Missing fonts on the Adobe Acrobat Pro Dc program may be embedded using the Acrobat PDF reader, or the Acrobat distiller, among other methods. Acrobat viewers are capable of printing and displaying embedded fonts in PDF files, even when the fonts are not saved on the device being used to bird the document.
When you embed a font on a PDF file, you essentially place the entire font information in the file, including font outlines. By embedding the missing fonts, you will be able to achieve a reliable presentation of your documents. It prevents inappropriate substitution of fonts that may not match the usage specified in your document.
Embedding the missing fonts will also speed up document editing. Get to know how fonts are supported in a PDF file and the supported font types. This guide will also enlighten you on the various methods you may use to embed fonts in Adobe acrobat pro dc.
Licensing Restrictions You Need to Be Aware of
All Type 1 fonts may be embedded in a PDF file. However, several TrueType font manufacturers impose certain restrictions on their fonts. Though few, some font foundries are known to forbid the embedding of certain typefaces through the end-user license agreement. For the OpenType, and TrueType fonts, this restriction can be added to the font data.
The Acrobat Distiller is designed to comply with such embedding restrictions. As such, it will not allow you to embed certain TrueType fonts within your PDF documents. Before proceeding any further, it is advisable to first confirm whether the font you are interested in can actually be embedded.
Here is how you should go about it:
Step 1: Open the File you need to convert, and then select Acrobat from the menu bar of the open document window.
Step 2: Next, select the ‘Change Conversion Settings’ option and then shift to the Fonts tab.
Step 3: On the Embedding section, click on the drop-down menu and select the location of fonts on your hard drive (usually C:\WINDOWS\Fonts\).
Step 4: Now scroll down the list of Fonts displayed to locate the one you would like to embed. If the font has a licensing restriction, it will have a lock symbol. Fonts that have a lock icon on this list cannot be embedded.
Which Fonts Are Missing on Your Adobe Acrobat Pro DC?
By default, the Adobe Acrobat Professional DC comes with the essential fonts already embedded. You can check which fonts are embedded and those that are missing at any given time. The right procedure for doing this will depend on the operating system you are using, as follows:
Windows
Recent Adobe Acrobat Pro versions feature a preflight engine, that may be used to generate a detailed list of the fonts used within a PDF file. To check the fonts used on your PDF file, open the document, and click on File from the menu bar. Next, select the ‘Document Properties’ option and then navigate to the fonts tab.
From the options drop-down menu, select ‘Create Inventory’. All the fonts that are already embedded will have an (Embedded Subset) description at the end. All the fonts displayed without the Embedded Sunset are missing and need to be embedded.
Mac
Launch the Adobe Acrobat Pro DC on your Mac computer and navigate to Edit > Preflight. Click on the drop-down menu and select the ‘PDF Analysis’ option. Next, you need to select the ‘List text using non-embedded fonts’ towards the bottom of the window.
Now click on the Analyze button at the bottom of the window. Finally, click on the ‘Font not embedded’ option to display a list of all the fonts that are not embedded alongside their respective page numbers. To get more details, select any of the displayed items, and then click on the grey Show button.
This operation will take you to the page where the problem occurs and highlight it using blue dashed lines.
Which Font Types Can be Embedded on the Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
By default, all the fonts that are used in the layout will also be included in the PDF file itself. This way, the file can be viewed as well as printed as it was created. The Acrobat Pro Dc supports an array of format types, including:
TrueType Font
This is a cross-platform font format that was first developed by Apple n the late ’80s. They are outline fonts, meaning that they can deliver the desired output regardless of the size or resolution. Character shapes in this font format are defined using quadratic B-splines curves.
The font format is designed to offer sophisticated control over hinting—a technique that is often used to enhance font output quality, especially on low-resolution devices and small point sizes. In this regard, TrueType fonts are superior to PostScript fonts.
Although this font format supports licensing restrictions, TrueType fonts are handled differently in different operating systems, particularly Mac and Windows.
OpenType
The OpenType font technology was co-developed by Microsoft and Adobe. These fonts resemble the TrueType fonts to some extend but contain either Type 1 or TrueType glyphs. With the Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, you will be able to store OpenType fonts directly on a PDF document.
The character shapes or glyphs on OpenType font could be encoded using either Type 1 or TrueType. As such, PDF production tools can embed OpenType fonts by taking them apart, copying the CFF (Type 1) or TrueType glyphs, and then embedding them in their original format.
Since this format can contain a vast array of glyphs, OpenType fonts are known to offer better typography. Again, OpenType fonts support Unicode.
Type 1 Font
This is a font technology that was first unveiled in 1984, alongside the Apple LaserWriter, and PostScript technologies. This is why Type 1 fonts are often referred to as PostScript Type 1 fonts. Even so, you can print the fonts on a non-PostScript device.
As compared to other font types, the Type 1 don’t format has some serious limitations. For instance, you can only use a maximum of 256 glyphs—character shapes—in a single font. Again, Type 1 fonts are not cross-platform.
