Participant

Answered

Words and letters missing after exiting and reopening document

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
January 5, 2021
7 replies
64322 views

Over the past few days, my pdf's are missing letters and words after saving, closing, and reopening. The first time this happened was when I duplicated a page in the document. Ever since then, when I open files with "Open Sans" embedded font, the words and letters are randomly missing and it doesn't happen with all Open Sans text boxes. My only recourse has been to select the text box, change the font to another font, and switch back to the original font.

Any thoughts on how to resolve this issue permanently?

System Details:

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Version: 20.13.20074.411690

OS Name: Microsoft Windows 10
OS Version: 10.0.18363

Correct answer ABHI37171992e2vd

It can resolve easly.

1) Switch to Edit tool

2) select the font error affected text.

3) change font style to some other.

4) Get back to the previous font style.

5) Error will be fix.

JPCramer

Participant

This has caused me sooooooo much headache! The solutions thus far have not worked for me and I’m at my wits end with Adobe! I can’t believe how much I pay for this app when it causes me hours of endless work. I’m so absolutely frustrated!

E

elena_4431

Participant

This happens to me roughly once a month. It can be any document, ones I create or from other people. I save copies of any PDF that I have to sign so if something happens to the signed one I have the unsigned PDF. I go into "Fill and Sign" move the text around and 99.99% of the time it fixes the problem. Its like it has to update the text to show "Oh yes these letters are still here" Have never found a solution and I have been dealing with this since 2023. I have given up on Adobe ever fixing any thing.

Karl Heinz Kremer

Community Expert

Did you file a bug report with Adobe (https://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html)?

R

RajXSpaceBear

Adobe Employee

Try embedding the fonts or converting the fonts to outlines via Preflight and check.

A

ABHI37171992e2vdCorrect answer

Participant

It can resolve easly.

1) Switch to Edit tool

2) select the font error affected text.

3) change font style to some other.

4) Get back to the previous font style.

5) Error will be fix.

D

default9nxibwsox4f4

Participant

Obviously I tried re-editing the font but a soon as I would save and reopen would happen again elsewhere not to mention there was SO much text missing was impossible to deal with

Sent from my iPhone

Amal.

Legend

Hi there

Hope you are doing well and sorry to hear that

Is this an issue with a particular PDF file or with all the PDFs? Please try with a different PDF file and check. If the file is stored on a shared network/drive please download it to your computer locally and then try again.

What is the version of the OS and the Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 24.02.20736 installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

Also try to repair the installation from the help menu (Win Only) and see if that works.

Please try to reset the Acrobat preferences as described here https://adobe.ly/3QA0T2h

You may also try to create a new test user profile with full admin rights in Win or enable the root account in MAC and try using the application there and check.

~Amal

B

Bensox79

Participant

I'm also having this problem on Windows 11 - created a pdf and it keeps disappearing random letters and numbers when I save it. All the same font so no reason for it to be random letters. A pdf that I created so it's not been emailed from elsewhere. Changing the missing letters to or from bold, or italics and back again displays them again. Running very slow too, even though CPU and memory on laptop is OK. Acrobat is so unstable, but maybe it has yet to be updated for compatibility with windows 11?

Dave__M

Community Expert

I had a PDF once that behaved similarly. I didn't create it, but when I opened it, I had some characters just refuse to show. After much hair-pulling, I stumbled on the fact that there were some stray characters from a non-English, non-standard typeface. If I recall, there was an F-like character that wasn't really the letter F at all. Once I replaced it, the PDF seemed to magically work as it should. Can you spot anything out of place by Document Properties>Fonts?

Do you get the impression that the characters are there, but not displaying, or actually missing from the text stream?

My best,

Dave

K

karonnb6309714Author

Participant

They are definitely there. Once I change the font to something else and then back to the original, everything is back perfect again.

J

Jason267017933ij5

Participant

Permissions are controled within the individual PDF file, specifically in the File / Properties / Security settings.

However, font manufacturers can also restrict the embedding of fonts. See below.

1. Is the PDF file locked?

Look at the top of the left-hand panel. Is there a black lock icon? If so, you can't make any changes to the PDF unless you have the password to unlock the file.

However, if you're trying to embed a font that restricts embedding, then you also will get an error.

2. Are the fonts restricted? Or can they be embedded in a PDF?

Check the font's properties. In Windows File Explorer, right-click and view the font's Properties. Look for wording like embedable, editable, editable embedding, or something similar.

Also check the manufacturer's licensing and ensure you have the licensed rights to embed the font into a PDF. In the above screen capture, the last line is License Description and when expanded, it states you have the right to embed it.

Most (but not all) of the fonts installed with Windows and MS Office can be embedded into PDFs. Several weights of the Lucida family can't.

Adobe states that all of its fonts installed through Creative Suite can be embedded.

Fonts purchased from many outside foundries, such as Monotype/Linotype, have licensing restrictions. The cheap price lets you install the font on your computer and use it to print to your desktop printer. These are called "desktop fonts."

If you want to embed the font into a PDF or other form of electronic publication, you must buy a separate license to embed the font — for each individual publication, edition, or file you produce. Check the manufacturer's website for specific details ... they are all slightly different from each other.

Best solution to correct font problems in PDFs:

Always try to go back to the source file to correct the problems. Fixing a PDF is extremely time-consuming, costly, and often doesn't work. (I know, sometimes this isn't possible, but try to track down the source file...it's worth the extra effort. Someone somewhere has the original source file!)
Always use Unicode/OpenType fonts. Since 2000, they have been the computer industry's standard font technology and are universally recognized by all technologies.
Always ensure that each font is embeddable. (See above.)
Always ensure that you have an end user license that allows the font to be embedded into PDFs and other digital publications. (See above.)
When exporting from the source file to PDF, always "Export" or "Save As PDF/Save As Adobe PDF". Never print to Adobe PDF or any other virtual PDF printer.
When exporting to PDF, always check the option to embed the fonts. If you can, select "subset if less than 100% of the characters were used." This embeds only those characters/glyphs that are used by the PDF and not the thousands of others on the font.
If necessary, follow the instructions above (November 27, 2021) to embed fonts into the PDF with Acrobat. But honestly, if the previous steps are carried out, then there shouldn't be a need to embed them again with Acrobat's Preflight utility.

Hope this helps you find the problem and fix it. My best to you!

Hi Bevi,

Thanks so much for the information. I did confirm my file is not locked and the font shows editable for Font embeddability (I'm using Arial). This problem is occuring when I add text boxes to a pdf generated report. The report text is primarily in Times New Roman, so I might elect to change to that.

Another item to note the version I am using, Win11/Adobe Acrobat Pro ver 2022.003.20258 64-bit. When I look at the preflight tool it is grayed out:

Perhaps I am uncovering bugs? I was able to get through this week without the issue occuring after having corrupted files the past two weeks. I'm fine with an unsolved mystery if it stops occurring.

Thanks again for the assistance,

Jason

Karl Heinz Kremer

Community Expert

Open up Acrobat's preferences, then go to the "Page Display" category. In the "Rendering" section, you will find a setting called "Use local fonts". Does it make a difference when you change this setting?

K

karonnb6309714Author

Participant

Karl,

Unfortunately, this made no difference. Also tried to use the Print Production tools to analyze and fix missing fonts and embedded fonts at no avail.

Any additional thoughts?

Karl Heinz Kremer

Community Expert

OK, so we know it's not due to local vs. embedded fonts. Is this a doument that you assembled by combining from different sources? If so, the workaround I have here might help: http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/missing-or-garbled-text-printing.html

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