Strange characters in pdf

Hello,
i have a strange problem with "strange characters" (such as "à", "ö" etc). I have to edit pdf files produced with Adobe Acrobat by other people. In some cases, when i try to "copy and paste" text from this file into a "note" (within the same file), the strange characters appear scrambled, such as "Ÿ" instead of "ü", or "Ž" instead of "é".
I noticed the following:
1) on the screen, the original text looks correct, but after copying and pasting it into the note-tool (within Acrobat), it looks scrambled. If i paste it into another application (TextEdit or Word), it stays scrambled.
2) this happens not for all files, but only for some of them. note that all files come from the same source...
3) The same string of text looks and behaves absolutely fine when i open the pdf file with another application such as Preview.
4) In Acrobat, i can edit the scrambled notes to make out of an "Š" an "é" - but that is a time consuming way of doing things.
I think it has something to do with Font availability, or Unicode, or so, but a don't find the right thing to do. And i really need a solution, since editing within Acrobat is part of my money-earning work ...
Who has a useful hint ???
Thanks in advance,
thomas

Guessing here, but possibly the others and you aren't set to the same language? - the font codes for the diacriticals may vary between languages?

Similar Messages

When i print a pdf from preview it prints strange characters - it looks fine on screen

when i print a pdf from preview it prints strange characters - it looks fine on screen

You can also try opening the PDF with preview, then doing a copy and paste to TextEdit and printing from there.
Adobe makes it easier, but you do have software to accomplish this.
Only download Adobe reader from this site, to avoid "fakes/spoofs/malware" that will cause damage to your machine.
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?platform=macintosh&product=10
Hope this helps

