Placed Pdf in illustrator missing fonts no warning

I have placed a pdf in illustrator that has embedded subset fonts. In illustrator the fonts display wrong but I get no warning that fonts are missing. When I click on the substituted font the type panel shows it as the correct font name. Are there any cases of a file with missing fonts not displaying a warning? If I save the file and reopen it I do get the font warning.

Possibly there are different versions of the font. The name may be the same, but the document could refer to an older/ different version and only when you save does that info get updated. Hard to tell without actually seeing the Doc. What does Acrobat say exactly about the font? Is there a doifference in that info when you re-create the text locally from within AI and save a PDF with the same options?
Mylenium

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Placed PDF issue - Highlights missing

Does anyone know why the highlights that I've made to many PDF's are not showing up when placed in an ID CS4 file? I'm trying to make work instructions and really need this text highlighted. Is there another way I can achieve this if the PDF isn't going to retain the changes I've made? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

miz_nrg wrote:
Well, nevermind on the SnapShot tool. The text doesn't come out clear. This has become rather annoying.
I tried the suggestion of making a yellow line and adjusting the opacity, but that blurs out the text that's being highlighted and doesn't look too sharp. Any other suggestions? Has anyone else had to highlight something in a document?
The trick here is that the highlights aren't just highlights, they're PDF Comments in the form of highlights. You can make comments in the form of sticky notes, cloud outlines, rectangles, boxes with arrows, and so on.
So, what you want to do is to print the PDF from Acrobat, to the Acrobat printer or PDF printer, with the option to print comments turned on. It's likely that the default print setting in your version of Acrobat or Reader, has the option to print comments turned off. Depending on your version of Acrobat, and your OS (Windows or Mac) the option may be in one place or another.
Here's how it looks in Mac OS X 10.5.8 (latest Tiger update) with Acrobat 9 Pro:
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices

Drop Shadow On Placed PDF Illustrator CS2 XPSP3

Hi,
Is it not possible to add a drop shadow to a placed PDF in Illustrator CS2? I'm not managing.
Thanks for any help,
Ariel

I don't have CS2, I have CS4. If you, or someone else, generate in CS4 a PDF in Illustrator and save as Illustrator PDF, then open a new AI file and Place the vector graphic(s) the drop shadows work on the artwork itself. If you generate a vector graphic in Photoshop and save the file as a Photoshop PDF then Place it in Illustrator, it will create a drop shadow around the bounding box of the canvas that you had in PS. I will now try to use a Photoshop PDF with an Alpha Channel and delete the background, save it as a Photoshop PDF and see if it will generate a drop shadow around the artwork, rather than the bounding box. Stay tuned . . .
-markerline

Missing font warning in Illustrator

Hi,
I received a PDF document, which I have to rearange and redesigned. I assume that it was originaly created in Indesign and exported in PDF for printing. Since i don't have an Indesign file to work with, I opened PDF in Illustrator. When I do that, the missing font warning apears and says that Arial font (which I already have installed) will be displayed using substitue font. I am lost here, sice the text is in Slovak language and some of the letters are missing with this "substitute font". Appreciate any help.
Maja

Not really certain what you are asking.
You need the exact version of Arial that was used to generate the PDF if you don't want any substitution. It sounds as though the PDF was generated poorly. Not much cna be done on your end without the exact font other than to simply re-key or reconstruct the text. Realize that there are probably 20 different fonts all named "Arial."

Can't Outline Missing Fonts in PDF When 'Illustrator Editing' Feature is On

I've got an unusual problem with a supplied PDF File that uses fonts I don't have.
Normally I'd place the PDF into Illustrator and use 'Flatten Transparency' with the 'Convert Fonts To Outlines' option to create vectors for the missing fonts. However this particular PDF file seems to have been saved with the 'Preserve Illustrator Editing' setting, so when I place it into Illustrator the illustrator data is read and I get live artwork - with the fonts replaced - instead of something I can work with, meaning that I can't replicate the type I need.
I've tried importing the PDF into inDesign and resaving as a new PDF - but Illustrator is not fooled by this clumsy and desparate ruse, and again treats the file as editable artwork with the missing fonts replaced.
How can I force Illustrator to ignore the editable capabilities of the file and just convert the fonts to outlines?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
K

