Font issues in FM9

[Melody Foreman]

We have upgraded to FM9, but when we convert our files to pdfs, several of the fonts change to Times New Roman. We are using Acrobat 9.0. We have all of the latest updates to both applications. Technical Support had us uninstall of the fonts and reinstall them but that didn't help. We have tried creating pdfs on a machine that never had any previous versions of FM installed (as Technical Support thought that might be the problem too) but the same problem exists no matter which machine our unit uses.

[Art Campbell]

There's a lot of material already in the archives on this.

Most likely reason is that you don't have the default printer on the machine set to the Adobe PDF printer, but to a hard printer. That means, effectively, that Frame can use fonts that are resident on the printer, but not on the computer. Which means that Acrobat can't embed them.

So try setting the system default printer to the Adobe PDF instance and see if that helps.

Also, you don't provide any system information or information on how you "convert" your files. Assuming the system is pretty benign, at least initially make sure that you Print to the Adobe PDF printer. SaveAs PDF is kind of buggy in FM9, so that would eliminate that as an issue.

[Melody Foreman]

We have the default printer set to Adobe PDF and we have tried both print to PDF and save as PDF - neither works.

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Melody Foreman

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[Dov Isaacs]

The first question would be exactly which fonts are not being properly propagated into the PDF file? Do you actually have those fonts installed on your system. If not, the problem is obviously identified. (I suspect you've been through this path before.)

Assuming that you have the fonts actually installed on your system, the next issue relates to where those fonts are installed (drive and directory). When you open Distiller and check Settings=>Font Locations, are the directories containing your fonts listed in those "font locations?" If not, add the directory or directories with the fonts.

Also, do you have any third party font manager software installed? If so, try totally disabling same and see if that makes a difference.

You should also check the printer properties for the Adobe PDF PostScript printer driver instance. Under Advanced=>Printing Defaults=>Adobe PDF Settings you might try unchecking the rely on system fonts only; do not use document fonts option, apply the settings. Apply the same change to General=>Printing Preferences=>Adobe PDF Settings.

See if the problem still occurs and report back.

          - Dov

[Arnis Gubins]

If you are using Save As PDF, make certain that the "Convert CMYK Colors to RGB" is checked. This uses the older output stream and avoids the buggy CMYK module. It's known that a number of OTF Pro fonts encounter issues using the CMYK route, and showing up as TimesNewRoman is one of the symptoms.

[Be.eM]

I've run a couple of tests with every single FM version since 9.0.

I tested several up-to-date unicode fonts which I'm using here (better: would be using, if only...), all  OTF / TTF.

You can download the test results (PDF) here:

http://www.meissner-dokuteam.de/Files/Frame/Unicode_Fonts_Test_fm903_091104_cmyk_rgb.pdf

The PDF contains the CMYK result on the first and the RGB result on the second page. Besides several fonts not working, you will notice the differences in font tracking/kerning.

Regards,

Bernd

[Mike Wickham]

Bernd,

I see the Meta font is one on your list, and it's one I had been thinking

about buying. Was it problematic only when using Save as PDF (which I never

use) or also when printing directly to the Adobe PDF virtual printer?

Mike Wickham

[Be.eM]

Mike,

the problems with all fonts only show up, when you save to PDF, and you have not enabled "Convert all CMYK colors to RGB", in other words: when you're saving a CMYK PDF.

Printing to Adobe PDF works, as saving to RGB-PDF works. So if you don't need CMYK PDFs, you won't have any problems with the Meta font.

Bernd

[Art_Campbell1]

Melody, since you didn't provide any system details... if you're working in an XP environment, have you applied the Microsoft PDF hotfix at
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=952909 ?

[Be.eM]

Just in case anybody is interested:

I've updated the test PDF with four additional HelveticaNeue W1G fonts (65 medium/italic + 77 bold condensed/ italic). Two work, two don't… what a game…

http://www.meissner-dokuteam.de/Files/Frame/Unicode_Fonts_Test_fm903_091118_cmyk_rgb.pdf

Regards,

Bernd

[rgdonato]

Hello,

We are having the same issue with FM9 in my office. We just recently started using TCS2 which contains FM9.

I am working on a Dell D620 laptop using Windows XP, Version 2002 SP2.

The fonts we use are Frutiger and ITC Officina Sans Book

Per the recommendations, I have done the following on my machine:

• My default printer is Adobe PDF
• In Distiller, I went to Setting > Font Locations and added my font directory and a couple of others just to cover all my bases.
• I don't have a third-party font manager, so I didn't have to worry about that.
• In the Adobe PDF PostScript printer drive, I unchecked the option for "Rely on System fonts only..."
• I also unchecked that option in the general settings.
• I made sure to check the convert CYMK to RGB.

I did not install the hotfix that was recommended because the email I received about it says that it has not undergone complete testing. I don't want to take a chance on that.

I then created PDFs using

• Save Book As
• Save As PDF
• Print Book

In all three instances, the two pages of the frontmatter print correctly; both of the fonts we use are contained in the frontmatter. However, the rest of the book has words, phrases or entire paragraphs randomly omitted. In one case, the ITC Officina was replaced by Times New Roman. Only once out of several attempts did the entire book print properly. But that was out of 10 or more tries.

I've also noticed that if I create a PDF out of a single chapter within a book, sometimes it prints properly. But again, that happens randomly and isn't reliable.

We have considered that maybe it's a RAM issue. We have ordered Dell RAM which will arrive next week. But even there, with everything closed except FM9, large chunks are missing from the book. We then created a .ps file on a computer with FM9 and distilled the .ps file on another computer with plenty of RAM, the PDF still has large chunks of information missing and replaces the fonts.

I've included a zip with 5 examples that shows what happens when a PDF is created using the three methods I mentioned; plus there is an example of what happened when the fonts were replaced. The final version is a complete TOC that printed just fine when I printed it on its own.

If you can offer any other suggestions to fix this issue, we would greatly appreciate it. The only thing we have not tried is just using different fonts. However, those are a part of our style guide so we would rather avoid that if possible.

Many thanks,

Rosemary

[Arnis Gubins]

Rosemary,

Have you applied the MS Hotfix described in this blog post from Adobe?

http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2009/07/repost_hotfix_for_framemaker.html

[Be.eM]

Rosemary,

under the hood, these aren't the same issues. You can do a simple test to find out which "remedy" you need:

1. In the Windows explorer, go to WINDOWS/System32 and locate the file named "FNTCACHE.DAT". What file size is it?

2. Delete this file (don't worry, it will be recreated automatically)

3. Reboot

4. Try to write your PDF again.

If your PDF is correct this time, you definitely need the hotfix recommended. Don't worry about the "untested" status, meanwhile a lot of users (including me) have tested it. It works as expected and cures the "missing text in PDF" bug.

Bernd

[rgdonato]

Bernd,

Thanks so much! The hotfix worked on all our machines. Such a relief.

Best to all,

Rosemary