Strange characters instead of PDF-file

when I forward to a servlet called Test.java, my browser return a PDF file.
but when I write the method of the servlet in a bean, called WinkelWagen.java, and I write the rest of the code of the servlet in a jsp file (pdf.jsp, this jsp calls the method in the bean) I only get strange characters returned by my browser and Acrobat Reader doesn't run.
the code of the servlet Test.java:
package be.steppe.cursusdienst.pdf;
import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import be.steppe.cursusdienst.instellingen.Variabelen;
import be.steppe.cursusdienst.beans.WinkelWagen;
import be.steppe.cursusdienst.Product;
import com.lowagie.text.*;
import com.lowagie.text.pdf.*;
public class Test extends HttpServlet
     public Test()
          super();
     public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
          throws javax.servlet.ServletException, java.io.IOException
          DocumentException ex = null;
          ByteArrayOutputStream baosPDF = null;
          //HttpSession session = req.getSession(true);
          //WinkelWagen ww = (WinkelWagen) req.getAttribute("winkelWagen");
          //Vector vector = new Vector();
          //vector = ww.genereerFormLijst();
          try
               baosPDF = fix();
               StringBuffer sbFilename = new StringBuffer();
               sbFilename.append("filename_");
               sbFilename.append(System.currentTimeMillis());
               sbFilename.append(".pdf");
               resp.setHeader("Cache-Control", "max-age=30");
               resp.setContentType("application/pdf");
               StringBuffer sbContentDispValue = new StringBuffer();
               sbContentDispValue.append("inline");
               sbContentDispValue.append("; filename=");
               sbContentDispValue.append(sbFilename);
               resp.setHeader("Content-disposition",sbContentDispValue.toString());
               resp.setContentLength(baosPDF.size());
               ServletOutputStream sos;
               sos = resp.getOutputStream();
               baosPDF.writeTo(sos);
               sos.flush();
          catch (DocumentException dex)
               resp.setContentType("text/html");
               PrintWriter writer = resp.getWriter();
               writer.println(
                         this.getClass().getName()
                         + " caught an exception: "
                         + dex.getClass().getName()
                         + "<br>");
               writer.println("<pre>");
               dex.printStackTrace(writer);
               writer.println("</pre>");
          finally
               if (baosPDF != null)
                    baosPDF.reset();
     protected ByteArrayOutputStream fix() throws DocumentException {
          Document doc = new Document();
          ByteArrayOutputStream baosPDF = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
          PdfWriter docWriter = null;
          try
               docWriter = PdfWriter.getInstance(doc, baosPDF);
               doc.addAuthor(this.getClass().getName());
               doc.addCreationDate();
               doc.addProducer();
               doc.addCreator(Variabelen.getPdfAuteur());
               doc.addTitle("BESTELLING");
               doc.setPageSize(PageSize.LETTER);
               HeaderFooter footer = new HeaderFooter(
                                   new Phrase("BESTELLING     ID:           GEPLAATST DOOR:"),
                                   false);
               doc.setFooter(footer);
               doc.open();
/*                for(int i = 0 ; i < vector.size() ; i++) {
*                doc.add(new Paragraph( ((Product) vector.elementAt(i)).getProductId() ));
               doc.add(new Paragraph(
                              "This document was created on "
                              + new java.util.Date()));
          catch (DocumentException dex)
               baosPDF.reset();
               throw dex;
          finally
               if (doc != null)
                    doc.close();
               if (docWriter != null)
                    docWriter.close();
          if (baosPDF.size() < 1)
               throw new DocumentException(
                    "document has "
                    + baosPDF.size()
                    + " bytes");
          return baosPDF;
}The code of the bean:
package be.steppe.cursusdienst.beans;
import java.util.Vector;
import be.steppe.cursusdienst.Product;
import be.steppe.cursusdienst.FormProduct;
import java.io.*;
import be.steppe.cursusdienst.instellingen.Variabelen;
import com.lowagie.text.*;
import com.lowagie.text.pdf.*;
public class WinkelWagen implements Serializable {
private Vector producten;
public WinkelWagen() {
    producten = new Vector();
public void voegProductToe(Product p) {
    producten.addElement(p);
public Vector haalProducten() {
    return producten;
public void verwijderProduct(int pId) {
    for(int i = 0 ; i < producten.size() ; i++) {
      if(pId == ((Product) (producten.elementAt(i))).getProductId()) {
        producten.removeElementAt(i);
        break;
public void maakWinkelWagenLeeg() {
    producten.removeAllElements();
public Vector genereerFormLijst() {
    int aantal = 0;
    Vector lijst = new Vector();
    boolean alInLijst;
    for(int i = 0 ; i < producten.size() ; i++) {
      aantal = 0;
      int prodId;
      alInLijst = false;
      Product p = (Product) producten.elementAt(i);
      prodId = p.getProductId();
      for(int l = 0 ; l < lijst.size() ; l++) {
        if(prodId == ((FormProduct) (lijst.elementAt(l))).getProductId()) {
          alInLijst = true;
      if(!alInLijst) {
        for(int q = 0 ; q < producten.size() ; q++) {
          if(prodId == ((Product) (producten.elementAt(q))).getProductId()) {
            aantal++;
        int pId = ((Product) (producten.elementAt(i))).getProductId();
        String tNaam = ((Product) (producten.elementAt(i))).getTypeNaam();
        String tit = ((Product) (producten.elementAt(i))).getTitel();
        String omschr = ((Product) (producten.elementAt(i))).getOmschrijving();
        double pr = ((Product) (producten.elementAt(i))).getPrijs();
        int hoev = ((Product) (producten.elementAt(i))).getStock();
        FormProduct formProduct = new FormProduct(pId,tNaam,tit,omschr,pr,hoev,aantal);
        lijst.addElement(formProduct);
      return lijst;
    public double berekenTotaal() {
      double totaal = 0;
      for(int i = 0 ; i < producten.size() ; i++) {
        Product p = (Product) producten.elementAt(i);
        totaal = totaal + p.getPrijs();
      return totaal;
    public ByteArrayOutputStream fix() throws DocumentException {
         Vector vector = genereerFormLijst();
         Document doc = new Document();
          ByteArrayOutputStream baosPDF = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
          PdfWriter docWriter = null;
          try
               docWriter = PdfWriter.getInstance(doc, baosPDF);
               doc.addAuthor("author");
               doc.addCreationDate();
               doc.addProducer();
               doc.addCreator(Variabelen.getPdfAuteur());
               doc.addTitle("BESTELLING");
               doc.setPageSize(PageSize.LETTER);
               HeaderFooter footer = new HeaderFooter(
                                   new Phrase("BESTELLING     ID:           GEPLAATST DOOR:"),
                                   false);
               doc.setFooter(footer);
               doc.open();
               for(int i = 0 ; i < vector.size() ; i++) {
               doc.add(new Paragraph( ((FormProduct) vector.elementAt(i)).getProductId() ));
               doc.add(new Paragraph(
                              "This document was created on "
                              + new java.util.Date()));
          catch (DocumentException dex)
               baosPDF.reset();
               throw dex;
          finally
               if (doc != null)
                    doc.close();
               if (docWriter != null)
                    docWriter.close();
          if (baosPDF.size() < 1)
               throw new DocumentException(
                    "document has "
                    + baosPDF.size()
                    + " bytes");
          return baosPDF;
}the code of the JSP-file
<html>
<head>
</head>
<%@ page import="java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream" %>
<%@ page import="java.io.PrintWriter"%>
<%@ page import="be.steppe.cursusdienst.instellingen.Variabelen"%>
<%@ page import="be.steppe.cursusdienst.beans.WinkelWagen"%>
<%@ page import="be.steppe.cursusdienst.Product"%>
<%@ page import="java.util.*" %>
<%@ page import="com.lowagie.text.*" %>
<%@ page import="com.lowagie.text.pdf.*" %>
<jsp:useBean class="WinkelWagen" id="winkelWagen" scope="session" />
<body>
<%
ByteArrayOutputStream baosPDF = null;
try
               baosPDF = winkelWagen.fix();
               StringBuffer sbFilename = new StringBuffer();
               sbFilename.append("filename_");
               sbFilename.append(System.currentTimeMillis());
               sbFilename.append(".pdf");
               response.setHeader("Cache-Control", "max-age=30");
               response.setContentType("application/pdf");
               StringBuffer sbContentDispValue = new StringBuffer();
               sbContentDispValue.append("inline");
               sbContentDispValue.append("; filename=");
               sbContentDispValue.append(sbFilename);
               response.setHeader("Content-disposition",sbContentDispValue.toString());
               response.setContentLength(baosPDF.size());
               ServletOutputStream sos;
               sos = response.getOutputStream();
               baosPDF.writeTo(sos);
               sos.flush();
          catch (DocumentException dex)
               response.setContentType("text/html");
               PrintWriter writer = response.getWriter();
               writer.println(
                         this.getClass().getName()
                         + " caught an exception: "
                         + dex.getClass().getName()
                         + "<br>");
               writer.println("<pre>");
               dex.printStackTrace(writer);
               writer.println("</pre>");
          finally
               if (baosPDF != null)
                    baosPDF.reset();
%>
</body>
          </html>can anyone please help me out ...
gr
Steppe

