PDFMaker changing some sections of document despite same font.

[A to the ndrew]

I have a template which uses a variety of fonts, among them, Gotham Light in various sizes, some bold or italic, some not.
Crucially, large parts of this document are formatted in Gotham Light, using styles inbuilt to the template.

Multiple people use this template.

One user, in particular, when using PDFMaker to Save as PDF, it changes the fonts for PARTS of the document from Gotham Light to Times. it only does it for this one user. It only does it for specific parts of the document.  It always does it for the SAME parts of the document.

It could take paragraph 3 on page 2 for instance, and make it times. Where as paragraph 1 and 4 on P2 are Gotham Light as well, but they get converted properly.

I've compared office versions on the two users computers, removed and cleaned office and ran latest versions, compared file versions. Also did the same with Adobe Acrobat DC. THe only difference I noted is that the impacted user has 64bit Acrobat, so we changed that to X32, but the same issue occurs.

I've checked all the Word options aginst the two computers and cross-checked them to each other, same with PDFMaker.

The font DOES show as being embedded in the document. It's just these sections don't generate in the corretc embedded font.

Any feedback apprciated

[iDAC]

Hiya A to the ndrew!
It sounds like the issue might be related to font substitution. Font substitution occurs when the font used in a document is not available on the computer where the document is being viewed or printed, and so a different font is substituted in its place. This can happen if the font is not installed on the computer, or if there are multiple versions of the font installed and the wrong one is being used.

Here are a few steps you can try to troubleshoot the font substitution issue:

• Check font availability: Make sure that the Gotham Light font is installed on the computer where the document is being viewed and printed. You can check this by going to the Fonts folder in the Control Panel on a Windows computer or the Font Book on a Mac.

• Check font versions: If the font is installed on the computer, make sure that the correct version of the font is being used. You can check this by comparing the font version number in the document to the version number of the font file on the computer. If there are multiple versions of the font installed, try removing the older versions to avoid conflicts.

• Check font settings in Word: In Word, go to File > Options > Advanced > Font Substitution and make sure that the "Substitute with device fonts" option is unchecked.

• Check font settings in Adobe Acrobat: In Adobe Acrobat, go to Edit > Preferences > Page Display and make sure that the "Use local fonts" option is checked.

• Embed fonts in PDF: If the issue persists, try embedding the Gotham Light font in the PDF file when you save it. In Word, go to File > Save As, choose PDF as the file format, then click on the "Options" button and select "Embed fonts in the file".

Hopefully, one of these steps will help you resolve the font substitution issue and ensure that the correct font is used consistently throughout the document.
Keep me updated,

-iDAC

[A to the ndrew]

hey, thanks for your response.

just want to make sure i'm on the same page here.

Sally has the document and has, for arguments sake, a parapragh formatted in Gotham Light. Then a second paragraph also formatted in Gotham Light. The first paragraph is generated successfully in Gotham Light but the second one won't be. (I've simplified this a little).

when sally views the generated PDF document on her own computer, paragraph 2 is formatted incorrectly with the wrong font, but paragraph1 is formatted correctly. if sally sends the document to bob, the same issue - it appears misformatted on his computer.

when bob generates the exact same document, in the exact same way, Paragraph 1 is exported as gotham light, and Paragraph2 is also exported as gotham light. If bob opens the generated PDF, it appears correctly. if sally opens the PDF, it appears correctly.

I guess i'm struggling to understand how, from a consistency perspective, this makes sense.

• Font Availability If the font is not available, as per your first point, then it wouldn't it fail to generate with this font at ALL when generating the PDF?
• Font versions - this is definitely soemthing I could check because it makes sense that possibly Sally might have a different version of, say, Gotham Light to Bob. although it still doesn't make sense that one paragraph would generate correctly and the next wouldn't.
• Font substitution config in word  - against, it seems anomalous behaviour that paragraph 1 would not be font-substituted but paragraph 2 would be, considering they all use the same fonts. I will get sally to check this.
• font Settings in Acrobat - I don't recall specifically what the setting was but I know I cross-checked and Bob and Sally boh have the same font setting. I've jsut checked on my computer with "use local fonts" both on and off and it appears the same. I'm fairly confident it's more to do with generating than viewing
• File > Saveas : Neither Sally nor Bob use this method, they actually use "Save as PDF" via the PDFMaker plugin and the font is definitely embedded in the file when either of them create it

I have asked them for a copy of the original source, and the two generated ones again and i'm going to look closer and ee what differences I can find. If I was guessing based on all of this, I'd say Sally has a slightly different varient on the font somehow. but i'll have to see.

appreciate your help so far

[iDAC]

Its my pleasure dude!
Yeah so it sounds like a font issue, possibly related to different versions or variations of the Gotham Light font installed on Sally and Bob's computers. It's possible that Sally has a slightly different variant of the font installed, which is causing the inconsistency in the generated PDF document. Another possibility is that there are font substitution settings in Sally's Word application that are causing the font to be substituted for the second paragraph but not the first.

Checking the font versions and settings in Sally's computer and comparing them to Bob's computer may help identify the issue. Additionally, examining the original source and the two generated PDFs for any differences in font formatting or settings may also provide some insight.
Shout out Sally and Bob, let's figure this out!

-iDAC

[A to the ndrew]

I had some more time to dig into this today. We created a new account on the Sally's computer. signed in to Adobe Acrobat using Sally's account.

The issue didn't occur.

went back to Sally's account. Removed (using .Old) all the Appdata\local and Appdata\roaming preference folders, rebooted, re-logged into Adobe, regenerated using the same document and same steps, the issue occured.

Removed the hkcu\users\software\adobe registry key. Log off, log back, relaunch adobe, observed reg keys all recreated.

Regenerated file. Same issue.

While it seems clear this would work, we don't really want to have to create an entire new local profile for Sally. kind of like using a sledge hammer on a thumb tack. All sorts of other preferences and configurations would need to be remembered and reset.

I guess i'm probably looking to understand how this "save as PDF" adobe plugin actually works, I assume it's pulling a preference or setting from somewhere, I just don't know if it's part of word, or distiller, or where it's coming from.

Any insight anyone can offer me on that?