Garbled Text on PDFs

[itm14917331]

Hi Guys,

We have an issue with a couple of our computers, that we can't seem to replicate on other PCs with the same version of Adobe Reader DC (21.001.20149).

When opening some files, we have completely garbled text. We are able to open the same PDFs in other PDF viewers (Chrome, Edge, etc), but fail to open or print correctly in Reader DC. We have replaced the fonts folder on the effected PC with one of a PC that can open the file with no issues, but no luck there. We have also completed a clean uninstall, using the tool, deleting all Adobe folders and reg keys, and reinstalling, which seemed to have fixed the issue, but it then reappeared the next day.

This issue seems to appear on only a few PCs, and we cannot find a common factor between the PCs that would be causing the issue (both different models, one laptop, one desktop, both different ages, etc).

I have attached a screenshot of the issue, any ideas would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Adam

[ls_rbls]

What is the operating system version on the computers that are acting out?

[itm14917331]

Windows 10 Pro on both

[ls_rbls]

Is this happening with every PDF or just one particular document?

Based on your screenshot provided, it looks like the issue may be related to lack of support for a specific Unicode character character set (or typeface)... I may be entirely wrong though.

Can you confirm what was the producing software that this PDF was created with, and the type of embedded fonts?

[itm14917331]

It happens with some PDFs and not others. Our ERP system produces the PDFs, and it uses Arial and Tahoma, which are both installed on the PC. Like I mentioned in the post it will open in other PDF viewers, which suggests it's an issue with Acrobat

[Amal.]

Hi Adam

++ Adding to the discussion

It seems to be the font issue as the font is not properly embedded into the PDF file or its not present on the computer. Please try the following preference setting and see if that works for you: Go to Edit > Preferences > Page Display  > Under Rendering , select 'Use Local Fonts' > Click OK and check.

For more information about font embedding please check out the help page: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/pdf-fonts.html

Hope this information will help

Regards

Amal

[itm14917331]

Hi Amal,

We already do have that option ticked on by default. We can also open the PDF in other viewers, which suggest it isn't a font issue, more likely an issue with Reader itself.

Any other suggestions are appreciated 

Adam

[ls_rbls]

Would you be able to share an example of this fle with us?

It seems like a Unicode issue.

[itm14917331]

Currently can only share a screenshot of what it looks like with the text broken, as it contains sensitive financial information. I have attached the screenshot to this reply