Importing PDF to Illustrator, fonts displayed as boxes with and X

[default88q5t1j0clh7]

When I import certain PDFs in illustrator i get a cant't find text error and all the text displays like the picture below. i have tried adding the fonts to illustrator but that did not work

[Brian23603149szij]

Open the PDF with Acrobat. Export to > Encapsulated Postscript. Import to Illustrator.  Unfortunately, all font will be converted to outline, but at least they are all readable and not X boxes.

[Monika Gause]

Open the PDF with Acrobat. Export to > Encapsulated Postscript. Import to Illustrator.  Unfortunately, all font will be converted to outline, but at least they are all readable and not X boxes.

By @Brian23603149szij

If you want to outline your fonts, you do not need Acrobat.

Place (linked) the PDF in Illustrator.

Object > Flatten transparency. Check "Outline fonts"

[VIJAY31886376ivs5 · Accepted solution]

1. open file in adobe acrobat pdf reader

2. go to MENU>Doucment Properties>Fonts

you will see what are the fonts used in it, and install all those fonts

and then open the pdf in Illustrator

[audreyb64095289]

Here is an alternative solution:
Open the file in Acrobat Reader. From the menu > Export a PDF > Encapsulated PostScript > Save.
It will create a file for each page in your pdf (if you have 15 pages in your pdf, you should have 15 .eps files). Then, find the page you want to open in Illustrator, right-click on it > Open with > Adobe Illustrator. I should display the original text as seperate objects. 

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Depends. The issue is that the program that originally created the PDF subsets the fonts (which is by design; this keeps the resulting file smaller). In doing so, it can create a custom encoding for certain subset fonts. This is why it cannot be read in Illustrator (or ANY vector program that can open PDFs)... it wasn't meant to be. PDF is not an exchange format, it's purely an output format. When you open such a file in Illustrator, even if you have the font that was originally used installed on your system, it's character codes will not match up with the subset's codes, hence gibberish or boxes, and there is NO way it can know what it's supposed to be. Even if you export this as EPS, that custom encoding will carry through. That being said, some fonts DON'T reencode in PDFs, so they would open fine, but many of the newer ones do. Illustrator converts the ones it cannot decode into Outlines. At least this maintains the look of the PDF if not the editability.

[raz31082854wv6x]

I have done  it with the Print option. Just created a  new pdf via print. Information of font is lost, but at least the text is in illustrator as vektor visible.