Font errors when converting PDF to PDF/A-2a

[linhaapio]

URGENT!
Hi, I am trying to convert my thesis PDF to PDF/A-2a using PDF-XChange.

I created the PDF in Microsoft Word. I opened the file in PDF-XChange and added metadata to the document properties. After that I tried saving the file to PDF/A-2a, but I get two font errors and the file is therefore not saved.

The errors:
Font Frutiger-BlackCn is invalid: character references .notdef glyph
Font Georgia is invalid: more than one encoding in TrueType symbolic font and no Microsoft Symbol(3.0) encoding

I have checked the Document properties -> Fonts, there are 28 fonts there and all of them are "Embedded subset".

How do I fix this issue? I can send both files here if needed!

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, linhaapio

when errors like this occur, the simplest method is to change the fonts prresenting the error to another, locally installed font. The act of converting the file to PDF/A will embed whichever font is used, even if it is a common font like Arial, but the conversion to PDF/A requires a specific subset of font types to be used, as some pre-embedded fonts do not have this data tied to them, they cannot reliably be used in PDF/A file creation.

You could send us a copy of the file, which I would pass along to the Dev team for review, so we can see if there is anything else we can do in this situation, but that will be a long term process, so the above option will likely help you get around the issue in the interim. (Since this is a thesis, I expect you do not want to share it publicly at the moment, you can email that to us via Support@PDF-XChange.com, with a link to this topic)

Kind regards,

[linhaapio]

Hi,

How do I change the fonts presenting the error to another, locally installed font? I do not know where these 2 exact fonts are used, is it possible to see it from somewhere? And should I change them in Word or PDF-XChange?

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, linhaapio

In PDF-Xchange, we offer a "replace fonts" feature, on the Convert tab which should help with this, it will present a fonts list, for you to select from fonts present in the file, and then you can specify a target font to change them to. Simply select the two fonts mentioned in the error message, and change them to something else. You may want to skim through the document and ensure there is no overlapping text, as such actions may cause this.

The alternative is to change the fonts back in the original Word file, and avoid creating the PDF in a way that embeds the fonts to begin with, so that when we convert to PDF/A, we can pull the requisite information from the locally installed font, instead of trying to work off a partial embedded font which is missing that data. One such method of conversion to PDF would be printing to our Standard printer, which has options to prevent font embedding.

Kind regards,

[linhaapio]

Hi, with the Standard Printer option, after I print and create the PDF, I cannot select any text in the file. Is there a way to print so that in the resulting file, text can be selected with the "Select Text" tool?

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, linhaapio

If you are printing from MS Word, there should certainly be text content. While some applications (for example Edge/Chrome/Firefox and other web browsers), do convert text when printing to "shapes", MS Word is not a program which I have seen do this intentionally.

Could I ask you to please go ahead and send us a copy of the word file and the output PDF by email, so I can take a look and see if the issue is reproducible on this end?

Kind regards,

[linhaapio]

Hi,

Do you mean that I would print from MS Word or in PDF-XChange? If in Word, how can I print to Standard Printer and avoid embedded fonts?

I will send the files in a couple of hours, thank you!

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello linhaapio,

If you have the word version of your font and print that to the PDF-XChange Printer Standard (or just drag and drop the .docx file over the Editor) - you will end up with a PDF file with selectable and searchable text.

If you then take one of those PDF files and 'print' it back to PDF using the Editor - you will end up with a file containing only vector shapes that look like text (but are not text as far as computers are concerned - and as such is not searchable). We do this to ensure that the text when Printed will look the same as you see it on screen, and printing from the Editor should not be used to print to a new PDF file. You have all the tools necessary inside the Editor to make changes to PDF files without the need to reprint a pdf back to pdf.

So for your issue - please try to replace the fonts as Daniel suggested above in the PDF file, or if you have the source .docx - you can consider changing the fonts in there as well.
Once you change the problematic fonts to other ones, you should be able to do your conversion of your PDF file to PDF/A-2a.

Kind regards,
Stefan