Comments in Acrobat are garbled when comments using Japanese font are added first in PDF-XChange Editor.

[rakunavi]

Hello all,

I have found an issue when adding a comment in Japanese font in a heterogeneous environment of Acrobat (Reader) and PDF-XChange Editor, the comment is not displayed correctly.

Specifically, if I add a comment with a Japanese font in PDF-XChange Editor first, and then add another comment with the same Japanese font in Acrobat (Reader), the characters are not displayed correctly. If the order is reversed, i.e., the comment is added first in Acrobat (Reader) and later in PDF-XChange Editor, it will be displayed correctly. If the first application to add comments in Japanese font to a PDF file is PDF-XChange Editor, it is permanently impossible to add comments which uses the same Japanese font in Acrobat (Reader). There seems to be no workaround.

However, fortunately, there are several Japanese fonts. So, if you add a comment with a Japanese font that has not been used in the PDF file before in Acrobat (Reader), and then add a comment with the Japanese font in PDF-XChange Editor, you will be able to add comments using both Acrobat (Reader) and PDF-XChange Editor. Additional comments can be displayed correctly even in a heterogeneous environment.

I have confirmed that this can be reproduced on a total of three machines with Windows 10 and the latest version of the applications. For one of the machines, I did a clean install of the OS and all the apps, and left all settings in Acrobat and PDF-XChange Editor as default, except that I set the same Japanese font to be used in the comments. If you are using Acrobat and PDF-XChange Editor together in a Japanese environment, you should be able to reproduce the issue.

Since multiple applications are involved, it is difficult to say which application has the issue, and there may be an issue with the PDF specification itself regarding font handling. Regardless of the issue, it is certain that users in a Japanese-language environment will be troubled.

The screen of the verification process was captured for reference, so please check the attached video for details.

CapturedVideo.zip

SampleFiles.zip

The reproduction procedure is as follows.
The corresponding timecode in the video is also included.
([MM:SS] "MM" shows minutes, and "SS" shows seconds.)


If you added the comment first in Acrobat (Reader), it works fine.

• [00:03] - [00:10]
  Create a blank document.
• [00:11] - [00:25]
  Add comments using Japanese fonts in Acrobat (Reader). Any comment tool that can be entered as text is acceptable (ex. Typewriter, Text box, Text call-out).
• [00:26] - [00:35]
  Add comments in PDF-XChange Editor using the same Japanese font as the comments added in Acrobat. Any comment tool that can be entered as text is acceptable (ex. Typewriter, Text box, Text call-out). Confirm that the characters are displayed correctly.
• [00:37]
  Font information in document properties after adding a comment in PDF-XChange Editor

If you added the comment first in PDF-XChange Editor, the characters are not displayed correctly.

• [00:42] - [00:52]
  Create a blank document.
• [00:53] - [00:59]
  Add comments using Japanese fonts in PDF-XChange Editor. Any comment tool that can be entered as text is acceptable (ex. Typewriter, Text box, Text call-out).
• [01:03] - [01:10]
  Add comments in Acrobat (Reader) using the same Japanese font as the comments added in PDF-XChange Editor. Any comment tool that can be entered as text is acceptable (ex. Typewriter, Text box, Text call-out). Confirm that the characters are not displayed correctly.
• [01:11] - [01:28]
  If you change the font on your typewriter, the characters will appear correctly. However, if you change it back, it will not display correctly again!
• [01:36]
  Font information in document properties on Acrobat (Reader) after adding a comment in Acrobat (Reader)
• [01:47]
  Font information in document properties on PDF-XChange Editor after adding a comment in Acrobat (Reader)
• [01:51] - [01:58]
  If you select the incorrectly displayed comment area with the comment selection tool in PDF-XChange Editor and enter text mode, the text will be temporarily displayed correctly.
• [02:00] - [02:15]
  Use the Replace Fonts tool to convert between the same font names so that the characters will display correctly.
• [02:19]
  Font information after font placement by PDF-XChange Editor
• [02:23] - [02:33]
  Add comments in Acrobat (Reader) using the same Japanese font as the comments added in PDF-XChange Editor. Any comment tool that can be entered as text is acceptable (ex. Typewriter, Text box, Text call-out). Confirm that the characters are not displayed correctly.
• [02:35] - [02:45]
  If you change the font on your typewriter, the characters will appear correctly. However, if you change it back, it will not display correctly again!
• [02:52]
  Font information in document properties on Acrobat (Reader) after adding a comment in Acrobat (Reader)

Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

Best regards,
rakunavi

- PDF-XChange Editor Plus Version:9.2 build 359.0
- Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Version 2022.001.20085 64-bit
- OS Version: Windows 10 Home 21H2 Build 19044.1586
- PC Model: Lenovo IdeaPad C340-15IWL / HP ProDesk 600G1

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Once again, thank you for the attention to detail and the very thorough report.
We will investigate further and correct this.

