Problems with PDF/X

[sd5e8a]

I got a PDF document that has been exported from Indesign and now I'm trying to convert it to PDF/X in Acrobat. I tested the complaince of the document with different PDF/X versions and these are some of the error messages that I got:

- Font is not valid.

At least one embedded font is syntatically incorrect

- Glyphs missing in embedded fonts.

All fonts embedded into a PDF have to contain glyphs for all characters in the PDF. This is required by some PDF-based ISO standards such as PDFX.

- OpenType fonts used.

Text uses OpenType font. Support for OpenType fonts has been introduced in PDF 1.6 (Acrobat 7). OpenType fonts are prohibited in PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3 and PDF/A-1 files.

- Width information for glyphs is inconsistent.

Some PDF-based ISO standards require that the glyph widths in the font
dictionary and the glyph widths in the embedded font are consistent.

- Character references .notdef glyph.

The text contains characters that are mapped to the .notdef glyph. The
.notdef glyph should not be directly referenced but is used as a placehold-
er for missing glyphs instead.

The problem lies in some math equations placed in the document. They were created with some 3rd party app, then they were exported as PDFs and then they were placed in Indesign.

Note that this document has already been used for offset printing with satisfactory results, but for some reason I decided to convert it to PDF/X (to standardize it, to make it more "tidy" and more "professional" sort to speak).

When you convert to PDF/X, some fixes are applied, which might be useful and which might prevent some problems, like: trim box/art box, trap key, compress object streams, an output intent (to display the document with it's proper colors), etc.

Thank you in advance for your help.

If there's no easy solution for my problem, is it OK if I just add an Output Intent to a non-PDF/X document (by using a 3rd party plugin)? I was also thinking about setting the document in a such way, that when someone opens it, it will display the right colors. Otherwise, they will depend on the Acrobat's color settings. I was also considering tagging each image with an ICC profile, but that can create problems (like 4-color grays), so I would like to avoid that.

[Derek Cross]

Why not export the document from InDesign using the the Adobe PDF Export presets, from which you can choose (say) PSD/X-4?

[sd5e8a]

Why not export the document from InDesign using the the Adobe PDF Export presets, from which you can choose (say) PSD/X-4?

By @Derek Cross

Thanks, @Derek Cross, but I'm afraid that I will not be able to find the Indesign file, but I can try. All I have now is this PDF.

[Steve Werner]

You make it say the PDF was created by someone else ("I got a PDF document that has been exported from Indesign"). Can you ask the creator who must have InDesign export PDF-X4 file? I agree with Derek that is really the only solution,

[sd5e8a]

@Derek Cross

and @Steve Werner, thank you for your replies.

Here are some updates, I found some solutions.

I wasn't careful enough and I failed to notice the following detail in the Preflight. The problems that I listed before can be found only on 1 page in the document, while the rest of the pages are fine. This is great and it allowed me to isolate the problem and to solve it.

It turned out that the placed math equations are not problematic per se. They are fine and they cause a problem only on 1 page. The problem is that this page was full of objects, shadows, transparencies, diagrams and stuff, so the author was afraid that this can be messed up, so he decided to flatten that particular page. Ironically, during the process, something really got messed up and suddenly the math equations began to cause problems. I recreated this in Indesign, but its a bit complicated to explain it.

Possible solutions:

- Going back to the original Indesign document as you both suggested and exporting the document again, this time with the correct PDF/X settings.

- If the Indesign document is not available, one can try to convert the page to outlines in Acrobat (some people say that this is not a good practice, but it is an option). Some preflight tools offer this.

- If converting everything to outlines is too much, one can use PitStop (or a similar Acrobat plugin) to convert only the problematic segments to outlines, in this case the math equations (zoom in and carefully select the problematic segment with the Pitstop Inspector's cursor > Right click > Text > Convert to Outlines). The rest of the content will not be affected.

- Another option is to change the font of the problematic segment by using Pitstop Inspector. These math equations use some kind of an "exotic" font, but if you select them with Pitstop Inspector and if you change their font to something usual like Times New Roman, Arial etc. - it may help (Select the segment with Pitstop Inspector > Right click > Text > Change Font). You can try different fonts and see how it looks.

After these fixes, the Preflight will no longer complain about invalid fonts, missing glyphs and such things. It may complain about other issues, but they are fixable. In the end, the document can be converted to PDF/X and these problems will be fixed automatically during the process (at least in my case this worked).

- Maybe downloading these special math fonts and embedding them fully into the PDF (via File>Properties) can help, but I didn't try that.

[Laubender]

@sd5e8a said: "OpenType fonts are prohibited in PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3 and PDF/A-1 files."

Hi @sd5e8a ,

why do you think that? This is simply not true.

Another thing: If you are using EPS files with math equations you will get into deep trouble in the future. With some apps that create the EPS files the fonts are not included. And in the case that PostScript Type 1 fonts are used with the EPS files you are out of luck in January 2023. InDesign will not support them anymore and will not be able to write them to an exported PDF page of your InDesign layout. Even if the fonts are installed in your system and current or previous versions of InDesign can see and handle them.

