Update from 18.0 to 18.1 removed the ability to embed fonts in a pdf

[John28214615w8up]

My computer will not embed fonts into a pdf when using version 18.1 or 18.2.  If I roll back to 18.0 the fonts embed again.  No other settings or presets changed.   Did Adobe remove the ability to embed fonts in 18.1?

I attached pdf info of the same pdf generated with 18.0 vs 18.1.

[Michael_TSM]

Same issue here

[Peter Spier]

Adobe ended support for Type 1 fonts with version 18.1

[John28214615w8up]

Almost all of our fonts are listed as OpenType - PS in our font software Connect Fonts.   Are none of these OpenType - PS fonts supported anymore?   Looks like the Adobe Fonts are also listed as OpenType - PS.

[Peter Spier]

Sorry, I was pretty disracted this morning and didn't really look closely enough at the screen captures. Those are, indeed, OpenType fonts (with postscript outlines) and are fully supported.

As Aandi noted below, the fonts are embedded, but they are being subsetted contrary to your settings. I think that's probably a bug and should be reported. I beleive this is still the correct link to do that: https://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html

[John28214615w8up]

Thank you.   After some more experimenting and collaboration with my team, we found out that this problem goes away with version 18.2.1.  By rule we do not update quickly to prevent major issues with our many softwares that need to be checked for capatability. Which is why we were still on 18.1.   My guess is Adobe disabled something when the Type 1 font thing happened and accidently completely turned off the fully embedded font option, then realized it at some point and re-enabled it.   Everything appears to be working correctly again with 18.2.1, and possibly some other versions between 18.1 and 18.2.1.   Thanks to all who offered to help!  

[Test Screen Name]

Both screenshots shown embedded fonts. It says so. 

[Barb Binder]

Hi @John28214615w8up:

Embedding means a full copy of the entire character set of a font is stored in the PDF. Embedded subset means only those characters that are actually used in the layout are embedded in the PDF. Do both PDFs look OK?

On a separate note, Adobe announced the end of Type 1 font support in January, 2021, giving us close to two years to swap out our old Type 1 fonts for the more modern OpenType fonts. See :https://helpx.adobe.com/fonts/kb/postscript-type-1-fonts-end-of-support.html. This is effective at 18.2. Until you are ready to deal with this, don't upgrade to 18.2.

~Barb

[John28214615w8up]

Everything in the pdf looks fine and they print fine.   Our creative team generates the pdfs and passes them onto programmers working with software called GMC Inspire.   The pdfs have variable fields that get data merged from within the GMC software.   GMC needs to have the fonts fully embedded in the pdfs to function correctly, otherwise the programmers need to load the fonts onto their machines for every job.   Also dealing with a MAC to PC workflow.   We eliminated all of the postscript fonts from our systems, but I don't think all Type-1 were removed.  

[Test Screen Name]

Ok, so the files are still embedded. Just not fully embedded. So they will display and print fine. If you want t to take this problem first be sure to say you want t "FULLY embedded". 
However... Subset fonts are recommended, for decades now, and Indesign may have changed to do the right thing. Editing without having the licensed font is something actively discouraged and blocked, so just make sure to purchase the same fonts for your entire team. 

[Barb Binder]

Hi @John28214615w8up:

You can control subsetting on export. 

1. File > Export > Adobe PDF (Print)
2. Choose your desired Adobe PDF Preset from the top row
3. Advanced > Fonts: 

• To embed all fonts, enter 0% in Subset Fonts When Percent of Characters Used is Less Than.
• To embed only a subset of fonts, enter a higher percentage.

~Barb

[John28214615w8up]

Thanks.  we are using the 0% setting and it still doesn't work. 

[BobLevine]

Have you tried working on these PDFs? It's entirely possible that the only thing that's changed is the way the information is displayed.

I don't recall this ever being advisable and if there has been any kind of change to the way InDesign is handling this, you can try reporting it as a bug, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to get fixed.

[Peter Spier]

A big clue would be a large change in the size of the PDF

[BobLevine]

That's a very good point.

[John28214615w8up · Accepted solution]

Updating to 18.2.1 appears to have fixed this issue.  Not sure why, but it is working now and fonts are fully embedding.   Our pdfs are only 2 pages (front/back of a letter) so the file size isn't an issue.   The fonts need to be fully embedded so that our programmers can data merge into variable fields.  All characters for the font need to be accesible in order for the data to populate those variable fields.   Everyone is within the same company and we do have licensing for the fonts.  

[John28214615w8up]

Another interesting bit to add.  We found some users were still having trouble with 18.2.1 and the only solution was to roll-back to 18.0.0 then re-updating to 18.2.1.  Weird, but it works!