Problem with form fillable PDF fonts

[Belgeval]

Hello.

I am using Acrobat to create a form fillable PDF, where the fillable fields use certain fonts. However, when I send the PDF to a friend, they cannot see the intended fonts unless they have installed them themselves. How can I solve this so they doesn’t need to install the fonts? I know this is possible, since I have downloaded PDFs where the fillable fields use fonts I don’t have, and I can see them fine.

Help, please?

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com · Accepted solution]

Belgeval  wrote

...they cannot see the intended fonts unless they have installed them themselves.

The fonts must be embedded into the PDF and this will increase the size of the file. You can embed fonts into a PDF with 2 methods:

1. When making the original PDF file, select the option to embed the fonts. However, this requires that you used those fonts in the document itself. Also, generally it subsets the font so that only the actual characters used in the file will be embedded.
2. In Acrobat DC Pro, open the Preflight panel and select “PDF fixups” from the options. Then select Embed Fonts and click the Fix button in the lower right of the panel. This will embed the font into the PDF.

But there's a huge drawback when you embed fonts into a PDF FORM and designate them as the font for the form fields: if the font is subsetted, it might not have the characters the users wants to use (usually these are foreign language fonts, accents, diacritical marks, and symbols). Most times form designers can't foresee which characters the end user will type into the form fields.

And if the entire font is embedded rather than subsetted, this could increase the file size by several megabytes. Some Unicode/OpenType fonts have several thousand glyphs/characters on them and can be 15-40 MB in size.

Caution: usually it's not advised to control which font is used in the form fields because we can't guarantee if the user will have the font or will use characters that are not embedded into the PDF. Best to use any of the default fonts shown in Acrobat: Courier, Helvetica, Times, and other listed in the Form Field Properties/Appearance dialogue.

If you're doing this just for aesthetic or design reasons, I suggest not to do it. The problems are not worth the time and trouble.

[Belgeval]

Thank you very much for your answer. It solved my problem.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Always glad to help!

[George_Johnson]

When a non-base-14 font is selected in Acrobat for use with a form field, the entire font is embedded in the file, unless it is a CJK font. This is entirely separate from the same font being embedded for use by regular text objects, which would typically be a subset. If a CJK font (asian) is specified, no embedding occurs and Acrobat/Reader will instead rely on the font being installed on the users system for use with Acrobat/Reader. The user will be prompted to download and install the relevant font pack if it's not available. Adobe - Adobe Reader : For Windows : Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Font Pack (Continuous) - For Acrobat Re...

If a base-14 font (Times, Helvetica, Courier, Symbol, Zapf Dingbats and their variants) is specified, Acrobat/Reader will use a private version of the font (or a suitable replacement, e.g., Arial for Helvetica, Adobe Pi for Zapf Dingbats) as they are guaranteed to be available in a compliant PDF viewer.

There is no danger from using a font that happens to be subsetted in the PDF since Acrobat will fully embed it in the PDF for use with form fields, so all of its characters will be available, assuming a compliant PDF viewer like Acrobat/Reader.

Note that Acrobat will not allow the use of a font with form fields if the font doesn't allow at least editable embedding.

[johnlundmm]

Thanks to everyone in advance for their guidance.

I have a form that I'm preparing in Acrobat pro that is an English / Salish Workbook. The font that is encoded in the document and which I wish to use for the form fields is a Unicode font called Aboriginal Sans which the Kalispel Tribe uses for writing Salish. Though this font appears to be encoded successfully in the document, the form fields come out in Ariel or something like it. This is problematic because it lacks all the diacritical marks that we need.
Can anyone advise? 
What does the font appear embeded but not  useable in the form fields even when I change the form field font in "properties".

[S. S]

Hi @johnlundmm,

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for the trouble, and the delayed response.

In case you are still looking for a solution, here's my take on it:

From the description, it seems like the Font specified in the text field properties is not set to the font which you have used when creating the form.

Can you ensure, by going to the Edit-> Prepare Form-> select a text field-> double-click to get to Properties-> go to Appearance tab-> check the font used (screenshot attached for reference).

Hope this helps.

-Souvik