Font substitution in Adobe Acrobat (Reader)
King W.Wang
In Acrobat (Reader), if a pdf file doesn't embed a font, and
this font does not exist in windows as true type font, the
characters will not be shown (all characters shown as dots).
My question is, is it possible to tell acrobat (reader) that,
if a font does not exist, another specified font should be
used to show the text, or is it possible to give an alias name
for a certain font in windows, and the alias name is the same
as the missed font, so that Acrobat (reader) can show the
text content (surely the appearence is not exactly the same,
but one can read the content).
Many thanks in advance.
Weichao Wang
Aandi Inston
>In Acrobat (Reader), if a pdf file doesn't embed a font, and
>this font does not exist in windows as true type font, the
>characters will not be shown (all characters shown as dots).
Are you describing a fault in yuor copy of Acrobat Reader? That is
not the normal or typical behaviour.
When this occurs, what is shown as "Used font" in Document Info >
Fonts.
----------------------------------------
Aandi Inston qu...@dial.pipex.com http://www.quite.com
Please support usenet! Post replies and follow-ups, don't e-mail them.
Gwen Lenker
wrote:
>king_...@yahoo.de (King W.Wang) wrote:
>
>>In Acrobat (Reader), if a pdf file doesn't embed a font, and
>>this font does not exist in windows as true type font, the
>>characters will not be shown (all characters shown as dots).
>
>Are you describing a fault in yuor copy of Acrobat Reader? That is
>not the normal or typical behaviour.
I saw that behavior in some Japanese PDFs before I downloaded and
installed the Asian fonts from Adobe's Web site:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=10&platform=Windows
Since I never saw it with any Western fonts, I'm wondering what
language King W. Wang might be trying to display.
Michael Gula
Some of my PDFs became filled with dots in lieu of (Western)
letters when the name of the font became mangled somehow in the
distilling process.
King W.Wang
>
> >In Acrobat (Reader), if a pdf file doesn't embed a font, and
> >this font does not exist in windows as true type font, the
> >characters will not be shown (all characters shown as dots).
>
> Are you describing a fault in yuor copy of Acrobat Reader? That is
> not the normal or typical behaviour.
>
Reader. The files use TrueType fonts that exist in Windows of the
computer where they are distilled, but these fonts don't exist in
Windows of my machine. Obviously the creator has set the options
so that the truetype fonts are not embedded in the pdf files. (If
one tries to embed the fonts, the pdf files would be huge ones!)
The fonts are all Chinese fonts. In my windows there is the Chinese
font Simsun. I think, if I can tell Acrobat (or Acrobat Reader) to
replace all Chinese fonts with Simsun, then I could read the contents
of the pdf files. But how ......?
I wish you all a happy new year!
Weichao Wang
King W.Wang
> >>In Acrobat (Reader), if a pdf file doesn't embed a font, and
> >>this font does not exist in windows as true type font, the
> >>characters will not be shown (all characters shown as dots).
> >
> >Are you describing a fault in yuor copy of Acrobat Reader? That is
> >not the normal or typical behaviour.
>
> I saw that behavior in some Japanese PDFs before I downloaded and
> installed the Asian fonts from Adobe's Web site:
>
> http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=10&platform=Windows
>
> Since I never saw it with any Western fonts, I'm wondering what
> language King W. Wang might be trying to display.
You've guess my problem correctly. For details please see my answer to
Aandi.
I've downloaded the Chinese font package. Some files can be shown which
use Adobe standard Chinese fonts. But the files which rely on TrueType
fonts in Windows cannot be shown.
Happy new year!
Weichao Wang
Aandi Inston
>The fonts are all Chinese fonts. In my windows there is the Chinese
>font Simsun. I think, if I can tell Acrobat (or Acrobat Reader) to
>replace all Chinese fonts with Simsun, then I could read the contents
>of the pdf files. But how ......?
