Adobe PDF printer outputs pdf not able to search

[brianc74407237]

Have a PDF that is created from a Windows Server 2012 R2 system using the following fonts:

When printing this PDF to the Adobe PDF printer (not part of this workflow really but produces same symptoms for troubleshooting) on a Windows 10 1909 build, the resulting PDF uses the following fonts:

The visual result of the PDF is the same, but Adobe Acrobat Pro DC 2020.006.20034 cannot search the document for text as it could before it was printed and even after choosing Scan&OCR and choosing the entire document to recognize text it still doesn't recognize words. It weirdly does recognize a single letter if searching for that. 

I realize that this is a font problem, but what I don't understand is how to allow the Adobe PDF printer to create a searchable PDF from this document. Is this really just a question of finding the appropriate fonts and ensuring that they are installed locally on the Windows 10 pc that is using the Adobe Printer? The fonts in this Windows 10 pc already show that these 3 fonts are installed locally. 

Thanks,

Brian

[Dave__M]

Brian,

There is a font usage setting in the preferences of the PDF printer.  Not sure if this will help, but it might be worth playing with to see if it makes a difference.

My best,

Dave

[brianc74407237]

Thanks for the suggestion, Dave. I too saw that and tested all combinations of the defined default settings (standard-standard classic, PDF/A-1b (RGB) and all the rest) with and without that setting to rely on system fonts only without it making a difference in the result. I think that that setting would indeed be the magic checkbox that should make this work and maybe it is - but it hasn't yet. Do you think that the setting means to "omit the fonts in the document and try to construct/print it based upon just fonts installed on the PC?  I would really like to know if the font listing above in the second picture means that the fonts are or are not installed locally when it replaces them with True-Type (CID) Identity-H. I saw a post in the forum by Dov Isaacs talking about the way that Windows 8+ has changed their font handling and that the Identity-H symptom is occurring for this situation, that it in and of itself is not necessarily bad and most correctly written PDF software should now how to handle this and still produce the desired output. I was hoping that since Adobe Acrobat DC Pro could open the original file and have it still searchable, that putting it through Adobe's own Adobe PDF printer (Distiller) would also know how to treat it and produce the desired output. 

Thanks,

Brian

[Dov Isaacs]

Let me understand exactly what you are saying or asking …

Is the “problem” that if you attempt to print a searchable PDF file to the Adobe PDF PostScript printer instance that the resultant PDF file is not searchable? Or are you claiming that any PDF file you create by printing to Adobe PDF is not searchable?

If the former (i.e. printing from Acrobat to Adobe PDF to create a new PDF file) is what you are doing, you are using a technique (lovingly) known as “refrying a PDF.” There are any number of reasons why you might have issues with such PDF files. The PostScript output by Adobe Acrobat (or Adobe Acrobat Reader) is specifically optimized for printing and absolutely not for PDF file creation. You should not assume that text searchability will survive “refrying a PDF” nor will hyperlinks, color management, or live transparency since PostScript doesn't support any of this. If in fact you are “refrying a PDF” exactly what are you trying to accomplish? Virtually any fixup you need to perform on a PDF file that you might think may be accomplished by “refrying” can be better accomplished with various tools built into Acrobat Pro.

If you are claiming that producing a PDF file via other applications using the Adobe PDF PostScript printer driver instance produces non-searchable text within the resultant PDF file, that is another issue entirely. In that case, we need some specifics and maybe a sample source file and resultant PDF file to figure out what is really going on.

With regards to the response related to the Adobe PDF Settings tab within the Printing Preferences or Printing Defaults, never enable the Rely on system fonts only; do not use document fonts option. Many years ago (in the early days of Windows 2000 and XP) it was supposed to solve some PDF creation issues. Now, all it causes are problems. Always disable this option!

[Do'hhh! · Accepted solution]

Couple of years late but here is the workaround i found.

Take the PDF that is unsearchable, save as others > image > TIFF file.

Copy all the TIFF file and merge into PDF. Now the file is searchble, all it cost is a bit of text degradation.

[Afri27889909ylou]

This is exatcly happened to me, still no answer i guess.

LOL