ok,
I removed the html tags in the jsp-file and now acrobat reader does start.
but it says the pdf file is damaged and cannot be repaired ...
any ideas?
gr
Steppe

Strange characters inserted when I create a PDF

I am using Acrobat 11, Windows 7, PC. Someone sent me a Word Document file and when I create a PDF from it, there are questions marks inserted in many places. The original word doc has charts inserted as "pictures". This is where the strange characters are occurring. Regular text is fine. A colleague created a PDF using an earlier version of Acrobat and it worked fine.

I have figured out that I was not creating the PDF correctly (was doing it through Windows instead of Adobe). Now that I am doing it correctly (using the Adobe tab when I'm in the word doc, then clicking Create Adobe PDF), the chart does not have the questions marks anymore but it is NOT as crisp and clean as it should be. Text is blurred, lines in chart are faded or missing in some spots. In the word doc the chart is crisp and clear.
Of note: The charts that have been inserted into the document using my Windows 7 PC are fine when PDF'd. The chart that is in question was I believe created on a Mac. That shouldn't matter in my book but unfortunately sometimes it does.
Any help would be much appreciated!

PDF file contains strange characters and letters.

PDF file shows strange characters and letters. Why does this happen? How do I correct this so I can print print the file?

This is probably due to fonts not be embedded in the pdf or too many different font subsets. If it is the former issue, you need to contact the creator of the pdf and have them embed the fonts. You cannot do it, since if you had the fonts on your system, it would ok. If it is related to font subsets you could try to unembed all fonts in the pdf using the PDF Optimizer, then re-embed the fonts using the Preflight tool.

Acrobat Pro 9.4.6 Printing Strange Characters

I currently use Acrobat Pro 9.4.6 and when printing to a PDF file it prints strange characters...not at all what I want to be printed. I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium. Have others experienced this? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Jim

Thanks for taking the time to reply. It's interesting that this problem only manifests itself in certain applications. A friend installed a program called CuteWriterPDF and the applications that I was having difficulty with writing PDF files are taken care of perfectly with this small program. It was just an experiment but it worked. This is not a perfect fix as I would prefer a solution from Adobe but at least I'm back up and running.
Thanks much for taking the time to reply!

