Letters disappear when editing (multiple Acrobat versions on PC)

[kait85645030]

I have multiple clients trying to edit PDFs, and when they do individual letters seem to randomly disappear. This is happening on Windows, on two different versions of Acrobat (Acrobat DC Perpetual Version 2015.006.30033 and Acrobat XI Version 11.0.0). We can not replicate the problem on Mac OS with DC Pro 2017 release.

Any ideas as to why this is happening and how to prevent it?

We are not merging documents, just using the edit PDF tool to copy and paste elements from other PDFs. The affected text boxes are not the ones being copied/edited.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

No need to be snarky or rude.

Instead, reread what was written:

"Failing to embed the fonts when the PDF is created is a user-error, not a bug."

If you want a PDF to fulfill its purpose — whether it's to be printed at a print shop, archived, or made accessible — the user must embed the fonts into the PDF.

That's also stated in various ways by others in this post. EMBED THE FONTS.

[Alisa5E92]

The tone of written content is determined by the reader. Therefore, any sarcasm detected in my comments was on your end. I literally do not drink. And I literally meant that - user error or not - I would prefer that letters not disappear from PDFs that I have invested time working on and I believe, honestly believe, this to be the case for other users. I do not believe that stating my opinion is disrespectful or unkind. It is merely an opinion.  

Considering this is my first time ever posting to this forum, or any technical forum for that matter, it would be kind and respectful of you to assist in removing my personal contact information from the thread since I have made far too few comments to this forum to have the ability to amend my own content.  And before I am accused of being snarky again, this is a genuine request. 

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

First, this is a user-to-user help forum. Most of the posters are invited experts who volunteer time to help other users. Occassionally, you'll see a post from an Adobe employee and their name will list them as such, "Adobe employee."

But ACPs and MVPs are volunteers.

Second, none of us can remove your name or post.

As you read  -- thoroughly  -- this thread, you'll find that no program disappeared your letters. They are still there, but because of font embedding issues, they are invisible.

In the original posts in this thread, the most likely cause was that the fonts were not correctly embedded into the PDF at the time it was made, or that the user didn't have that font installed on their computer when they viewed the PDF. At the earliest part of this thread, it suggests that the fonts need to be embedded into the PDF.

We all invest a lot of time...and sweat, blood, and tears in our projects.

And it's our responsibility to learn how to use our software tools, as well as the technical procedures. That includes knowing which types of fonts to use, how to manage them on our computers, using only fonts that allow us to embed them into PDFs, EPUBs, and other digital media, and learning HOW to embed them.

Here is the "short list" of guidelines to prevent this from happening to you in the future:

1. Use only fonts that allow you to embed them into PDFs and other digital media. You can check this under the font's properties. Note that some font foundries prevent their fonts from being embedded unless you've purchased an additional user license to do that. Usually that license is called a digital publishing license. A standard desktop license (free or low-cost) usually doesn't allow embedding. If you are an Adobe Creative Suite subscriber, the fonts available through Adobe Fonts are embeddable.
2. It's highly recommended that you use only OpenType/Unicode fonts because they can have an extended glyph/character set that includes the special characters often used in documents...and often missing in PDFs! You should phase out using older PostScript/T1 and older TrueType fonts.
3. When exporting a PDF, check the option to embed the fonts into the PDF.
4. Carve these guidelines into memory if you want to prevent this problem in the future. But that's your choice. No one is forcing you to do this.

If you have a PDF but not its source file (like Word or InDesign), you can attempt to embed the fonts with Acrobat using this procedure:

First, make sure you have the fonts installed on your computer. To check this, go to File / Properties / Fonts and scan down the list to view the fonts required in the PDF. You must have a licensed version of the font to do these next steps.

1. Open the Print Production or PDF Standards tool panel.
   Choose the right tool.
2. You might find these panels on the right-side of Acrobat, and they are also listed in the Tools Tab (upper left of Acrobat's window).
3. Select and open the Preflight panel.
   
   
4. From the top pull-down menu, select Essentials.
5. Then click the blue wrench at the top.
6. Scroll down and expand the Embed Fonts utility.
7. Click Fix and the blue wrench in the lower right to execute the utility.
   
   Embed the fonts.
   
   
8. Try not to be too confused that there are 2 little blue wrenches in the interface that do 2 different tasks.
9. Save the PDF (suggestion, best to give it a new name so you an keep the original as a backup).

There's no guarantee the above will work because it depends on how the PDF was originally made and whether you can locate a legal license of the fonts.

Good luck to you.