When printing PDF, text comes out as strange random characters?

Report · Sep 12, 2008

Hi,
We have been having this with more and more of our users recently, but it's random and follows no particular pattern...

Sometimes, when printing a PDF to our networked HP laser printers, the PDF template comes out fine (eg any images/logos, the form template, any objects etc) but the text comes out as random ASCII characters?
It happens regularly, but you can print the same file out again and it will often work fine?

I guess its more likely a problem with the printers, but HP forums haven't helped me out. I've tried PCL5, 5e, and 6 drivers, they all do it occasionally.

I guess Im hoping the Adobe forum has seen this before, Any ideas?
Alan

Report · Sep 27, 2011

I have a WORKAROUND solution / process . . . .

MY issues with pdf printing have always been assoicated with trying to print to pdf from a website / article.

For whatever reason, I have found if I highlight / COPY the article and PASTE it to a WORD document, it prints into a pdf or on my printer just fine.

SAME information / different outcome.

May not help ALL situations but it helps with most of mine.

Good luck.

Report · Mar 07, 2013

I just called xerox as the printer we use is a xerox workcentre. I think what they got me to change actually worked. I did a test print and got no symbols so either it was a lucky print or it worked.

Go to start - devices and printers and right click on the printer in question. Go to printer properties - advanced - printer default - advanced - image options - post-script pass through. Here it should say enabled. Change it to disabled. This will stop the printer from interpretting the information in the PDF (and thus stop it from getting confused and just putting a symbol in where it didn't interpret something correctly).

I hope this helps!

Report · May 23, 2013

I'm going to try the various methods everyone else has mentioned, but in my situation, it seems to be happening when we print the entire document BUT it doesn't show up on screen, only the printed copy text (the graphics are fine) appears like this:

M[_][_] Ne[_][_]ett ...

And so on and so forth. Now we can print the questionable page on it's own and it's as happy as a clam, but will not work when the entire document is printed. (If you're curious, it's between 12 - 14 ledger size sheets, double-sided). We have two printers (DocuColour 250 and DocuColour 252) that both produce the exact same results when attempting to print. The files come to us as pdfs, and the most that we do is combine them into a single pdf (for bookleting purposes). Up to recently we've been lucky enough that it's been intermittent, but now it seems to be every other pdf.

Any ideas?

Report · May 24, 2013

If what I suggested above didn't work, I have two other things I found and tried out so maybe they had an impact in fixing the problem (though you may have tried these as well):

1.start menu - printer settings - right click on printer - printer preferences - advanced - type font - change to bitmap (not automatic).

Then change these same settings in adobe (in printing preferences or options)

2.start menu - printer settings - right click on printer - printer properties - advanced - print processor - change from RAW to RAW (FFauto).

Our printer spontaneously starting printing symbols this one day a few weeks back and it seemed like that solution I posted above did the trick. However, other people said those other two solutions worked for them. I think the key here is to stop your printer or computer from reinterpretting the symbols in the PDF and just see the PDF as an image. All of these methods are trying to do just that so try them but if it doesn't work maybe check to see if there isn't some other setting you can change to get it to see the PDF as a flat image.

Good luck.

Report · May 29, 2014

The solution to me having this issue was that instead of printing the pdf from the web, I downloaded the pdf file, opened that downloaded version and printed it. No characters!!

Report · Sep 11, 2014

The solution that worked was going into the advanced printer properties on my HP, in the advanced section uncheck the enable advanced printing features.

Report · Sep 11, 2014

i am HP printer user too, but i never experienced a problem like that, the result fine. i'm using adobe reader x freeware.

cheers

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Report · Jun 15, 2019

I am having the same problem. The only way I can print the form is to save it to my computer, open it up again and then print it. It then prints normally. I can't seem to find a solution anywhere and wish that Adobe would fix the problems. I use linux Mint 19 OS and a HP Envy 5055, but it also happened with my old HP printer. HP says it isn't a problem with their printer that it is an Adobe problem