Strange skewing of type on a path when outlining text

[hebegebestudio]

Outlining type on a path and get this result (original type attached for reference:

Any ideas what this is?

Type On a Path is set to Rainbow / Align: Baseline / Flip = Yes / To Path = Center. This setup has worked perfectly on dozens of other jobs for years.

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

What was the version of InDesign where it worked?

Could you install it again to finish this job?

What's your current version of InDesign?

What's your operating system?

Would it help if you outline the fonts in a PDF with Acrobat Pro DC?

When in Acrobat Pro switch to Print Production > Preflight and run the single fix "Convert fonts to outlines".

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[hebegebestudio]

Thank you for the response. I have outlined type in every version of ID since CS4 and even in the current 2022 CC version. I will try the PDF Preflight solution. That would be helpful for other workflow issues, too! Thank you.

[SJRiegel · Accepted solution]

Converting text to outlines in InDesign often creates more problems than it solves.  It is simply not a good practice, outside of small amounts done for design reasons (such as reshaping characters, or using the text as an image frame)

If you have a need for the text be be outlines (for instance, if you have no choice about what printer to use, and the printer is demanding this), then the way to do it is to create the PDF from InDesign with the live text, and then use the preflight tools in Acrobat to outline the text. It's under Print Production > Preflight

This will avoid all of the pitfalls associated with outlining large quantities of text directly in InDesign.

[hebegebestudio]

Thank you for the info. Outlining type in Acrobat Pro worked flawlessly. I will update my workflow with this helpful hack going forward!

[Laubender]

Hi hebegebestudio,

ok, you can solve this now in Acrobat.

Nevertheless I'd like to see into the issue more deeply.

Could you provide your sample InDesign document?

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[hebegebestudio]

The complete file is under an active NDA and can't be shared publicly. Would just the text layer in question be helpful?

[Laubender]

Just the text layer would be ok, if you still can see the issue with that text layer.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[simonb61272824]

I also have this newly manifesting problem in v17.0.1. I hope there's a fix in the next update as I keep having to open up the previous version of INDD to perform this simple task.

[simonb61272824]

...as a PS before someone suggests it; converting to paths in Acrobat is a pretty poor work around, for me. I convert to paths in INDD for elements like this so I have full access to object styling options, which are flaky and volatile when applied to live type. 

[Laubender]

Hi Simon,

could you post your InDesign document where you see this issue?

I'd like to test something.

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[simonb61272824]

Yes - will do - thanks...

[simonb61272824]

Hi Uwe - please see zip... in creating this file for you, I've noticed that enlarging the element eliminates the problem. Maybe there's a minimum cap height below which this effect doesn't work?

[Laubender]

Hi Simon,

thanks for the document.

I also noticed that. When I scaled the elements to 300% I could convert the type to paths without any problems.

Not so with 100% or 200%. So this would be your work-around. Scale the elements to e.g. 400%, convert the type to paths, and then scale the result back to 25%.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[simonb61272824]

Yeah - looks like the way forward, for now. Thanks for taking the time Uwe.

[Laubender]

Another thing to note here:

Saved the document to IDML and opened the IDML as document with old InDesign CS6 version 8.1.0.

There I had no issue at all to convert the type to outlines. No scaling of the items was needed.

The same with InDesign 2021 version 16.4.0.55.

So this must be a bug exclusively for InDesign 2022 version 17.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[MaryinSC]

I had this same problem when trying to outline text that was typed on a path. I copied text into Illustrator, it converted to outlines. Then, I copied the text back into InDesign. It worked. Having to remember to outline text in Acrobat is not feasible for the amount of projects I'm working, so really happy to have found a workaround. Hope this helps others.