So stay with your current version of InDesign for this type of work as long as you can!

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[rob day]

Hi @sd5e8a , can you share the PDF?

[sd5e8a]

@sd5e8a said: "OpenType fonts are prohibited in PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3 and PDF/A-1 files."

Hi @sd5e8a , why do you think that? This is simply not true.

Thanks, @Laubender, but that's the error message that I got on my screen during the Preflight.

But it doesn't matter anymore, since I found a solution for the problem and I already explained that in this thread.

And thanks for warning me about using math equations in eps format, but I use PDFs. In any case, I will have your warning in mind.

Hi @sd5e8a , can you share the PDF?

Thanks, @rob day, I appreciate your help, but I'm sorry that I can't share the pdf. Also, that won't be necessary since the problem is solved and I explained how. (or maybe you are curious why exactly this happened, but unfortunately I can't share the file).

[Laubender]

@sd5e8a said: "And thanks for warning me about using math equations in eps format, but I use PDFs. In any case, I will have your warning in mind."

Then check in Acrobat Pro DC if the fonts are included in the PDFs you linked to in InDesign.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[sd5e8a]

Thanks, @Laubender, by the way please check this experiment: https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/problems-with-pdf-x/m-p/13236453#M494983 , so you can recreate my problem and analyse it if you want. Of course, you might get different results than me, maybe it depends on the machine, on the program version etc. But you can try it out.

Btw the math equation PDF's have their fonts embedded. As I said, the equations are not the problem per se. They cause a problem only on 1 page (out of many). And its a specific page, which I also explained.

[rob day]

I was going to suggest placing the PDF pages in a new ID document—you could use the PlaceMultipagePDF.jsx script that ships with ID—and export to the desired PDF/X preset. That worked for me.

There were no problems with Open Type Fonts—as Uwe pointed out PDF/X-1a and 3 support Open type fonts, which have been around for 20 years. Both standards would be unusable if OTF fonts were a problem.

[rob day]

Here’s a placed [High Quality] PDF placed and exported to PDF/X-1a:

Also, when you run a Preflight in Acrobat double-check what document was targeted—I noticed with multiple documents open preflight doesn’t always run on the front doc.

[sd5e8a]

UPDATE:

@rob day, I have an idea. Since I can't share the actual file, you can simply recreate this in Indesign.

1. Create a new doc, any size

2. Fill the page with random text ("The brown fox jumps over the lazy dog")

3. Create a math equation with a free tool that offers export to PDF (there're many online). It can be something like: 1+1=2.

4. Go to File>Place and place this PDF somewhere on the page.

5. Add a transparent image on the page (like an apple without a background) and choose a text wrap to your liking

6. Add some text on top of the image (like: "APPLE" in white) and add shadow effect to the text.

7. Export this from Indesign to a non-standard PDF

8. Start a verification for PDF/X-3 compliancy and you will get some error messages, but they are kind of normal.

9. Flatten this in Acrobat's Flattener Preview.

10. Start a compliancy check for PDF/X-3 again and you will get the error messages that I got. The Preflight will suddenly start to complain about open type or invalid fonts, missing glyphs and stuff.

At least this is what happens on my machine. Your experience might be different.

Another solution for this problem is to not use the Flattener Preview, but the Preflight fixup Flatten Transparency (High Resolution). But it should be modified not to affect the text (not to convert it to outlines).

[rob day]

Maybe you could make that sample and share it?

[sd5e8a]

@rob day, I made these two pdfs in a hurry, they are nothing special, but they illustrate the problem well, at least on my computer.

When I check the first PDF with the Preflight, I get the usual warnings (its not PDF/X-3 compliant, output intent missing, artbox/trimbox, trap is neither true or false... and so forth). That's normal.

With the second PDF, the flattened one, I receive warnings about "missing glyphs", "invalid fonts" and such stuff.

Here's also a screenshot of the error message:

[rob day]

Have you tried one of the Preflight convert to PDF/X Profiles? That worked for me:

After the conversion the converted PDF/X3 passes Verify compliance with PDF/X3 Profile

[Test Screen Name]

Actually the statement about OpenType fonts is absolutely correct. Layer version of PDF allow an actual OTF to be embedded. Earlier versions require them to be translated to the Type 1, TrueType or Type1C format. This translation is done automatically and works well, so nobody even thinks about it. The problem in this case appears to be that an embedded font is actually damaged so it can't be converted. 

[rob day]

The problem in this case appears to be that an embedded font is actually damaged so it can't be converted.

Thanks. I did the PDF/X conversions on the 001 example transparent.pdf without any problems. Acrobat’s profile conversion isn’t working on the 002 example flat.pdf version, but if I place it in ID and export to PDF/X3 it passes in Acrobat with the fonts OK.