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id11
Participating Frequently
August 4, 2020
Question

Print using custom font

  • August 4, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 2399 views

Hi, I've created a custom font that I use for some of my documents. When printing from Word to PDF, I have always thought that fonts are carried over into the PDF. Upon viewing the PDF on another computer which does not have the font installed, this does not appear to be the case. I can't remember whether I used Acrobat or one of the other PDF printers. Please help with this issue.

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1 reply

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
August 4, 2020

Well, you need to figure out how you created the file. It's better to use Acrobat, not the built-in Word command to save as PDF, and make sure you set the option to embed all fonts in the generated file.

    I
    id11Author
    Participating Frequently
    August 5, 2020

    Thanks for providing feedback. Do you know what "embedding fonts" really means. Does this mean that font files are actually attached to the PDF somehow? Is there a detailed explanation you've seen anywhere?

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov Isaacs
    Legend
    August 5, 2020

    When you embed a font in a PDF file it means that the whole font or possibly just a subset of the font consisting of the glyphs used from that font by the text in your PDF file are embedded within that PDF file.

     

    Best practice is to always embed fonts when creating PDF files. There are at least three situations in which that doesn't or won't happen. The first situation is when you have a font that is protected against embedding. When PDF creation programs see such fonts, they won't embed them in the PDF file. The second situation is one in which you specify options to your PDF creation program specifically not to embed any or specific fonts. And finally, there is the third situation in which the PDF creation software is faulty and simply is unable to or improperly embeds fonts.

     

    An example of the third case is Microsoft's own PDF creation facility in Office. It simply won't embed OpenType CFF fonts in PDF files it creates. The recipients of such PDF files must have such fonts installed on their system to properly view the PDF file text in the original font. This is a perfect reason to license and use Acrobat with Microsoft Office. It installs a Save as Adobe PDF function that by default (using the Standard joboptions) subset embeds all fonts referenced by the Office document (including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook applications).

     

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
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