For your reference: RT#6011: Comments in Acrobat are garbled when comments using Japanese font are added first in PDF-XChange Editor.

[rakunavi]

Thank you, Paul, for creating the ticket!
Best regards
rakunavi

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

[rakunavi]

Hello all,

The same issue was posted in the past and I have included a link for your reference.

  https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?p=139745

unfortunately there is nothing that we are doing wrong in this case, and thus nothing we can change to make this work from our end.

From the conclusions there, it seems that no matter how long we wait, there will be no improvement. However, as a user of the Japanese environment, I am just hoping for a miracle. I hope the day comes when we can add text-based comments without worry.

Best regards,
rakunavi

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

This does indeed appear to be the same case, but we will still leave the ticket open so the Dev team can review and see if there is some slim chance this is "similar but unrelated". Unfortunately though, I suspect you are right and this will point to the same root cause, and not be something we can affect from our end.

Kind regards,

[rakunavi]

Hello all,

Unfortunately, the problem reported in this topic continues to occur in build 380.

• RT#6011: Comments in Acrobat are garbled when comments using Japanese font are added first in PDF-XChange Editor.

Follow-up Information

• I have found that exporting comments (typewriters, text boxes, callouts) created in the PDF-XChange Editor to an XFDF file and then importing them again into a blank file in the PDF-XChange Editor will produce a file that is not garbled when editing comments in Acrobat. At first glance, exporting once and then importing immediately seems to be a meaningless operation, but if you only do this, the problem will not occur in Acrobat. The flow of the operation is illustrated in the figure below.
  
  
  • figure.png
  The blue dotted line in the upper part of the figure is the procedure that causes the problem reported at the beginning of this topic. On the other hand, the part enclosed by the red L-shaped cloud line in the lower part of the figure is the procedure for avoiding the problem reported here.
  
  For your reference, here are the verification videos for each of the two procedures (NG case and OK case) shown in the figure.
  
  
  • NGcase.gif
    
    
    OKcase.gif
  The Tracker developers should be the most knowledgeable in the world about the process of exporting and importing comments in the PDF-XChange Editor. It would be helpful to compare the internal formatting of each file between the file when the comments are first saved and the file when they are saved after exporting and importing. Specifically, you might find some clues by comparing "sample.pdf" and "newsample.pdf" in the verification.
  
  
  • SampleFiles.zip
  If the comments could be saved in the same format as "newsample.pdf" from the first time the PDF file is saved after the comments are created, this problem would surely be solved. Since the PDF-XChange Editor already outputs "newsample.pdf", the developer is should be pretty close to the goal.

Verification in an English-language environment

• In addition, I verified the same method as previously reported in this topic, using an English version of Acrobat and font packs provided by Adobe installed on an English version of Windows. As a result, I confirmed that the garbled characters can be avoided by creating a file through the export and import of comments as described above. The files generated at that time ("sample_EnglishOS.pdf" and "newsample_EnglishOS.pdf") are shown below for reference.
  
  
  • SampleFiles_EnglishOS.zip
  When the output files ("sample.pdf" and "newsample.pdf") in the Japanese environment shown former are opened in the English verification environment shown later, both files are displayed correctly without garbled characters, which may mislead the developer into thinking that garbled characters do not occur. In order to reproduce a situation similar to what actually occurs in the Japanese version, you need to install the font pack provided by Adobe in Acrobat and open "sample_EnglishOS.pdf" and "newsample_EnglishOS.pdf". If you do not install the font pack, the following dialog box will appear when you click on a comment in Acrobat.
  
  
  • acrobat_FontPack_error.png

In the two years since I purchased PDF-XChange Editor, I have refrained from adding any comments in Japanese from the viewpoint of file compatibility. I hope that one day this problem will be solved and I will be able to add Japanese comments to documents with PDF-XChange Editor without any worries. As I mentioned previously, this problem seems to occur not only in Japanese, but also in Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. Potentially, that many users are waiting for a solution.

Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

Best regards,
rakunavi

- PDF-XChange Editor Plus Version: 10.1.0 build 380
- OS Version: Windows 11 Home 22H2 Build 22621.2134
- PC Model: Lenovo IdeaPad C340-15IWL, HP All-in-One 22-c0xx

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

That ticket is still ongoing, and has not been marked as resolved as of yet, but I have added your new notes to the ticket for the dev team to review when the get a chance. Thank you for testing this.

