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Strange problem with distiller font error

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
April 7, 2017
3 replies
11537 views

I'm trying to support someone to create a PDF from a MS Word 2011 document in OS X. She normally does the layout in Word, then to generate the PDF goes to the Print dialog to convert the file to PS, which she then opens in Distiller to make the PDF (generating the PDF directly from the Print dialog in Word creates visual oddities in the images, so she says she's kind of stuck doing it this way). For some reason though she's getting an error where Distiller crashes when it hits a specific font (Proxima-Nova, which she says she is NOT using in the file). How to resolve this? In this forum they were trying to solve the issue by re-install the Proxima-Nova font, but it doesn't appear to be clear if that's definitely the answer, or if there are any steps to take in the Distiller settings beyond just downloading and installing the font.

Any thoughts?

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Correct answer Dov Isaacs

Hi Dov Isaacs,

I just PM'ed you the file as requested. Please let me know if you're open to taking a look still!

Thanks,

Ari L.

Ari,

I just responded to you via PM in which I have provided my phone contact info. Please call me. I found the problem but It is too complex to write out easily ...

- Dov

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Test Screen Name

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it's probably not the cause, but there is no situation in which the PDF/X4:2008 job options should be used with Distiller. Distiller can't make PDF/X-4. This job option is for other apps. The error may be an issue in the font itself or in the PostScript driver.

Dov Isaacs

Legend

Why in the world would they create PDF from Word, especially under MacOS, by creating PostScript and then distilling? Even without Acrobat installed, you can easily create PDF from Word both directly from Word and from the print dialog. Adding Acrobat provides a means of getting an Adobe Acrobat-optimized PDF file.

The only reason to go through the craziness of creating PostScript and then converting that to PDF would be if you have EPS graphics in your Word document, something that is exceptionally rare these days.

If the person you are helping is getting “visual oddities” in the images when directly creating PDF, there are likely problems in either the Word document, the images / artwork within the Word document, or both. Perhaps you can provide a sample?

Note that one of the possibilities regarding the unexpected call for a font that one believes is not used in a document is that (1) such a font is used in the underlying Word template and/or (2) a non-printing area within the document such as a tab or paragraph ending is formatted in that font.

- Dov

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

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arijon124Author

Participating Frequently

Dov,

Thanks for your response. What would be the easiest way to get you a sample? Save the file in Google Drive and then include the link in a reply?

Best,

Ari

Dov Isaacs

Legend

Thanks so much Dov Isaacs. What could be a better work-flow for this person? I think we discussed this before. Should they just try to use InDesign exclusively and not MS Word?

I am assuming that you are running on MacOS based on the file directory names, correct?

Acrobat 9.x is exceptionally “long in the tooth” as they say. It was originally released 11 years ago and hasn't been supported by Adobe in any way for at least a half dozen years. I'm surprised if you can coerce it to run and install on any recent MacOS version.

That having been said, the fact that the Distiller is croaking on font SMFIZI+ProximaNova-Regular means that a subset font was found in the PostScript and not inserted by the Distiller. Whatever was generating the PostScript (possibly MacOS drivers?) is the likely source of the problem assuming that there wasn't some font handling bug in that older version of Distiller.

Unless there was EPS artwork in the original Word documents, distilling PostScript to get PDF is absolutely not recommended in modern workflows. More recent versions of Acrobat interface with Word to directly create PDF from the Word document. That is what you should be using, not conversions of PostScript. Even the MacOS PDF creation is better than this PostScript route.

It would be easy to say that using InDesign would solve your problems for this particular situation, but if that person doesn't have InDesign and/or know how to use it (a long and very steep learning curve), you aren't doing them any favors by recommending it.

- Dov

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

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Distiller's error messages often have more in than you think. Please copy/paste the whole log.

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arijon124Author

Participating Frequently

Here is the error log:

%%[ Error: invalidfont; OffendingCommand: definefont; ErrorInfo: StemSnapH --nostringval-- ]%%

Stack:

/Font

-dict-

/TNMCYP+ProximaNova-Regular

%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%

%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%

Dov Isaacs

Legend

That error is very specific. The font is in fact embedded in the PostScript file that is being distilled, but it apparently has an error in the font definition itself. The font file itself installed on that Mac may be corrupted or the font itself might be crufty. Obviously, if the document's author doesn't believe she is using the font, one would need to thoroughly go through the Word document and try to find and eliminate the reference to the font.

- Dov

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

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