Adobe Reader displaying strange characters

Hello! I am writing my uni task. For that I downloaded a .pdf document from my university, which has text boxes for me to fill in. I do not know how/with which program this file was created. I first tried dealing with it using the Windows 8 Reader app. Several times, when I switched from the document to the Desktop and back, all my text was converted into strange characters. I started saving the document before switching, and this seemed to solve the problem at first. But then at some point I saved and closed it, and when I opened it the next time, only the box I modified last (with an essay) was converted into strange characters. When I copy it somewhere, the text does not appear. I tried opening the thing with Adobe Reader. It does not convert anything into weird symbols, but the ones from the previous time remain. Is there any way I can get the information back?
Here's the whole 'strange character' bit:
ý«†z´y,o/>§™I$2ž|‘M¥8"Žb2;¸[áÔeìb⁄æÉ÷×˛ÝµßScÄ−¹<¹˚ëÞG+VW5²!1°%ZÔ;‘ƒÀ¤|ªł.W‚nb·Ü`ø}=†mû⁄À¦• ¸ßÁºþÜ”ãØˇÂ²ÑrŸ–)·ô†+Ù˘¬ì¶4<Àqc.®ªSG”˛¹„+ö:@€‚Å˝å²M«ÚŸ/E¼¿ﬂüUÌÈü…qªÉ³pÉ2ôù$fiÍævﬂÓrîsƒr6@_ 8Í¾¢DîuAÑ˙Ô¨ÿ,s<“Ñ·Üä™ŸtàZ,Ö½¨#ee˚˛üBwê!MŠU¸Ÿ€¹*øƒN‰×{hø?;Ô·Î'k$;Í÷Qýw~&—ł„Aå”MTì¹⁄¿tË@˘/J ÿóS˝
ý_l'Di
õ#J³ß0O8Á@žöÃfB%Ôî{
Ûõz8Á&Â´ØëU^¤mDèüV½â~žË@ØÀ*Ý−›D‘–l@šTÁ–U-§þR˘
çU ió¦(fH€RBRK%nÁ0þ$½Œ‰¢@˛x§{±'QRÕéKÅµ«uÌ2>åÎ‚úëoNH¢-c|d‰AOÓÎgS×eGzł⁄Dd¢&łEyþ•½w;;"÷+B‰
Á ‹rn+8‰|JeÐ˙Š6Âî÷;x^¯~j⁄TÓa¦O˙qé=:*v¬à^!·þá¡®SL=Ìáh)¬øxthj™ŽÁ–½…¬Ü‚łþ ÇÌÌ„¶"KÉ4$ô‰'š−°íŽùÜÑHÜ>o¶y%˛U(Í÷f–wøÙ±⁄[¢ý [Å‚Œ‘ß?˛−dÄ¹–ï4¾&ôzÚÃSåÁ¡Ëä¡¡DG¡ŁøO7øã|ò‹áï…Q³Ê;˚@w|¤C¡¨ÝôÏŽ´ÎgÙ¿ö—‡óÊ—F¼ñ}¢¡ù¹ê˜Š˜Û›·«íÿ `QùÐ¶×g”˛Ï;–úÍ‹OU'†ah„y’‹èa´ŸÏ°èwP×ƒ—‚
üp˝qŸ±æŸøŒ¼ýìł˝‡u‚dSf0ùÉ\FŽ˛¤mW;ôÍ¤äühUÙv˛˛¯aˆý1Ø`âÇ˝òX>&
éÝßŠÉ‰Ë›>á–·ÈýùÒ…ªŁ =ﬁ‡llv¸èøÜ÷~ûº÷0ﬂÁMndejŽf-&°H.¥æµÁ⁄'¤zJÚª6•ç9¿öÝd-iðcÐöz›
»}g¤ł)4¡PŽXüª¤ÌT«¦Èl©œºG£§3êêH˜-]ûß˝%ëÐh›WÔ˘˜B–Ùî!)CÃäÁ?P–»˝Û¥¬|T‰ÆÈà⁄A*(é2QÓJx™K?ÔöGwìŒÝz HèÓT•²‹ÿf~SzúúDQ]ü“¥‘ﬁtú¸E_afN"³~/ﬂõ˘§˚Þ§²UÉùtN&º¬tÆ#uzMP=<÷û‹˜¸ù−HùS>šˆ]1]¨—˜ÖhÌŁ\°rv˘þ
