This month’s
Frequently Asked Questions follow up on our
last issue’s FAQ
about embedding fonts in PDF files for print.
Q. If I inadvertently
left the fonts out when I created my PDF, how come my file not only looked good
on my screen but also printed properly in my office?
A. There are several possibilities. Let’s
look at how missing fonts are handled when printing.
When
we print a traditional, non-PDF file, a fixed-width font, usually Courier, will
be substituted for any missing fonts.
This stand-in font
bears no resemblance to the correct font, won’t have enough room to
display and usually looks like a typewriter in a train wreck. It will be
unusable, often unreadable, but it does have the advantage of clearly signaling
a font problem.
Q. Didn’t PDF change all that?
A. It certainly did. PDF is designed to work
quite differently. When first opened, Acrobat looks for any fonts not embedded
in the file itself. If it finds them on your local computer, it uses them.
This means that when you view or print a PDF on the same
computer you used to create the original document (as is almost always the
case) the proper fonts will be displayed and printed whether they are embedded
or not.
Once the PDF file is moved away from this
computer, however, the file no longer has access to those fonts if they are not
embedded.
Try this: go to the Advanced menu in Acrobat 6
Pro (or the View menu in Acrobat 4 or 5) and uncheck “Use Local
Fonts.” Then open the PDF you’ve created. A font will display
properly only when it is actually embedded in the file.
Q. Okay, I’ve done this. Everything looks
fine to me. Yet Copresco still tells me that my PDF is missing fonts. What do
you mean by this?
A. A paradox! It looks okay, but fonts are
missing. Indeed, how can this be? The answer, as always, is complicated.
We’ll cover this last possible problem area in
next month’s
issue of Overnight Lite.
These
questions have been great. We appreciate your questions and comments and will
continue to answer them in future FAQs.
Copresco’s diversified customer
communications program continues to receive national recognition with the
announcement of APEX 2004 Awards
for Publication Excellence.
Our practical and
user-friendly website was an Award of
Excellence winner for the sixth consecutive year. An article written for
American Printer magazine by
Copresco president Steve
Johnson on factors affecting digital paper quality received an Award of
Excellence for education and training writing.
Since
1998 when we began entering the APEX competition, Copresco has won 15 Awards of
Excellence, including two Grand Awards for the website and a Grand Award for a
campaign to determine customer preferences for digital color printing systems.
“We are constantly working to improve and expand our
various publication and web-based programs,” Steve says. “Significant
changes will be made to our website this year to provide easier access and
navigation for customers and site visitors.”
A
vastly upgraded FTP interface has already made the
uploading of
digital print files as simple and painless as possible, without sacrificing
accuracy or reliability. Watch for further details in an upcoming
Overnight Lite
issue.
As we
mentioned in a recent Bet You Didn’t
Know story, Copresco is famous for digital on-demand printing of books and
manuals. But we also win prizes for the
development of
technically oriented client
websites.
We picked up another APEX trophy for the
Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors Association of Northern Illinois. This is
the fourth consecutive Award of Excellence for the website that Copresco
created and maintains. The site was honored for its substantial content, easy
accessibility and overall communications excellence.
There are major improvements and enhancements planned for
the future to increase the PAMCANI site’s value to association members and
the general public.
Planning
a trip to Chicago for the October 10 - 13 Graph Expo show at McCormick Place?
Stop by Copresco for a tour of our industry-leading
digital printing shop and have lunch or a cup of coffee.
We are conveniently located near
Chicago area expressways about 30 miles west of the city.
Just call us for an appointment or drop us an e-mail
note.
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