs to get this one page done for them. I prepared them for the reality of the font situation. 

     

    Their original design person uses InDesign and I believe likely owns the fonts. For unknown reasons, he is not available for comment.   He knows that this ad kit (styled like the magazine) needs to get out, but for whatever reason, he is incommunicato. I was hoping to help them with limited chnages on Acrobat, but of course, their limited changes were anything but. As I'm quite good with software applications, I suspected that I'd manage InDesign for these limited issues (and went through their training videos). But the correct file format and fonts never came through from the designer.

     

    Thanks again. 

     

     

     

     

     

    susan5C10
    susan5C10Author
    Participating Frequently
    February 14, 2021

    You can merge documents into a PDF in Acrobat Pro DC, however that won't resolve your font problem.

    https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/how-to/combine-merge-split-extract-pdf-files.html

     


    THANKS! I created a Pages document with the closest version that I could get and saved it as a pdf. 

     

    I'll give this a try!!! 

     

    I saved it as a jpeg and input into the larger page and clearly the jpeg is not as clean as the pdf. I hope two jpegs can appear in one page (or am I misunderstandings). Will give it a try. 

     

    Kind regards!

    ls_rbls
    ls_rbls
    Community Expert
    February 13, 2021

    Have you been able to verify if that particular font type has any copyright restrictions?

    susan5C10
    susan5C10Author
    Participating Frequently
    February 14, 2021
    Yes. I’ve confirmed that the font is free. Other people describe the issues with duplicating fonts and document degradation, some when adding external pdfs to the document. 

     

    What can you do to fix the issue? Can you clear my Acrobat of all external fonts, so that I can add just one file?  I'm sampling the software this week and it's a bit disconcerting.  People are counting on me finishing this magazine (on Friday).

     

     

    Nancy OShea
    Nancy OShea
    Community Expert
    February 14, 2021

    Hi@susan5C10 and welcome to the Acrobat user-to-user community.

     

    This public forum is not Adobe technical support. Unless you see an Adobe Staff badge beside the person's avatar, you're talking with long-time product users and unpaid forum volunteers.

     

    I typically edit & embed fonts in my documents with whichever app was used to create them in the first place -- InDesign, MS Word, FrameMaker, etc... The last step is exporting to a high quality print preset in PDF with Acrobat. 

     

    A system-wide font conflict is not an Adobe Acrobat problem, it's a system problem.  And the solution varies depending on which operating system you have.  See links below.

     

     

    Hope that helps.

     

    Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator
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