‚ãÓ»¬‘ŽVÏ°ÕL0H90chÃM®yb¶§J•V"çµÅ/”€Ðk⁄iÑNÚhd@£|ös‚÷Þ‚´k§)äoıÃLöÒ5Éº°›îEÀ‚Ä–ç±]êš§ýE›=q¸÷ÿü žDe¾xüı¡:&˚B¢‰jÈMö6»ł¬6 /å•‚ÚÿÊ Ó±t'ùTã“µëS
~J[DÜiîœ[þpéjDævø@ÊäsßŽÈØïÅàUÛÏwå&¼t−©•ır
—õ¹íOòê¤¥²`÷LZKrd€J6ÄÎÛÅ−|W0Nš¸@…r«qt’liÑÃ§ÌY’æÙ!“Sâ<†Æh‡z|4Aš*£ﬂ˜ôñsÁÊ˜l±W²
ï¦ncïŒ‹Ó,»ÒùYµÛ™'T©Ì727˝^2?rNË˚Ç¡¿¢+ßu–H2e¸©CB#˚ÁºƒâÇÅÖK−"2ÍiŸRO0 ›^"˛"−âÉ×íôòCBí[îˆ¨aõãÑ,¶^³Nh–S¨íï?Øł9r\¦7
kg‚Á¤0?t Éà(Ô$>x·k(™Š°µ˘Xòþ÷£−»á€IâyòLl3DõËò0TËÌåk–ﬁ¶åA3Õ¨gˇÿüf‘±yùÈ{¦›—šÃ§®ãI;ûwhÈ˜4ZUdv-y‚t|jrÆÛ +/ÞŁ(kł¬<¡e:˙O[Ê'–6ö¨M¦«ïæÈž§$4Nœ9Ú¢½òìóvàﬂ˜÷§Ñﬂgd¦³N³í[´Ì%Q5r˜Ýl
ÛpXøïåwü—Ö²¯ê⁄ûiıÎÖ„&´ø¥º¾¬(m‘iAŽéü_œé°&LøÊhÚü³œcÞ÷hR™ÌIª3U7áõüXT¡`s¥˚“ˇÂŽ
Î@ÔrÞ+dµ˝LA>]t;pˆZ×˘—Øi'çÞŠ¿
kª"~ýl5ﬁ,ÿ6uP&‹ã+‚¨(Ì¯K_è“å$ÍÁº#F¤Ö¦ø˝ÿµuX6_−
Ëp¼Me‹¿ùöÖ°bS<¯¥P©ú½éÀ
î e½íšND¿“N®”Z(ß(j%;=Há–®† A.ﬂ*
9Ï−²È§™,ÐS2AÒÀ!ÇÜMRœê‰G£þÜàOB˙_⁄˚7‡¶»²j÷ÅÚe½*x¢˝¸‚©nSŸ!ÃùGtÕP7&ł½R7(ýñ‹ÿAæ¦?|uÐWƒ˜¯¬BHj`êf Ì]3Ýßäîe˛
qË}óÉSŁ¢S“†#å*‹3I@†®ï#eVç>0×sI›åRþPuÙ'sèf§È'™BVÍµƒ˘vÅ¢ùÁÍu/¬A¬3`¶¥ô*®ŽùÕ”£‡a7ˇlˇoÜ−
zÂÏBÁËmC˘ß×z{#lﬂ⁄õmł?íTM¥u¸š\L†áFı!-½šÀ‚ž¦AÅŽdZqê‰)Iü"˘š™ÑØ¸¸<Šıv¢U',)åX#−ßÅ\YƒÿŒ¶¥}ÏÄÚ£ØÍ ökC›fìÇ‡¶u÷¹öØêX9XWtùã,š"ÓxòÇô„¼N!ó:[ªˆ³ï•Łõ±^çx#Î´sLe¤bYÂ‡#Y×¸©åFÌîlËCdàåºT-)K¸È>H9”Ñå|nå $ﬁ°ûÄ$å4k’#˚r›Äîæ²è§ﬁ:ZJEëä´ ý‘byŠ+w
þz“Ç
Éúñõ˘iMS¦C˘¸«.¶ÄµÚž431üPÐ¥{yŽó¯*O
+ºiÝ7'òM€Fzä^GçÖºJ²™#E⁄Øwý˘P0-\»ˆêvhÇªœ>Ð˘m˝íÜëŸG½#«?ÊÕeqIñ¬c`e
[ŁHD˘W‘»˝žŸûøJÍŽ+UVÿGJ²îs~ƒ´õc”{úoL‹
3„XŁ?`•ïâ—ıaDJ?¥cå2)Ï8^žVA"?MÀ0z±¼ä[°CwP%µ™8;kŠ/IÍ:2/_kNË˚Žþ"Ö²äÕºÒg£WjÆd$ÄMÑõe•;?ò[hÏ+PD˚ à×Ã“ô¦¨àÚÄN†YPcÐ«)#×ÈÔÙL˜7]ë%PÞÏ:p2ªıÚô;ﬂ·¤˘íBŒP¬q_öx¤‡d™ﬂÐ¹zCŽ7ÿbò×iqó ´!ø¡Šzh¯1Úr„£ı˛A1>=/õ#wã®ˆ
üqß]‚˘a¤óßäUÌå*[:/@†yóBÀ˙ŸÒtx1®PŒ!Ïóc?›‰‚ÉÀkt[§m§a7z¾ˇö¤¥ë/è€1˛,JlQ…¼S;h(§f~@RÐ,ûÈ(−ön.Hq« ÍØ−¶ÞÁNØÔ_T”êDœwü˚Û.²\>—NŽr(Q¡OÌ¿¬?-kÓDO!ps˚¹Š?¥«T¦¾ø:õ+¬!˚G−×&¡pãÅ°-|Ê??ŁÂèÇžÉÄ¢m¥\a˛ME5c Q_&Ÿ.#/ÊKq:’HZb%\Òµ3ÀÌv˜stÆé@Í¤Cžzjú4Þ¢f ðH'g6¯¨ßËžÿ®tŸ}4:h\$‚lå3E_.¨%Ùx3FxGJF†ı˘~GþłûZ@P¦é9ÓÉi€çÊ ›µÖÔZúO~Ì×Ð–;vÔáwQÖ1Ãì⁄†ÿ>i˚“ò0þ(ÖıƒN)xæA§©¾

