PDFs created in InDesign CS have font errors

[jillholland]

We installed InDesign CS2 two days ago. Since then, we have created pdfs that freeze when we get to the second or third page and give us a font error: "Cannot extract the embedded font 'XERWTO+HelveticaNeue-Roman'. Some characters may not display or print correctly."

We noticed shortly after installing InDesign that our Helvetica Neue 55 Roman and 75 Bold had been replaced with other Helvetica fonts (Helvetica 55 Regular) for which styles were available (Helvetica 55 Regular>Bold, for example), but not the numbered fonts we had been using. There didn't seem to be a problem with substitutions; those worked fine. I created a couple of pdfs that worked ok as well. Two other people in our group had the abovementioned pdf font error today, and now I'm getting that error as well.

We are using Windows XP and Acrobat Professional 6.0 also. Any ideas what we might do?

Thanks,
Jill

 

[jillholland]

Ok, we figured out that we have to change a setting in InDesign when creating a PDF:

In the "Advanced" settings when exporting a pdf, type in 0% for "Subset fonts when percent of characters used is less than __"

But, does anyone know why our previous fonts were changed to something else when we installed InDesign, and does this matter?

Thanks!

 

[Eggles]

Have you downloaded and installed the ID CS2 update? What are you using to manage your fonts? If Suitcase XI, there is also a new patch for that as well.

 

[bacup]

I also had a PDF issue. (Creative Suite CS2)

PDFs were messing up, where I had an 'indent to here' character it was inserting a space before the word that preceded it and deleting the space after. This was happening with some of the presets (eg PDFXi, PDFxii) but not others

ie

frank thomas is the man

became
frankthomas is the man

I got around it by checking the 'create tagged PDF' box in the PDF options, but don't really understand why it happened. The same presets worked fine with CS1

 

[jillholland]

Yes,we installed the update the same day we installed the application.

We don't use any font management software because we don't need it...we only use Helvetica, because we produce technical manuals, so the only fonts used in our documents are Helvetica Neue 55 and Helvetica Neue 75 Bold, Helvetica Condensed Bold, and Helvetica Oblique. We use Wingdings for bullets, but that's it.

All our Helvetica fonts showed up correctly in InDesign2, but as soon as we installed InDesign CS2, our font list changed to Helvetica Roman 55 with the option to select Helvetica Roman 75 or Helvetica Bold Italic. I thought maybe InDesign installed its own set of fonts, so I dumped our fonts out of the fonts folder, and re-installed them clean. I also made sure there were no fonts in the InDesign fonts folder.

When I restarted InDesign, the fonts still showed up as Helvetica Roman 55 with the option to select Helvetica Roman 75 or Helvetica Bold Italic. When I look in our fonts folder on the system, we have Helvetica Neue 55 and Helvetica Neue 75 Bold, Helvetica Condensed Bold, and Helvetica Oblique...which is what we SHOULD be using.

I can't figure out why CS2 is not giving us the fonts we installed. When we open old files in CS2, only the new fonts are recognized.

 

[Eggles]

I just did a bit of googling, and perhaps somewhere in the following may be a clue as to what to try:

From Adobe's website--

Solution 5: Make sure that Type 1 (PostScript) fonts have an outline and bitmap file.

If the missing fonts are Type 1 (PostScript) fonts, make sure that each of them has both an outline file and a bitmap file in the following system-level folders:

Note: If you use a font management utility, such as ATM Deluxe, fonts may be stored elsewhere on the hard drive.

-- Windows XP

- Outline files (*.pfm, *.mmm)

Solution 6: Re-create the Adobe font list files.

In Windows:

1. Quit InDesign and any other Adobe applications.

2. Choose Start > Search > For Files or Folders.

3. Search for the font list files:

-- In Windows XP, type "Adobefnt*.lst" (including the quotation marks) in the All or Part of the File Name box, and then click Search.

4. Select all files listed, and choose File > Delete. (If you delete a font list file for another Adobe applications, the file is re-created the next time the Adobe application is started.)

5. Restart InDesign. InDesign re-creates the font list files during startup.

From another forum, this was suggested to someone who was having trouble with a certain font (Arial not Helvetica): If you place fonts in the folder program files>common files>Adobe>fonts, they will be available to ID, Ill, and Photoshop but not to other apps. (These Adobe apps have font handling independent of the OS.)

I hope something somewhere in this might help.

 

[jillholland]

Thanks so much...but I'm afraid none of those things apply, so I'm still trying to find a solution. I really appreciate your help.

We are PC only, and are using only True Type fonts. We purchased that font package last year to be sure we were all using the same fonts.

I re-created the Adobe font list yesterday.

Fonts are installed only in our Fonts folder in our control panel.

I'll keep looking! Thanks again.

 

[Eggles]

>>Fonts are installed only in our Fonts folder in our control panel<<

But have you tried the last suggestion?

If you place fonts in the folder program files>common files>Adobe>fonts, they will be available to ID...

I seem to have a few fonts in there (although admittedly all postscript fonts) but it's worth a try.

I know how frustrating font problems can be, as just today after updating ID and Suitcase and following everything they both recommended, I was still having problems with -- believe it or not -- Helvetica variations. But I was on a Mac, so what I tried won't help you (nor will any of the suggestions I have made to you apply to me!!)

 

[jillholland]

Yes, sorry if I wasn't clear. I had hope for that suggestion because it was something we hadn't tried, but it didn't make a difference, either. The fonts we installed only show up as Helvetica 55 Roman, then as Bold and Bold Italic.

I guess it could be worse...they could not just work at all!