Embedding Fonts Acrobat Distiller

Brief Description

Font embedding enables fonts used in the creation of a document to travel with that document, which ensures that a user views the document exactly as the author intended..

What your issue is

Text does not display or print correctly after you convert or combine documents in Acrobat.

-Text appears to melt or characters overlap.

-Text is scrambled, garbled, or displays as "garbage" characters.

-Some text appears in subscript.

-Text prints incorrectly.

How to fix this issue

Embedding prevents font substitution when readers view or print the file and ensures that readers see the text in its original font.

Embedding fonts into Acrobat through Distiller:

1.Launch Acrobat.

2.Choose Advanced > Print Production > Acrobat Distiller.

3.Select Standard in Default settings.

4.Go to Settings and select Edit Adobe PDF Settings.

5.Select Fonts and in the font source window select the fonts you want to Add.

6.Click Save As and then OK.

More details:

Adding a description of the fonts

To each PDF file it creates, Acrobat Distiller adds a description of Type 1 fonts that use the ISO Latin 1 character set. If you open a PDF file on a computer that has these fonts installed, Acrobat uses the installed fonts to display and print the PDF file. If the fonts aren't installed, Acrobat uses the font descriptions to create substitute fonts that resemble the original fonts.

Embedding the fonts

If font embedding is enabled, Acrobat Distiller embeds TrueType and Type 3 fonts, and Type 1 fonts that don't use the ISO Latin 1 character set (such as symbol or expert characters). Acrobat Distiller 7.0 can embed OpenType fonts; however, the application that created the original document determines which OpenType font characteristics can be embedded. If you embed an OpenType font that is based on a Type 1 font, Acrobat Distiller embeds it as a CFF/Type 2 font. Acrobat Distiller embeds Open Type fonts that are based on TrueType fonts as TrueType fonts.

A font that is embedded in a PDF file is always available for viewing and printing, whether or not it's installed on the system. However, you cannot edit text in the PDF file unless the font is installed. If you try to edit text that uses an embedded font and the font isn't installed, Acrobat returns a warning and uses a substitute font instead.

Font permissions

Acrobat Distiller acknowledges and preserves the original font permissions, even if a PDF file is redistilled. Fonts that have restricted permissions can't be embedded and will cause Acrobat Distiller to return an error during the conversion process. Similarly, fonts that don't use a character encoding format, such as WinAnsi or MacRoman, may cause Acrobat Distiller to return an error if you try to embed them.

Converting the fonts

If Acrobat Distiller can't interpret or find the font information it needs from a font, it substitutes the font. In rare instances, Acrobat Distiller converts such fonts to bitmap images, which prevents the font from being searched, scaled, or edited. Acrobat Distiller typically converts PCL fonts and Windows vector (outline) fonts to bitmap images. See the "How Postscript Printer Drivers Handle TrueType Fontsin Windows" section in this document.

Embedding Fonts in Windows

To embed fonts in your PDF files in Windows, the easiest tools to use are Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Acrobat Distiller. Using Distiller is, perhaps, the most straightforward, but it has the disadvantage of removing any formatting or tagging information that you've added to your PDF file. This method essentially "prints" the PDF file to another PDF file, this time with all fonts embedded. Telling Distiller to add fonts is as simple as changing the appropriate values in your preferences.

A more interesting and more flexible method of embedding fonts is to use Adobe Acrobat. For this method, you first select the TouchUp Text Tool as shown in the graphic below.



First, select text that uses the font that you'd like to embed. Right click on the selection and choose properties as shown below. You can then choose to embed your font and optionally subset it. Subsetting means that only the portions of the font that are actually used in the document are included in the file. This means that the file will be somewhat smaller, but it also means that someone that wishes to edit your file won't be able to. For conference submissions, you should usually choose to subset your font. If these options are grayed out, there is a trick that you can employ to fix it. Change the font to another font for which embedding is allowed and then change it back to your original font. I would guess that this causes Acrobat to load your font from scratch and that somehow makes it realize that it can embed it after all.



There are a number of ways to verify that you've succeeded in Adobe Acrobat. The easiest is to go to the File menu and down to Document Properities. Under the Fonts tab you'll see each of the fonts that your document uses listed and whether or not it is embedded.

References:

Embedding Fonts in Windows

How Acrobat Distiller uses fonts

Missing Text when converting PDF documents in Acrobat