The document: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/71fb561e-78a2-44ae-8bd6-9df6520e9d1b
The box I was talking about is the very last one.
The Adobe ReaderI started using recently is version XI; the one I used when I started editing the document was Windows 8 Reader app by Microsoft, version 6.2.8516.0.

Strange characters

printer All-in-one Officejet Pro L 7580
windows XP
i get strange characters when printing PDF files , sometimes the whole document and somethimes an part
when i try to print 1 page a time it often comes out ok but not always

Hi mamae,
Looks like your Adobe program needs to be updated or reinstalled. Is this issue only appearing when you try to print PDFs? How about from Word processing programs like MS Word or Excel?
If you have garbled text characters as well with your other programs, you also need to reinstall the printer drivers on your computer. When this happens on the USB connection, usually I had the cable replaced and that fixes it.
You can also check this article - Continuous Pages of Strange or Garbled Characters Print in Windows
Here's the Full Feature SW download for: Windows XP or Windows XP x64
Hope this works for you!
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Cheers!
* If this post has helped you, the White Kudos star on the left is a great way to say thanks!
* Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem so other users can benefit as well.

Strange characters and symobls print in the middle of a print job. Help.

In the middle of a print job, whether one page or several, it starts printing strange characters and symbols until the end of the job. It will do this in the middle of the page, or after printing one line of English and the rest of the page in gibberish.
It usually does this while printing off bank statements from the internet or a pdf file pulled from the internet. I don't think it has ever printed any of my documents.
However, it has done this while printing a bill received as an attachment to an email from a friend.
The next print job will usually be back to "normal". But one day, it did this many times during the day. Frustrating!
Appreciate any help.

I had this happen to me with a PDF file once. I called Support at HP,
and they told me it was because I had labeled the PDF as "text" when
it actually has (technically) "pictures" in it -- the printer didn't know how
to print those "pictures" (symbols?) as "text," so it came out as gibberish.
Perhaps there's a teckie here who can tell you more eloquently. [And
what to do about it!]
HTH!

Using online ExportPDF to DocX - DocX File Full of Strange Characters

I have a PDF in English, origninating in China, and when the conversion is complete the DocX file is populated by strange characters (would seem to me to be a fonts issue, but I do not know). Only the pictures in the document are recognizeable in any way against the original PDF.