Kind regards,

[Vasyl - PDF-XChange]

Hi rakunavi.

We will try to fix this bad issue in the upcoming release (soon). Thanks for your incredible patience, and really sorry for that...

Cheers.

[rakunavi]

Hi Vasyl and Daniel, thank you for your reply.

I am glad that my additional information was of some help. As it has been about 3.5 years since koide_r first reported the issue, and at one time the prospect of a solution was completely denied, so I sincerely look forward to the upcoming release. Please give my regards to the developers who are assigned to this issue.

The latest build 380 has solved the long-standing issue of EOCR for Japanese. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for this as well.

Best regards,
rakunavi

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello rakunavi,

Many thanks for your patience and understanding!
I've passed your kind words to the devs who are assigned to fixing this problem!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[rakunavi]

Hello all,

This is follow-up information.

Unfortunately, the issue reported in this topic continue to occur in build 385.

Previously I reported how to work around the issue using XFDF files, but I have found that using PDFXplorer published by O2 Solutions to forcefully remove AcroForm has almost the same effect.

• O2 Solutions PDFXplorer
  https://www.o2sol.com/pdfxplorer/overview.htm

• figure.png

Trying to work around the issue using XFDF files was difficult to apply to real files because they do not always maintain the appearance of the annotations after import. However, when removing AcroForm, it appears that only compatibility can be improved while preserving the appearance of the annotations.

It may be a coincidence, but when I examine the ABBYY FineReader and Foxit PDF Editor sample files I mentioned earlier in this post with PDFXplorer, AcroForm is not present in either of them.

This is a rather aggressive method and may have adverse effects on PDF files with forms set. However, knowing the risk, if you are in an urgent situation where you have to create a PDF file editable by Acrobat right now with PDF-XChange Editor for comments set with Japanese fonts, the method introduced here may be useful.

See the video for more details.

• Animation.gif

• SampleFiles.zip

The video first opens a file (sample.pdf) containing comments with Japanese fonts set, created with the PDF-XChange Editor as previously described, in Acrobat, and shows that when you try to edit the comments, the text is garbled. Next, use PDFXplorer to remove AcroForm from sample.pdf and save it as "AcroFormRemoved.pdf". This way, the comment will also be editable in Acrobat, and if you add more text to the same comment using PDF-XChange Editor, the text will not be garbled when edited in Acrobat.

Best regards,
rakunavi

- PDF-XChange Editor Plus Version: 10.2.1 build 385
- Adobe Acrobat Reader Continuous Release Version 2023.008.20533 (32-bit)
- O2 Solutions PDFXplorer 3.1.0.1
- OS Version: Windows 11 Home 23H2 Build 22631.3155
- PC Model: Lenovo IdeaPad C340-15IWL, HP All-in-One 22-c0xx

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

Thank you for that, hopefully it helps some others looking to workaround this in the meantime. This is (probably unsurprisingly) shaping up to be much more complicated than the dev team anticipated. I have nudged the team and they confirmed that it is still being worked on, but we cannot offer timelines at the moment.

Kind regards,

[Vasyl - PDF-XChange]

Hi rakunavi.

It seems we can promise that this long-living and annoying bug will be fixed in the next build, for 100%.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Info for other customers: this problem seems to appear only on Japanese windows (but not on English windows with installed Japanese lang-pack) and only in Acrobat/Reader apps...

Cheers.

[rakunavi]

Hello Daniel and Vasyl, thank you for your in-depth investigation.

I look forward to future updates. I hope that the garbled text problem in the form field will be resolved at the same time.

• BUG : form field & non Latin fonts
  viewtopic.php?t=41118

Info for other customers: this problem seems to appear only on Japanese windows (but not on English windows with installed Japanese lang-pack) and only in Acrobat/Reader apps...

In my previous verification, the problem was confirmed by installing the font pack for Acorbat provided by Adobe, even on English Windows. As I mentioned at that time, the same problem may occur not only in Japanese, but also in Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese language environments.

Best regards,
rakunavi

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

[rakunavi]

Hello Tracker Support,

It seems we can promise that this long-living and annoying bug will be fixed in the next build, for 100%.

The issue in this topic is still present in build 386 and also in build 387. It is possible that it is already considered resolved within the Tracker, so I will let you know just in case.

Best regards,
rakunavi

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

Thank you for bringing it back up, I have just grabbed the dev teams attention on this and we will be looking into it shortly.

