Save as PDF converts text into bold style

[Pepper230]

I am struggling with the ”Save as PDF” function converting regular text into bold style.

The weird thing is that this problem is only present in FrameMaker 2020 and later (currently using 17.0.5 on Win 11). Text is not converted into bold with the same process in FrameMaker 2019, which I used on my previous Win 10 work pc, where I also had FM 2022 installed, in order to troubleshoot on the same system with the same settings, fonts etc. However, since FM 2019 can't be installed on Windows 11 systems, I would like to get this working in FM 2022.

Any ideas about how to fix the problem would be much appreciated.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

What happens if you use the Publish (to PDF) function?

[Pepper230]

Thank you Dave for your reply!

Same result with Publish > PDF.

Doesn't that option rely on the same export function as "Save as PDF"? (Unless you check "Use Distiller for PDF generation" in the .sts file, compared to Print Book using Distiller.)

[mk-will]

Hi, @Pepper230 ,

more information is needed.

What font is used?

What settings are you using when making the PDF?

Do you get any messages while the PDF is processed? If yes, what is written?

Did you had a look if the font is properly included in the PDF (open the PDF, got to menu File - Properties, then to tab Fonts, you should see that your font is embedded and not substituted)?

Such behavior is usually caused by problems embedding the font used.

Regards

Stephan

[Pepper230]

Thanks for your reply!

There is a bunch of different fonts in the book, but the one that is changed into bold is Segoe UI Light, which I didn't even think existed in bold style.

The PDF document properties say "Embedded subset, TrueType (CID), Identity-H" about Segoe UI Light.

The same data goes for this font in previous PDFs that I created with Save as PDF in FM 2019, but there the font was never changed into bold.  

I have tried all preset PDF output settings, such as High Quality Print, Smallest File Size etc.

[Bob_Niland]

re: Segoe UI Light

You might check to see if what's installed for that is the Variable instance. If so, uninstall it and install the Static instance(s).

FM doesn't support Variable OTF fonts yet, and results can be unpredictable.

re: …which I didn't even think existed in bold style.

It doesn't appear to, as "Light". Segoe UI has a Bold option, and there exist Segoe UI Semibold and Black, but those would be evident. If it's a Variable font instance, all sorts of transformations can be specified by apps that are Variable-aware.

In the old days of Type 1 fonts, unexpected bold would often be found to be that the Para or Character dialog attribute for Weight was set to Bolded, which was a fake bolding that FM could apply to T1 fonts when the current Printer was Ps or Ps-like (e.g. PDF).

[Pepper230]

Thanks for your thoughts on this, Bob.

Shouldn't Segoeuil.ttf be included in Win 11 out of the box?

What is so strange is that I didn't have this problem with FM 2019.

[Bob_Niland]

I'm not planning to have any Win11 machines until it's unavoidable, so can't speak to that platform.

You might try some other apps on your system, and see what they generate when SUI Light is used to render to PDF.

[Winfried Reng]

Hi,

Really check, if the font files have the same version!

Or at least deinstall and reinstall the fonts files again.

Do you use FrameMaker's PDF engine? Or Acrobat Distiller (via "Use Distiller for PDF generation" in the sts file)? Does this make a difference?

Best regards, Winfried

[Pepper230]

Thank you Winfried for your suggestions!

Yes, I use the Save as PDF or Publish options, which in turn use the Adobe PDF engine.

It should be noted that when I create PDFs using the Print Book/Distiller option, the text is fine and is not converted into bold. However, the Distiller process takes much longer and produces very big files, usually ten times bigger than with the Adobe PDF engine for my normal projects. What bugs me is that the Adobe PDF engine works perfectly for my projects in FM2019, but for some reason it makes the text bold in FM2020 and later, on the same system with the same fonts, settings etc.

How do I check the font versions in a document?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

No, in FM2022 Save As PDF & Publish to PDF use the new PDF creation engine - only Print to AdobePDF is using the older Distiller method.

[Pepper230]

Sorry Jeff, what did I get wrong in my previous post?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

"Yes, I use the Save as PDF or Publish options, which in turn use the Adobe PDF engine." - I'm just pointing out that in FM2022, those changed to use the newer engine. You can still force the Publish route to use the older Distiller engine in one of the Publish Settings options.

[Pepper230]

Ok, by "Adobe PDF engine" I meant the new PDF creation engine, as opposed to Distiller.

[Winfried Reng]

When you set your sts file in the Publish pod to "Use Distiller for PDF generation", then Save As PDF and also the Publis pod create the PDF via Distiller. This is the same as Print to PostScript file and then distill that.

It seems that this makes a difference for your fonts.

Did you check the dates of your font files?

What happens, when you uninstall and reinstall your fonts?

[Pepper230]

That is correct Winfried: the new built-in PDF engine converts text into bold, while the old Distiller option does not.

Where do I see what font versions an FM document uses? So that I can compare with the versions installed on my system.

[Winfried Reng]

The fonts are here:

C:\Windows\Fonts

(The Fonts folder is only visible, when you have "Show system files" activated.)

You can access the fonts also in the Windows System Control via Personalization | Fonts.

When you click on a font, you get more info, e.g. the date or the version. Or you can deinstall a font.

Best regards, Winfried

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

One question I didn't see asked: What does Acrobat say if you run prepress function on the PDF; are you missing resources in the PDF file?

Regarding potential solutions, in part, reiterating what others have said...

I'd suggest removing your current Segoe fonts and reinstalling from a good known source.

After that, ensure that Segoe Light printer fonts do indeed exist.

Open up your Fm files, and check for missing fonts; resolve any missing font issues, especially Segoe if they exist.

Produce your PDF as you like.

If the bold issue still exists, force download of Segoe Light via the PDF job settings.

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

Oh, and as a test, can you successfully produce PDF with Segoe Light from other (MS Word?) applications?

Does Acrobat recognize them as actually using Segoe Light?

And of course, you could always ditch Segoe Light. I've never been a fan of TTF fonts. They were the bane of my commercial printing existence.

[FrameMaker-dk]

The culprit in this case, is the Acrobat PDF driver, IMHO. If you print the document to the Microsoft PDF driver, the font displays correctly. 

[Pepper230]

Yes, you are correct Bjørn, and just like @Bob_Niland suggested earlier in this thread, when I create a PDF from a Word document using Microsoft Print to PDF or the Acrobat extension (Adobe PDF Library 24), Segoe UI Light is not changed into bold style.

So, does this mean that the problem lies with the FM2022 PDF engine (Adobe PDF Library 17)?

If so, something must have changed from the FM2019 PDF engine, which did not have this problem.

[FrameMaker-dk]

Yes - as far as I can see - you are right. It's the constellation of FrameMaker 2022 and the Adobe PDF printer driver. 

The Adobe PDF printer driver works ok with Word as you have said yourself. 

I shall have to agree with @Matt-Tech Comm Tools , though - I too would find a more "robust" font and do a bit of checkup as to whether it will work for standard translations.