Replying to my own post after some debug time on this. The problem arrises when the conversion process is launched directly from the Adobe PDF software in Windows, rather than a conversion launched from the ExportPDF website. I re-ran the conversion from the website and got the desired result. There is some default setting in the Adobe Reader X software (V10.1.1 on Win7 Home Premium 64, SP1) which controls OCR and ConvertTo language and causes the failed convert.

Strange characters when converting

when converting to PDF off the web i get strange characters that convert

Can you be a bit more specific what you mean "convert off the web"?
Are you using ExportPDF or Acrobat for this?

PROBLEM: HP p2015 printing strange Characters

In our office we have an HP 2015 that has started printing abnormal characters on the end pages of say, a 6 page document. The first three pages will be ok, and then the remaining three pages will have symbols and strange characters in replace of the normal alphabet characters.
I've noticed it doing this from ADOBE PDF documents that are larger than 3-4 pages. Does anyone have any ideas or solutions? I have re-installed the latest drivers, and the printer appears to have the latest updates.

read here
" If you find it helpful, pls click on the blue KUDOS button on the left -side of the screen as an indication "

Acrobat X Prints Strange Characters

In the last week or so I have had two separate instances of folks having trouble printing large documents from Adobe Reader X. Both were printing to HP Printers, one an officejet connected via USB and another a networked LaserJet. The first few pages of the document would print fine but then the rest of the document prints strange characters. A second attempt to print the document generally succeeds, leading us to believe that it may just take some time for the program to "fill out" the file or something. Has anyone else experienced problems like this with Acrobat recently?

Yes I have a computer in our office that is pluged into a HP Laserjet 2015 and it is doing the same thing when printing from pdf's. After some testing I have gotten it to repete the messed up/strange characters. It seems that it will mess up everytime you print and then close out of the file, even tho it has spooled the print, and the printer is not finished printing. But if you leave the file open for the duration of the print, even tho it is spooled, it will print fine without messing up. Still looking into why this is doing this, it does not matter what PCL printer driver that I have tried for it... I have not tried using a PS driver yet.

How to insert special characters in pdf comments

Now, we are ready to go "no paper" workflow, and so mark anything on pdf file, but we cannot insert most of special characters in PDF comments. Same as here, and the xml entity is "&PSgr;", "how to archive it?

>what the Character Map is?
You don't know how to use Google?
Character map is a standard part of Windows for using special
characters with any program.
In Windows XP, Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools >
Character Map.
Aandi Inston

Pages document turned to gibberish-strange characters in rectangles. Can't read underlying text (still there)

I use a Pages document (password protected) as a frequent reference. It is 22 pages of text. Suddenly most text was replaced with strange characters, each encased in a little rectangle, so document was unreadable. Selecting a section of text, I could right-click and see that underlying text was still there, just not readable onscreen. Style was "Normal*." I don't know what the " * " means. I selected all and changed style to "Heading 9" on the list. All text reappeared, so my data is ok - for now (though not formatted as I want it). I can't trust Pages, however, and don't know what caused the problem or how to avoid it.
Note that the style now shows "Heading 9*". I don't know why the " * ". I tried selecting all and making "Normal" the global style, but the strange characters wouldn't budge. Switching back to Normal brings back gibberish.
Some text is Verdana; I just noticed that changing font also got rid of gibberish. Changing back to Verdana brought back gibberish.
Note that not every line of text was changed to gibberish; some were just fine.
Other Pages documents are fine - right now. I notice that there are asterisks in Style in other text documents.
I'm an experienced computer user, new to Pages in the fall when it came with my MacBook Air. In this document, format isn't all that important, but I can imagine where this would be a huge disaster for other types of documents.
Any help in figuring out what's going on most appreciated.

Tom -
"That sounds like Apple's Last Resort font, which gets used when for some reason the app forgets about the font being used. Use Fontbook to make sure you don't have duplicate Verdanas on your machine. Also try cleaning your font caches with Onyx or by doing a safe boot"
Wow! Who would have guessed! Thank you for the advice; Fontbook revealed a number of duplicate fonts - ot Verdana, interestingly enough - which I have now resolved. I then switched all text to Trebuchet MS, and everything reverted to normal. I can live with Trebuchet.
This problem appeared on the same day (before or after I wasn't sure) I installed MS Office. Could this have caused the problem?
Thanks for your prompt reply, explanation and solutions.

Strange characters in pdf

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for