Acrobat / Reader 5, with the suitable language package, is able to do
font substitution with Chinese fonts. If this is not happening, it
suggests a problem with the way the PDF file was made. This in turn
suggests it does not have the right information on character codes or
font encoding - a common and serious problem with older windows
systems and versions of Acrobat.
King W.Wang
> Acrobat / Reader 5, with the suitable language package, is able to do
> font substitution with Chinese fonts. If this is not happening, it
> suggests a problem with the way the PDF file was made. This in turn
> suggests it does not have the right information on character codes or
> font encoding - a common and serious problem with older windows
> systems and versions of Acrobat.
What do you mean with "older"? I use Acrobat/Reader 5.0 and Windows 98.
If these softwares are able to do font substitution, should the user
do something manually, for example a script, an ini-file, or something
else? If so, how?
Thanks in advance.
Weichao Wang
Aandi Inston
I mean older software used by the document's creator.
The symptoms suggest the software that made the PDF does not follow
the up-to-date methods of setting up for font substitution.
What does Document Properties > Summary show for creator and producer?
King W.Wang
> I mean older software used by the document's creator.
>
> The symptoms suggest the software that made the PDF does not follow
> the up-to-date methods of setting up for font substitution.
>
> What does Document Properties > Summary show for creator and producer?
1999. These informations are shown through property in Windows explorer.
In Acrobat/Reader the document disables all menues so that it is impossible
to get the properties.
Aandi Inston
It is probably worth now commenting to the document's creator, but you
can use F9 to show the menu bar.
JRB
> De : qu...@dial.pipex.com (Aandi Inston)
> Groupes : comp.text.pdf
> Date : Wed, 08 Jan 2003 10:59:03 GMT
> Objet : Re: Font substitution in Adobe Acrobat (Reader)
>
>> In Acrobat/Reader the document disables all menues so that it is impossible
>> to get the properties.
>
> It is probably worth now commenting to the document's creator, but you
> can use F9 to show the menu bar.
Also try "command-D" (Mac) or "ctrl-D" (Win).
;-)
King W.Wang
> can use F9 to show the menu bar.
Hello Aandi,
F9 helps a lot. Now I can see through "Document Properties -> Fonts"
that 5 Fonts are used and 4 of them are TrueType with Windows Encoding,
but none of them are available. Now my question is, if it is possible
to tell Acrobat or Windows that FontA should replaced with FontX,
FontB with FontY, etc... - or must the PDF file be changed?
Many thanks.
Weichao Wang
Aandi Inston
>F9 helps a lot. Now I can see through "Document Properties -> Fonts"
>that 5 Fonts are used and 4 of them are TrueType with Windows Encoding,
>but none of them are available. Now my question is, if it is possible
>to tell Acrobat or Windows that FontA should replaced with FontX,
>FontB with FontY, etc... - or must the PDF file be changed?
With Acrobat you can use the text touch-up tool to change fonts. It is
very unlikely to be succesful in this case, because the font encoding
is probably messed up. And you don't have Acrobat, only Reader.
Really, the PDF should be fixed.
King W.Wang
> >but none of them are available. Now my question is, if it is possible
> >to tell Acrobat or Windows that FontA should replaced with FontX,
> >FontB with FontY, etc... - or must the PDF file be changed?
>
> With Acrobat you can use the text touch-up tool to change fonts. It is
> very unlikely to be succesful in this case, because the font encoding
> is probably messed up. And you don't have Acrobat, only Reader.
> Really, the PDF should be fixed.
Hello Aandi,
thank you for your tips. The text touch-up tool would be to tedious
to achieve the results what I want, for the files are documents of
several hundred pages each. I've changed the PDF file to use
other fonts that exist in Windows XP German version. So the files
can be read without problem.
The font encoding would cause no problem when GB-encoding is used,
which is always the case in files from the mainland China. Files
from Taiwan or Hong Kong might use Big5-encoding.
Thanks again and best regards!
Weichao Wang