Fonts in PDF from InDesign CS2 do not print correctly

[t***@adobeforums.com]

The pdf files I export from Indesign CS2 look allright on the screen, but when it comes to printing it is a mess! The fonts are converted to some kind of a standard font all over.

I am working on PC, Windows WP, use standard fonts and the problem is somehow related to CS2 as I did not experience this in 2.0 where I had the exact same workflow.

[T***@adobeforums.com]

Are all fonts embedded in the PDF? And no substitution of PPD fonts?

Teus

[K***@adobeforums.com]

Another thing to check - in Acrobat, under Advanced does it say "use local fonts". If so, uncheck it. In standard installations it seems to default to that. I had to uncheck mine.

In Indesign, make sure you choose "include PPD fonts" when making PDF.

[Dov Isaacs]

This is not likely to be the source of the problem reported since this option is totally irrelevant for PDF files that have all fonts embedded. The font embedded in a PDF is always the font used for display and printing of a PDF file, regardless of any fonts installed on the user's system and/or on their printers.

- Dov

[t***@adobeforums.com]

I have embedded all fonts and the printing is working until I apply security in Acrobat.
I want my documents to be locked and only printing possible. Doing this you must specify the printing quality which I then set to low resolution (150dpi). Still that should not crash the fonts I believe!

I did not uncheck the "use local fonts" yet as I am not in control of each readers settings. The document must work on its own.

Torben

[t***@adobeforums.com]

I just came to think of a thing, which lacks some explanation: "Subset fonts when percent of characters used is less than xx %". Default is 100%.
But what does that mean? And what happens if I reduce it to 0%?
Will all fonts then be embedded as in good old days?

[K***@adobeforums.com]

When the percentage of characters used is less than 100%, you haven't used
all the characters in the font, so you are electing to subset only those
characters you have used.

You cannot have a situation when you use 0% of the characters in a font -
assuming there's any text at all in the document - so you are electing not
to subset. The whole font will be embedded.

k

[T***@adobeforums.com]

I did not uncheck the "use local fonts" yet as I am not in control of
each readers settings. The document must work on its own.




I don't understand this remark. If the fonts are included in the document (subsetted or not), they will be used and this setting does not influence anyone's reader settings.

Teus

[s***@adobeforums.com]

We have had the same problem. We have researched the issue and have traced it back to how the PDF is created. The issue is occurring on PDFs that are being exported directly from InDesign. What is happening is that internally within the PDF that this function is making, the type information needed for us to print from is either not being included, or it is not being included correctly, which is why it views fine, but outputs wrong. Adobe is aware of the problem and they have a technote on their site concerning the matter (link below). Please note that this applies to both InDesign CS and CS2 - Adobe indicates that they have fixed the bug in the later version, but we have tested this already and found the issue still contained within the PDF we generate (it has gotten better, but the issue hasn't been eliminated).

<http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/329611.html>

This is the solution we have used:
Create the PDF by printing directly to a Postscript file from InDesign, then Distill the Postscript using Acrobat Distiller

Hope this helps.

[Dov Isaacs]

The Tech Note from Adobe describes the behaviour, but does not describe it as a bug. The issue is whether certain third party RIPs and/or value added software properly processes CID-encoded fonts. Be aware that InDesign 4 still exports CID-encoded fonts when non-Latin characters such as symbols, dingbats, etc. appear in text. Similarly, distilling PostScript does not prevent CID-font encoding.

The bottom line is that if you have a workflow with components that cannot handle CID-encoded fonts (a standard feature of the PDF specification), you have a defective workflow.

- Dov