Type 3 Font
This is an outline of PostScript font technology whose use is not as widespread as it once was. Despite this, Type 3 fonts offer exceptional output quality, regardless of the character size. As opposed to Type 1 fonts, Type 3 fonts do not support hinting. As a result, type 1 fonts offer better output quality when displayed on low-resolution devices.
Type 3 fonts also require more memory space, as compared to Type 1 fonts as they are based on the PostScript language, and are not compressed. Type 3 fonts may not be used with Adobe Type Manager because it is not a full PostScript language interpreter.
Composite Fonts
Also referred to as Type 0, composite fonts including TrueType (CIDFontType2), and Type 1 (CIDFontType0) fonts are all supported.
How to Add Missing Fonts to a PDF File
If a Font is missing, Adobe Acrobat and Adobe readers are designed to try and emulate the missing font(s) automatically. This is usually done using one of the Multiple Master fonts built into these applications, including the Adobe Sans MM, and Adobe Serif MM master fonts.
While this will not display the document exactly as you wanted it to come out, it will prevent text reflow. If you wish to add the missing fonts on your own, there are two main mechanisms you can use:
Embedding – A mechanism that stores the entire character set for that particular font on the PDF file.
Sunsetting – In this method, only the characters that have been used in the layout are stored in the PDF. As such, PDF files with sunsetted fonts are smaller in size than those with embedded fonts.
How to Embed Fonts in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
Fonts may be embedded into the Adobe Acrobat Pro Dc only if they contain settings by the vendor that permits them to be embedded. Embedding will prevent any form of font substitutions when readers view or print the PDF file. Fonts may be embedded or substituted in Acrobat or while you are exporting an InDesign document to PDF.
In either case, you can choose to embed an entire font or a subset of the characters used in that particular PDF file. The ideal place to embed fonts in your workflow is when you are creating the PDF file. When you chose the “save as Adobe PDF” option in Word under the high-quality print settings, all fonts will be embedded.
Similarly, all fonts will be embedded when using InDesign or exporting PDF with PDF/X-4 settings, as long as the publisher permits embedding. The procedure for embedding fonts on the Acrobat Pro dc varies depending on the operating system, as follows:
How to Embed Fonts in Windows
The Adobe Acrobat Pro dc allows you to embed fonts onto your PDF files through the Preflight feature on Windows operating systems. To achieve this, you need to have the missing fonts installed on the system. To begin with, open the PDF file using the Acrobat Pro dc, and select Edit from the Menu Bar.
Next, you need to choose the Manage Tools option and then click on the Search button. Now type Preflight into the search box and click on the ‘Print Production’ icon. This operation will add the Preflight tool to the right-hand pane of the window. Click on the Preflight tool, and then click on the triangle adjacent to the ‘PDF Fixups’ option.
From the drop-down menu that just appeared, select ‘Embed missing fonts’ before clicking on Analyze and then Fix. You will get a prompt asking you whether to re-save the document, select Yes and choose whether to rename it or save over the current copy.
Embedding Fonts That Will Not Embed
If some fonts failed to embed in the last step described above, you can still embed them. In this case, you should click on the Preflight tool, and then on the triangle icon adjacent to PDF analysis. Now select the ‘List text using non-embedded fonts’ option, click on the Analyze button and then Fix.
This should display a list of the fonts that did not embed as well as their respective page numbers. Click on any of the items on the list to highlight it, and then click on the grey Show button. The Adobe Acrobat Pro dc will take you to where the problem is located.
Using the Text tool, highlight the text between the blue dotted lines, right-click on it, and select Properties. You will see a checked box indicating that the font is embedded. Uncheck the box, and then click on it once again. Finally, you need to resave the document as the font has been embedded properly.
How to Embed Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Fonts on Mac
Open the PDF file using the Adobe Acrobat Pro for Mac, and navigate to Edit > Preflight. Next, click on the ‘PDF fixups’ option and then select ‘Embed missing fonts’. Now you need to click on the Analyze button and then Fix to embed any missing fonts.
Unlike the previous versions, the Adobe Acrobat Pro DC will embed all the missing fonts simultaneously. Once done, you will be prompted to save the new PDF document. Save it under your preferred name in any location you prefer. Once saved, the document will automatically reopen.
To check whether the fonts were embedded, right-click anywhere on the PDF document and select Document Properties. Open the Fonts tab to display the list of embedded fonts. If embedded, each font will have an ‘Embedded Subset’ or just ‘Embedded’ description at the end.
Final Verdict
Unlike earlier versions of Acrobat, the Adobe Acrobat Pro DC features a preflight tool. This tool makes it easy for you to view the missing fonts as well as embed the missing fonts simultaneously. However, you will not be able to embed fonts that are not saved on the system or whose vendors have prohibited embedding.
This guide will enlighten you on the various fonts that can be embedded onto the Acrobat pro dc, the restrictions around them, and how to go about it.
