using AI to edit pdfs - embedded fonts

[--rick_D]

I often receive pdf which require editing before they can be used, I use Adobe Illustrator to make the changes. I've never had problems so long as the fonts were embedded. I could even key in new text using the embedded font despite the fact I do not have that font installed on my computer. This has not worked since I installed the latest version of illustrator. I thought the problem was the pdf and kept telling the sender they are not properly embedding the font. I then decided to use the old version of illustrator which remains installed on my computer. Version 15.1 from CS5 opened the pdf and worked exactly as expected. I retried version 22.1 from CC 2018 and it fails to work correctly. Why is this? Is there a preference setting I'm missing? Might this be a bug in need of fixing?

[Monika Gause]

Illustrator cannot use the embedded font in a PDF. ANd it never could, because it would have been illegal. So whatever happened, maybe it just didn't show the font as missing or maybe youhad the font installed.

[barbara_a]

There is no special preference setting. If you don't have the font installed, It is possible that Illustrator substituted a similar looking font.

By the way, Adobe does not support editing PDFs in Illustrator. Perhaps the people sending the PDFs could send their original authoring document, before it was converted to PDF. It's still good to have a PDF in addition to the original file so that you can do a visual check.

[matthewn43692242]

You can actually edit PDF files in Illustrator if the creator saved the doc with "Preserve Illustrator editing capabilities" checked in the dialog box. You can edit them to some degree even if it's not.

[barbara_a]

Yes, that's true, and I've edited PDFs in Illustrator myself many times. It's just that Adobe doesn't support it because it's not always easy and doesn't always work the way one might think it should.

[Stephen Marsh]

You can actually edit PDF files in Illustrator if the creator saved the doc with "Preserve Illustrator editing capabilities" checked in the dialog box.

To be clear, you are actually editing a copy of the native Illustrator file that has been embedded into the PDF.

You can edit them to some degree even if it's not.

The PDF elements are translated into Illustrator objects, so they may or may not have issues in the conversion. Although this is possible, it is not ideal, preferred or recommended as best practice.

[marliton]

Hi. You need have installed the font used in a PDF to be able to edit the text. Many years ago (like 2000) was possible to edit the text in PDFs without having the font installed (having the font embedded without subset) but that changed for legal issues.