Problem: Acrobat cannot extract embedded font ...

[iQ IMAGE Marketing]

It seems to be a well-known problem that occurs from time to time. The problem occurs with our company account with two licenses. We are using the latest version of Adobe Acrobat 25.1 (CC). The files were exported from InDesign as usual. From one day to the next, the error message appeared: "Cannot extract the embadded font ‘ZQVHUP+Inter-Italic’. Some characters may not display or print correctly." Unfortunately, the specified font is also only displayed in the form of dots, so that it is no longer possible to correct the documents.

This restricts our workflow enormously and is very annoying. Unfortunately, we cannot test whether it also occurs with older versions of Acrobat, as the Creative Cloud does not offer older versions of Adobe Acrobat.

Please fix this as soon as possible.

[Tariq Ahmad Dar]

Hi @ab87985712,

Thanks for reporting this, and I appreciate you highlighting that the PDF was generated via Adobe InDesign.

The error “Acrobat cannot extract the embedded font…” typically occurs when:

• The font used in InDesign is subsetted or only partially embedded,

• There’s a font encoding mismatch during export,

• Or the font itself may have licensing restrictions that prevent full embedding or post-processing by Acrobat.

Suggested Steps:

1. Re-export from InDesign with full font embedding:

• In InDesign, go to File > Export > Adobe PDF (Print).

• Under Advanced > Font Subsetting, set it to 0% so that full fonts are embedded rather than subsetted.

2. Check the font type:

• Fonts with certain licensing may not allow full embedding.

• Try replacing the font with a different typeface (especially one from Adobe Fonts which supports full embedding).

3. Inspect with Preflight in Acrobat:

• In Acrobat, go to Print Production > Preflight > PDF/A or Font checks.

• Run the “List embedded fonts” profile to confirm how fonts are embedded.

4. Test rendering after embedding changes:

• Once re-exported, try the file again in Acrobat to see if the issue is resolved.

• You may also try Optimized PDF or Save As > Reduced Size PDF as temporary workarounds.

We understand how frustrating this can be, especially when using Adobe-to-Adobe workflows. If the issue still persists, and you’re comfortable sharing a sanitized copy of the PDF, we can help analyze it further.

~Tariq

[iQ IMAGE Marketing]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I have gone through the steps as far as I could.

Unfortunately, step 1 did not help. I got the same problem message.

I had already tried step 2. Under ‘List potential font problems’, Preflight shows me the problems attached. However, under “List embedded fonts” I get the message ‘No problems found’.

Step 3: If I try to fix the problems in Preflight, the paragraph that was set in the “problematic font” disappears completely. It is then simply no longer displayed at all.

I can also say that under File > Properties Inter Italic is displayed as “unknown” although the entire Inter font set has been installed centrally on the computer.