Thats quite garbled - but I think I've decoded your spasmodic keyboard mashing:
evershowed = ever showed?
fesature = feature?
red = read?
whn = when?
throough = through?
questi = question?
effeciently = efficiently?
remarksjust = remarks just?
becaued = because?
injesting = suggesting? injecting? requesting??
Now who looks 'lazy'? How old are you? I'm guessing that you are a child or a teenager?
Wade_Zimmerman said: I'll make certain I do not help you again.
I'm crushed. Inconsolable. I expect you'll probably have to look that last word up.
Wade_Zimmerman said: And if you wish tutorials on typing I suggest doing a search on google.
I know how to type and can spell reasonably well too - what's your excuse for sounding like a rude, idiotic, uneducated child? By the way, 'Google' is a special word - it is what's known as a proper noun - so it gets a big 'g' at the start. Cool eh?

Missing fonts in PDF placed in InDesign

I was sent a PDF to make slight changes to it. Since the changes were so minor and relatively few, I thought it would be easiest to just place the pages of the PDF into an InDesign document and put white boxes over what needs to change.
I just noticed the Preflight panel says I'm missing Arial and Times New Roman which I know I have. I tried doing "Find Font" to replace the missing Arial with my Arial, but "Change" is grayed out so I'm thinking the fonts must not be properly embedded in the PDF.
I'm not sure if they have the original document the PDF came from (and if they do, it might be in Word). Is there a way I can fix this either in InDesign or with Acrobat?
Or, if I don't fix it, do you think that the missing fonts will not print properly?

You might be able to embed these fonts properly in the PDF. It isn't always successful, but in Preflight, open the fixups section and use the selection as in the screen shot. Then relink/replace the PDF in ID.
Mike

I cant place a pdf in Indesign because of missing fonts

I am running into a problem with a pdf add I am trying to place in a booklet. When I go to export the Indesign document it tells me it cant because the pdf I placed in it has a font I don't have. I always thought you could place and print pdfs without having all the fonts. I thought it was only if you wanted to edit the pdf that you needed the font. Isn't that the point of a pdf? Does any one have a good solution for this? I am using Indesign cc 201 on a mac. The pdf is secure so I cant run any sort of preflight or flattening on it( at least as far as I know).

Is the export really failing, or are you getting a missing font warning and cancelling? The ad may not look good, but you should still be able to export, I think.
But bottom line here is that you need to educate the folks who send in the ads so they always embed the fonts.

Placed PDF (with embedded fonts) reports fonts not available!

Hi,
Can anyone tell me why Illustrator CS (I know it's old) should report Fonts missing when the PDF I have placed has definately got the fonts embedded.
The PDF was made in InDesign CS4 using the default [High Quality Print] setting. If I look at the properties of the created PDF it lists all the fonts as being embedded subsets.
I know I can get around this by outlining the text but I shouldn't have to.
Thanks
Simon Kemp

So, Illustrator will always require the fonts present and will disregard any embedded fonts?
That's pretty much it. Remember: Illustrator is not a PDF viewing program. It wants to let you edit the document. PDF is essentially a document exchange format and not really intended for editable content (beyond the extent Acrobat enables). Font designers want you to buy their products if you're going to be doing anything other than reading the text.
The link-place-flatten trick is good to have in your bag of tricks, but I am not alone in recommending you do not blindly outline all type. Aside from making it nearly impossible for an output service provider to make a possibly necessary last-minute correction, you will not get the proper hinting with very small type. Moreover, if you're dealing with a large amount of text, you'll end up with huge files.

