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MackDuff
Known Participant
March 25, 2010
Question

Fonts Missing on AdobePDF printer

  • March 25, 2010
  • 3 replies
  • 4433 views

I just installed an evaluation copy of FrameMaker 9.

Our company is using Helvetica fonts, but for some reason the AdobePDF printer does not have this font and substitutes the font for arial whenever I try to PDF a document. How can I get the AdobePDF printer use these fonts?

Any help would be much appreciated as I can't PDF anything at the moment.

Thanks.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    M
    MackDuffAuthor
    Known Participant
    March 25, 2010

    I think my main problem is that I don't seem to have the Helvetica font on my system or on the PDF printer. I was able to resolve the issue by removing the option 'rely on system fonts only; do not use document fonts' in the Printing Preferences dialog of the AdobePDF printer. Now, however, whenever I open FrameMaker i get the infamous ' unavailable fonts' message for Helvetica which is the main font we use.

    My collegues don't seem to have Helvetica on their systems either, but they don't get the 'unavailable fonts' message in Frame and they can print to PDF to one of the network printers, but unfortunately I can't.

    BTW - I am using XP and have updated to the latest Frame.

      M
      Mike Wickham
      Inspiring
      March 25, 2010

      If you're printing to a PostScript printer, it has the Helvetica font built

      in. The printer driver lets you see the font on screen and use it in

      documents, but it will only actually print if you print to the physical

      printer where it is resident. And you can't embed the font in PDFs because

      it's not actually installed on your computer. The good news is that PS

      printers usually come with a disk that lets you manually install the fonts

      on your system. So if you can find the disk, you can probably install the

      font on your computer and all will be well.

      A
      Art Campbell
      Inspiring
      March 25, 2010

      Two more things to check: did you install any FM updates?

      Look at the Help > About to see if you have all the patches, which are at http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=22&platform=Windows

      And, you don't mention your OS, but if it's XP, be sure to install the Microsoft Hotfix for PostScript printers:
      http://support.microsoft.com/?id=952909 -- it applies to all PS printers, including the logical PDF.

      A
      Art Campbell
      Inspiring
      March 25, 2010

      Have you got the PDF printer set as the system default, or as Frame's default using the SetPrint plug in (http://www.sundorne.com/FrameMaker/Freeware/setPrint.htm)? If you're using a different printer, it's likely that you're using fonts that are only resident on the physical printer and aren't actually installed on your system... and so can't be included in a PDF.

      If the PDF printer is set as the system default and you still have the problem, check the distiller to make sure that you're including all the directories in which fonts are stored.

      Art

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