PDF Font issues with MacOS Sequoia

[matthew_8342]

Hi folks, one of my clients seems to be suffering with an issue with fonts on PDF's since updating to MacOS Sequoia and wondering if you can help or point me in the right direction to resolve the issue.

The issue:

Since the recent Mac update, we are having random issues with PDFs saving correctly. It seems that when using the company Blanch and Barlow fonts in a document to then save that document as a PDF, the PDF’d version changes the fonts to a different font to those it was saved with. It also adds random little black icons with ? inside.

There didn’t seem to be an issue before the update and so far we have tried the following methods to fix the issue:

1. Verify Font Installation

• Ensure that the Blanch and Barlow fonts are properly installed on all systems where the issue occurs.

• Use Font Book (built into macOS) to check for:

  • Duplicate fonts: Resolve any duplicates by keeping the latest or most correct version.

  • Corrupt fonts: Remove and reinstall the fonts if corruption is detected.

2. Embed Fonts During PDF Creation

• In the application used to create the PDF (e.g., Word, Pages, Adobe InDesign), ensure that the fonts are embedded in the PDF during export:

  • In Word: Use "File > Save As" and check the PDF options for embedding fonts.

  • In Adobe InDesign: Use "File > Export," select "PDF (Print)" or "PDF (Interactive)," and ensure the "Embed Fonts" option is selected in the export settings.

3. Update Your Applications

• Ensure that the application you’re using to create PDFs is up to date. Older versions may not handle the macOS update well.

Does anyone have any other suggestions on what I can try to fix this issue? Or is this a known issue with Sequoia and Acrobat?

[S. S]

Hi @matthew_8342,

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for the trouble. 

Would you mind sharing the file with us, and a screenshot of how it's viewed on Acrobat?

These details along with the Acrobat version number would be great to analyze and investigate further.

Also, while you mentioned the app being updates, please make sure it is running the latest version (2024.005.20320).

Look forward to hearing from you.

-Souvik

[matthew_8342]

Hi Souvik,

Thanks for your reply. Please find below the images. As you can see the text changes after the file is converted to a PDF and it seems to only be affecting the blanch and barlow fonts.

Abobe is also up to the latest version on the affected Mac's that are running MacOS Sequoia

[Anne Katzeff]

I'm having the same problem with all PDFs provided by our local bank. Other PDFs from other sources, past and present, seem to be fine. Yesterday, I updated 2 iMacs to Sequoia v15.3.2. On iMac #1, the PDFs are unreadable. On iMac #2, the PDFs are readable. I followed multiple suggestions to fix the problem, to no avail. 

• Reset Fonts in Font Book (several times, with a restart after each reset)
• Validated all fonts
• Eliminated any personal fonts
• Uninstalled and reinstalled Adobe Acrobat Pro
• Cleaned up cache
• Ran a maintenance program
• Ran various Acrobat utilities to embed the fonts. The only success was to convert the fonts to outline.
• The Document Properties show Arial (embedded Subset) and a strange series of fonts named "T3Font_58, T3Font_59", etc.

I was able to edit the PDF and change all of the fonts to Arial. But what a pain in the neck!