List missing fonts in Illustrator

Hi all,
I've been working on a script to try and build a list of font's that not loaded in Illustrator. I know that Illustrator will alert missing fonts when a document is opened but this routine will be part of a larger script that will have the user dialogs turned off. My process is to build a list of fonts that are available to the the application, then build a list of fonts that are used within the active document and cross reference them to see if there are document fonts that are not in the application fonts list.
I have used a great function that I believe was posted originally by Moluapple and with some some brilliant advice from the always helpful CarlosCanto I thought that I had found the soultion but it appears to have some limitations. If I get a list of fonts available to the application and the document that I want to cross reference them against is open, the list that's returned contains fonts that are used in the document. Then when I get a list of fonts used in the document and cross reference them they will all be in the application list regardless of whether they're loaded or not.
The only way that I can get accurate results are if I run the script without any documents open and build a list of application fonts, then open a document and build a list of document fonts and then cross reference. This is the only way I can find out what fonts aren't loaded.
Does anybody know of another way to build a list of missing fonts without having to close documents first? I have searched through the XMP data and this doesn't seem to give me any clues and I've tried writing the code in applescript but it appears to work in the same way. Any help or comments would be welcome.
Here's my code:
#target illustrator
var doclist = app.textFonts
var appFontList = new Array ();
for (i=0;i< app.textFonts.length; i++){
    var fontName = app.textFonts[i].name;
    appFontList[i] = fontName;
var myfile = File.openDialog ('Choose a file');
app.open (myfile);
var docFontsList = getUsedFonts(activeDocument);
// function accredited to Moluapple
function getUsedFonts (doc ){
     var xmlString = new XML(doc.XMPString);
     fontsInfo = xmlString.descendants("stFnt:fontName");
     var ln = fontsInfo.length(), arr = [];
     for (var i = 0; i<ln; i++){arr.push(fontsInfo[i])};
     return arr;
var missingFontsList = checkFonts();
alert(missingFontsList);
function checkFonts(){
    var fontArray = new Array ();
    for (i=0; i < docFontsList.length; i++){
        var thisDocFont = docFontsList[i];
        var activeFont = false;
        for (j = 0; j < appFontList.length; j++){
            var thisAppFont = appFontList[j];
            if (thisDocFont == thisAppFont){
                activeFont = true;
        if (activeFont == false){
            fontArray.push (thisDocFont);
    return fontArray;
Many Thanks,
Nik

Mark,
you are a legend!!!!
with yours and Carlos' help I think I have raged against the system that is Adobe and come out victorious!!!!!!!!
I Finally have a script that doesn't tell me lies.
Building a list of fonts that are available from InDesign, then building a list of fonts that the active Illustrator document is using and comparing the 2 lists I've managed to locate the fonts that aren't active. I'm sure the script could have some fine tuning but hopefully it might help others who just want to know if fonts are missing before creating a PDF that contains false font information.
Thanks again all,
Nik
#target illustrator
var docFontsList = getUsedFonts(activeDocument);
// function accredited to Moluapple
function getUsedFonts (doc ){
     var xmlString = new XML(doc.XMPString);
     fontsInfo = xmlString.descendants("stFnt:fontName");
     var ln = fontsInfo.length(), arr = [];
     for (var i = 0; i<ln; i++){arr.push(fontsInfo[i])};
     return arr;
//////////////////////////////////////////get a list of available fonts using Indesign///////////////////////////////////
var bt = new BridgeTalk;
bt.target = "indesign";
var msg = "app.updateFonts();var fonts = app.fonts.everyItem().postscriptName;obj = fonts.toSource();"
bt.body = msg;
bt.onResult = function(resObj) {
    eval("var idFontlist = " + resObj.body);
    doSomethingElse(idFontlist);
bt.send();
function doSomethingElse(idFontlist) {
    appFontList = idFontlist;
var missingFontsList = checkFonts();
if(missingFontsList.length > 0){
    alert("List of missing fonts:\n" + missingFontsList.join( '\r' ));
else{
    alert("There're no missing fonts!");
function checkFonts(){
    var fontArray = new Array ();
    for (i=0; i < docFontsList.length; i++){
        var thisDocFont = docFontsList[i];
        var activeFont = false;
for (j = 0; j < appFontList.length; j++){
            var thisAppFont = appFontList[j];
            if (thisDocFont == thisAppFont){
                activeFont = true;
        if (activeFont == false){
            fontArray.push (thisDocFont);
    return fontArray;

Missing Fonts in PDF rush print job!

Question:
Have a brochure supplied by client that has missing fonts, I do not have these fonts. I have to open the brochure in Illustrator to do alteration as no bleed was included in artwork.
Illustrator is going to use a substitue font which is of no use at all. Customer is unavailble for a few days, they have gone bush, and the brochure needs to be printed by the time they get back.
Job has to be done no if's or but's what do you do??
Please help!

