I am having trouble embedding font to PDF. Already discussed with 3 document experts but no help

[Prateek_user]

I am having trouble embedding font to PDF. Already discussed with 3 document experts and they can't figure it out. The font embeddability is "Installable" and is locally installed on my system. Still while making the PDF its not embedding hence the filler is not able to use that font. 

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

System?

How are you producing this PDF?

and which fonts, specifically?

[Prateek_user]

I am using windows 10 laptop. the font name is phonics-animals. I have tried to create a powerpoint and then save it as PDF and trying to edit it. I have also tried creating a blank PDF and then using this font to create a form. Either ways I am able to use it locally but it doesnt get embedded.. 

[Test Screen Name]

Please give us full details of the version of Acrobat in use (not "latest"), as well as how you make the PDF and any errors you get. 

[Prateek_user]

I am using windows 10 laptop. the font name is phonics-animals. I have tried to create a powerpoint and then save it as PDF and trying to edit it. I have also tried creating a blank PDF and then using this font to create a form. Either ways I am able to use it locally but it doesnt get embedded.. 

Adobe Version:- 2021.007.20091. I checked for updates as well but it says none.. 

[Test Screen Name]

How do you know it does not get embedded? Please give messages in full. 

[Prateek_user]

I sent it to another laptop and tried to fill the form.. It gives a message about font being replaced and not available..

[Test Screen Name]

So you are getting an error message and assume it means the font is not embedded? I think you might be jumping to conclusions (though I do see why). Please show a screen shot of the message and share a problem file with this font.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

I am using windows 10 laptop. the font name is phonics-animals.

By Prateek_user

This isn't an Acrobat problem: it's that the font can't be embedded into PDFs. That's a licensing restriction put on the font by the manufacturer.

I googled the font phonics-animals and came up with many websites that allow you to download the font for personal use. Usually, the term "personal use" doesn't allow you to embed the font into PDFs (most likely it's restricted), but you must read the EULA (end-user license agreement) to be sure how you can use the font, including embedding it into a PDF.

Here's one font website that shows 2 different downloads, one that's free for personal use, the other is a commercial license that isn't free.
Note the 2 different types of font licenses.

Here's a good blog from CreativePro that gives an overview about fonts and their licences: https://www.creativebloq.com/features/font-licensing

And just because your font says it's "Installable" doesn't necessarily mean it can be embedded into the PDF. It might be installable on YOUR computer system, but not on the recipient's as they view your PDF.

For the most thorough details ever written about this issue, read this post by now-retired Adobe Engineer Dov Isaacs at https://community.adobe.com/t5/type-typography-discussions/is-there-a-list-of-fonts-that-are-1-embed...

Again, find the EULA for your font from the website where you downloaded it. I believe your answer is there.

BTW, that's such a cute font!

[Prateek_user]

I have purchased the commercial license and the font from TeachersPayTeachers.com so it should not be font issue

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

... so it should not be font issue

By Prateek_user

Careful!

Don't assume that.

You must read the font's EULA to determine if the font can be embedded.

Payment doesn't mean anything: there are $1,000 fonts out there that require thousands more $ to embed into PDFs...a fee for each PDF the fonts are embedded into.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Even if the permissions are correct, the other issue is that fonts that are embedded (especially if they are subset, which is normal) only apply to the content in the static part of the form. They cannot be used for fillable form information, the same way they cannot be edited by a 3rd party who does not have the font installed on their system.

[Prateek_user]

Please watch this video https://fb.watch/86yBwUMBnh/.. I was able to create this resouce by embedding all other fonts and any person who downloads it can use the PDF and get results in those fonts without them being installed on their system.. 

[Prateek_user]

Please watch it from 1.08 sec where I show how I fill the PDF and all the font gets filled automatically.. 

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Okaaayyy.. that's a revelation to me, because the last time I had to do this (and it's been a few years) the form font would not embed. I obviously missed the fact it was possible now. (good to know!)

So, with that in mind, I did some tests.

I d/l'd the free personal use version and even it was also clear for embedding for any use, and worked completely fine in Illustrator and inDesign... PDFs from both were good. In fact, if I then added a form field to each PDF I made, it picked up and used the font properly.

After some investigation, there seeems to be a flaw somewhere in the font as it thinks it's encoded for Korean (uniKS-utf16-h) when trying to add a form field directly in Acrobat.

For fun, I converted the the font to OpenType Postscript-flavor .otf, and it functioned just fine, so maybe that is your workaround.

Also, if you are creating your main document in InDesign, force it to embed the font by placing any character of that font "somewhere hidden" and export a PDF with a full font embed. Then, work with your form fields the way you want. I tried a sample file like that and it worked on whatver machine I opened it on.

[Prateek_user]

Thank you so much.. it worked.. Thanks a lot again.. 

[Prateek_user]

Hi.. i tried it again.. Didnt work.. After converting it shows some other language when creating a form.. 

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Interesting.

After I sent the message yesterday, I tried simply opening the font in Fontographer and resaving out in the same format making no other changes and it worked just fine as at TT so there is something "wrong" with the font as it was and it was related to the encoding. I found another symbol font by the same designer and it, too, did not work in Acrobat, but at least this time I got a warning that said.....

 

[Bevi Chagnon @ PubCom]

So it's a crappy free font that wasn't encoded correctly? Surprise surprise surprise!

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Yah.. it has lots of construction errors as well. 😉

[Bevi Chagnon @ PubCom]

Plus, given that it's all animal glyphs rather than regular alpha-numerics, they'd have to be assigned to Unicode's PUA (private use area) ... and now there's another layer of font engineering that would run amok in the hands of someone new to font design!

We do get what we pay for <grin>.