Why does one Hebrew character drop out in print?

Question

I'm not sure if this belongs here or in the Acrobat forum -- let me know if it should be moved.
I sent a job to press and had the problem that in print, one character of one Hebrew font did not print and was substituted with a box. I am using Windows 7 Professional and I prepared the file in ID CC 9.2 and exported the PDF using PDF/X-1a:2001 settings. The PDF looked fine on my end with all characters correct.
I sent the file to my printer and the final printed result had that one character (same character always) substituted with the box. My printer says he uses Acrobat XI Pro on a Windows 7 Ultimate machine, with Quite Imposition Pro for imposition and page shirts, ordering, etc. He printed the file on several devices: Xerox 7655, Xerox 242 and Xerox 5000, all with the same results.
After we saw the problem in print, he tried it again with the files originating on a Windows 7 Professional machine and there was no problem. He printed a similar file for me last year using the same fonts when he was using Windows XP and there was no problem.
Additionally, I have had numerous files using this font printed by other printers without a problem.
How do we troubleshoot this? What should we look for? And how can we prevent it in the future?
Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Some comments and questions on this thread …
(1)     Windows 7 Professional versus Windows 7 Ultimate is irrelevant for this discussion. As pointed out, the only difference is some multimedia shovelware bundled with the OS and not OS functionality itself! 
(2)     It is only necessary to subset embed a font in the PDF file created by export from InDesign. It is a total bubbameissa that either a fully embedded font or a subset is somehow either more reliable or otherwise better than the other. Furthermore, contrary to other urban legends, fully embedding a font does not provide the capability of editing the PDF file's text in Acrobat without having the font otherwise installed on your system. What is true is that fully embedding the font (i.e. forcing the embedding all glyph definitions from a font) yields much larger and potentially bloated PDF files.
(3)     The Use Local Fonts feature is totally irrelevant for PDF files for which the fonts are embedded. With the Use Local Font option enabled (the default), Acrobat attempts to use equivalently-named fonts on the user system for text for which the font is not embedded. The fonts on a user's system never override the fonts embedded in a PDF file. There are no exceptions to this either for display or printing a PDF file from either Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat. I obviously cannot vouch for third party PDF viewers.
(4)     We are not currently aware of any glitches in InDesign PDF Export or Acrobat/Reader that would yield the described symptoms.
(5)     Quite Imposing is a plug-in to Acrobat that does imposition of logical pages of a PDF file for creating books, booklets, n-up configurations, etc. I personally use it, know the program's developer, and know of no glitches with that software when used with otherwise kosher PDF files.
(6)     When printing to PostScript printers, Acrobat/Reader generates its own PostScript and handles its own embedding of fonts for the output stream. Acrobat/Reader never uses printer-resident fonts. Nor does it ever substitute any user-installed fonts for fonts that are embedded in the PDF file.
(7)     The fact that the file prints correctly sometimes and sometimes not at your printer and that other printers seem to have no issue with the files and the fonts in question points directly to some system issues with your printer. What those are cannot be readily discerned without knowing more about the printer's complete workflow. We know about use of Quite Imposing, but does the printer do stupid things such as opening the editing the file in Adobe Illustrator “just to check things out?” That's a good way to terribly mess up a PDF file! Or perhaps there are other third party workflow applications that your printer routinely ruins files with? I am not trying to be obnoxious, but on these forums you wouldn't believe what we have seen trying to pass themselves off as professional printers.
I would be glad to dissect the PDF file here at Adobe and ascertain its actual quality. Send me a private message via the forum with a pointer to where I can download the file from or otherwise let me know and I'll give you my e-mail address so that you can send it via e-mail.
          - Dov