What you don't do is use Illustrator! Hard to say without seeing the job but what I'd do is place it in Indesign and try and add the bleeds from there. Mostly you can place it on a page the same size, copy, paste in place, crop it to a sliver of the edge of the page and then stretch that sliver to give you fake bleed. Even on pictures! Try it and see!
If it is a picture my next step would be to open it in Acrobat and try and make two PDFs, one with the background, one with the rest. Then combine them again in Indesign, leaving the rest the same size but enlarging the background. Much easier if you have Enfocus Pitstop Pro, but maybe possible with the Acrobat Object Touchup tool.

Missing fonts in PDF or not?

I have an InDesign document that has a linked and placed PDF in it. When I go to export the InDesign document, it gives me the error "Missing Fonts: The following fonts aren't currently available." It then lists the PDF document, and the fonts missing. It then exports the PDF anyways, and the PDF looks fine.
The strange thing is that when I go to Package in InDesign, it says that no fonts are missing, and that all are embedded.
So which is it? Are the fonts embedded or not?

Two additional potential font gotchas:
1) It's changed location in the menus from version to version of Acrobat Pro, but there's a setting "Use Local Fonts" that can trip you up. If it's checked, and you have a PDF that uses (for example) Garamond Premier Pro, but that font is not embedded, then Acrobat will use your installed copies of Garamond Premier Pro to display the PDF "correctly." If you take it to a computer that doesn't have that font installed, the PDF won't "look fine" as you say in your initial post.
2) If a font is used in the source document and is not embedded in the PDF, Acrobat will try to fake up the font using the fonts that are directly installed in Acrobat. (At least it used to work this way, I don't know if it has changed recently.) So, when you go and look at your PDF and decide it looks fine, take a really
close look.
The strange thing is that when I go to Package in InDesign, it says that no fonts are missing, and that all are embedded.
The font check when you package only looks at fonts used in the InDesign document itself; it doesn't go looking for the fonts used in placed PDFs, AIs, etc. Also, when I try an experiment with a test document with a placed PDF with a font that is neither embedded in the PDF nor present on my system, InDesign complains when I place the PDF that the font is not embedded in the PDF, but there is no notice when packaging the file. What's more, the packaging process doesn't say a word about whether or not fonts are embedded in placed documents, so when you tell us that Package tells you that all fonts are embedded, I wonder where you're seeing that.

Missing Fonts from Imported PDFs

I have a document that has several PDF documents "Placed" in it. When I go to print, it tells me that I have missing fonts.
From Find Font, I can see the missing fonts and what PDF they came from. Only, Find Font won't let me substitute it.
I can't change the font on the PDF either since it was not made by my department.   I've tried Placing with and without a Frame. Tried embedded and linked.
Computer and Program Info
Windows XP
InDesign CS3 v 5.0.4
Program is on my computer / documents saved to server
User status only - if any updates come along, I have to have IT log in to apply them.

>
>"You have a larger problem though. Your organization needs to be trained in the proper way to prepare documents for the intended purposes. If those >purposes include going to print, you need to either have access to the original files or the people making the PDFs MUST be trained to embed fonts."
>
I totally agree. I'd be a lot less stressed if that's how things were done here. We are a State University who's funding suddenly got cut. Work study students are cheap (though not as cheap as fixing up any messes they make). It's also cheaper to hire people who don't have complete training.   Every program I use, I've learned on my own. I'm at least smart enough to ask questions and read the manual. When training that my employers can afford (i.e., free) comes up, I attend. The only saving grace of Aspergers - I learn programs (and programming) quickly - maybe not as efficiently as you - but better than those around me. I at least knew about embedding fonts, linking graphics and packaging (my old days on Mac OS7 with PageMaker and Photoshop)
And at least I can read instructions.   "Place missing fonts in the Fonts Folder, which is located in the InDesign Application Folder." - Adobe Manual
I just looked. The folder is empty. And I gave them a print out of the instructions.
As for the Plug-in I asked to have installed "Missing Fonts Loader", they just dumped the plug-in into the Plug-in folder and didn't bother to read the "how to install" instructions. IT must have sent a work study student. Every time one touches my computer, something goes wrong or missing. Once they even installed the same program twice - 1 per partition.
Thank goodness the 'work around' did actually work. I'll will be working on fixing the problem the correct way, but I have to has this project ready now - not months from now.

Missing font error on PDF conversion

FrameMaker book that has been updated and converted with same set of fonts and styles many times will not convert to PDF on one machine. (I use a Mac running XP in Parallels for Frame, then Distiller Mac.) The error is "findfont" looking for Helvetica-Oblique. This and all needed Helveticas are present, and I've updated this machine's Distiller's PDF font settings to know where they are--to no avail. I have set Distiller to either warn and continue or ignore missing fonts.
This same file converts with no trouble on a second Mac with the same set-up. Acrobat distills with warn and continue, the substituted and/or non-embedded fonts clearly visible in the job log, through all 182 pages of the book.
Is the problem a corrupt font? Bad settings file (and where might I locate it to replace)? Something in what Frame is generating (.ps file)? Printer driver (Acrobat printer actually hangs on either machine)? Should I post this query to the Acrobat forum?
Thanks for any insight....
Karen Robbins

Forgive my erroneous terminology.... Yes, FrameMaker can open the files with missing fonts. No problem finding .ps files: I actually distill manually because Distiller is on the Mac. No, I am not using a default printer that lists Helvetica Narrow Bold as a built-in font. This font occurs in a file to which I import a large amount of tabular text that is preformatted by an MML file. We've been doing it this way for more than 5 years. This will probably make you cringe: Helvetica Narrow is not, and has never been, installed on the Windows side--only on the Mac side where Distiller lives.
There are now potentially two problems:
1) When FrameMaker is set to a printer other than Adobe PDF, a .ps file is generated and yes, I can see where the file chokes in Distiller; if I modify the suspect font on that page, the .ps file will distill up to the next instance of that font. This problem is correctly dealt with via warn-and-continue and/or substitution settings on a second machine with the same set-up as the one on which the problem occurs. Note: Using Parallels to run Windows XP, which uses an HP printer driver to reach my physical local printer (regardless of the make/model it happens to be). On the second machine, I have network printers and several different PPDs.
2) When the FrameMaker printer is set to Adobe PDF on the problem machine, no .ps file is generated because that printer does not find Helvetica Narrow Bold--apparently just as it should.
Because FrameMaker can generate .ps files and Distiller can distill them on a second machine with the same (apparent) set-up, from the same source material, I want to understand what it is about the fonts, or the font substitution instruction, that is possibly causing the problem. Or, perhaps adding an additional printer PPD (one that works on the second machine) to the problem machine could clear this up?
Thanks for more insight....
Karen

Missing Times font error/warning message

I've been getting a warning message the the Times font could not be found and Times New Roman is replacing it. I've never added Times to the FrameMaker templates, so I'm not sure where it's finding this font. I checked the References pages and it appears that they already use Times New Roman.
I had also had a problem with FM saying that Arial Black isn't available (even though it's installed on my computer). But once I double-clicked on the font file, it seemed to recognize the Arial Black was available.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Barry

There are two slightly different things gong on with these two font problems, I think.
First, it's generally thought to be a FM Best Practice to use the Adobe PDF instance as your default system printer. If you can't, for some reason, there's a free plug-in that will automatically do this just for Frame. Doing this prevents Frame from using fonts that are physically in the printer, but not installed on your system, and not transportable with the document (and can't be embedded in PDFs). And conversely, makes sure that FM uses system fonts. So that may fix some of these problems.
That said, if you're sure your system is set up properly, the Time font you may be missing is likely to be buried deep in some Frame files and is being used internally on Reference or Master pages. If you modify your Preferences so that Remember Missing Fonts is NOT activated, open and save the problem files, your available fonts should be substituted.
Arial Black is a slightly different problem, but you can do the same Preferences trick to clean it up. Or, fix the problem, created with XP SP3 changed the fonts.... http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71801
Cheers,
Art

Muse "Missing fonts" warning?

Hi, does anyone know if there is a "Missing Fonts" warning in Muse or some way to check if all the correct fonts are loaded when opening a file?
Like the InDesign and Illustrator warning (see pic).
Thanks!

It could be in overset text (though preflight should see that) or in a style not currently in use. Are you sure the priflight profile is looking for missing fonts, bucasue is really does sound like there is substitution ocurring. Also, have you looked in Type > Find Font.
If none of that is fruitful, I'd try exporting each of the documents to .inx or .idml, then opening those and saving as new .indd docs. Add the new docs to a new book and see if you still get errors.

Placed Pdf in illustrator missing fonts no warning

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