Kind regards,

[rakunavi]

Hello Daniel, thank you for asking the developer.

In verifying this issue again, I have noticed that Acrobat's behavior changes depending on the Japanese font used in the comment.

I. PDF-XChange Editor ⇒ Acrobat Reader

• In the following verification, as before, I created comments with Japanese fonts set in PDF-XChange Editor, and checked whether they can be displayed and edited in Acrobat Reader.
  
  There are two families of Japanese fonts and six families of Japanese Supplemental fonts that come standard with Windows 11. In the sample file used in this verification, all of these fonts were set as typewriter comments in PDF-XChange Editor.
  
  
  • Windows 11 font list - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/fonts/windows_11_font_list
    
    • MS Gothic
    • Yu Gothic
    Japanese Supplemental Fonts - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/fonts/windows_11_font_list#japanese
    
    • BIZ UDGothic
    • BIZ UDMincho Medium
    • Meiryo
    • MS Mincho
    • UD Digi Kyokasho
    • Yu Mincho
  In the verification video, the attached sample file was opened in Acrobat, and the red arrow position on each comment was clicked to see what happens.
  
  
  • PDFXCE-1st Acrobat-2nd.zip
  • figure1.png
    
    
    Animation.gif
  As you can see in the video, there are a total of three types of behavior as shown in the figure below.
  
  
  1. Garbled text appears as soon as the text cursor appears after clicking on the comment, and the garbled text is not fixed even after the comment loses focus.
  2. Garbled text appears as soon as the comment is clicked and the text cursor appears, but the garbled text is fixed when the focus is lost and the text cursor is no longer displayed.
  3. Even if the text cursor appears after clicking on a comment, the text is not garbled and the text can be edited normally.
  • figure2.png
  It is interesting to note that there is a pattern C that allows text to be edited normally without garbling, although it is limited to some fonts. In the video, the four characters "キラキラ" can be deleted for this pattern C.

II. Acrobat Reader ⇒ PDF-XChange Editor

• Contrary to the above verification, if you create a comment with a Japanese font in Acrobat and open the file with PDF-XChange Editor, as I have already reported, the text can be displayed and edited normally without garbled characters in any font in PDF-XChange Editor. I did not take a video of this, but I have attached the file I created at that time below.
  
  
  • Acrobat-1st PDFXCE-2nd.zip
  However, when I created a comment with Japanese fonts in Acrobat, Acrobat displayed the following dialog box only for fonts classified as pattern C in the PDF-XChange Editor verification shown in the first half of this post. Pattern C fonts are the following three fonts.
  
  
  • BIZ UDGothic
  • BIZ UDMincho Medium
  • UD Digi Kyokasho
  Since the verification was performed in a Japanese environment, the dialog is also displayed in Japanese, but the English version of the dialog is also shown for reference. Perhaps it has something to do with the above classifications and the behavior shown by each of them.
  
  
  • figure3.png

Hoping that the above information will be of some help to you.
Thank you so much for your continued support.

Best regards,
rakunavi

- PDF-XChange Editor Plus Version: 10.3.1 build 387
- Adobe Acrobat Reader Continuous Release Version 2024.002.20857
- OS Version: Windows 11 Home 23H2 Build 22631.3737
- PC Model: Lenovo IdeaPad C340-15IWL, HP All-in-One 22-c0xx

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

Thank you for that! I have added this as a note to the ongoing ticket. RT#6011, Hopefully this isn't something that take too much longer to see a resolution, but at this stage I would not be surprised if it is still some time away...

Kind regards,

[rakunavi]

Hello Daniel, thank you for reply.

This is follow-up information.

Unfortunately, the issue reported in this topic continue to occur in build 391. I noticed that if you create a Japanese text comment with PDF-XChange Viewer build 322, the Japanese characters will not be garbled when the comment is edited in Acrobat.

The verification procedure is not particularly different from what I have shown so far. The only point is, as I pointed out in my previous post, to specify a specific font among the Japanese fonts.

1. Launch the typewriter tool.
2. Select a specific Japanese font (MS Gothic "ＭＳ ゴシック" in the video) and type the Japanese text.
3. Save the file at this point with the build number as the file name.
4. Open the saved file in Acrobat.
5. Double-click on the comment.
6. If the comment text is not garbled by double-clicking, enter additional Japanese characters.
7. Save the file at this point as a file name with “_adobe” at the end of the build number.

Below is a video of the verification with build 322 and the latest build 391. The generated files are also attached. Perhaps there might be a key to solving this problem in the PDF-XChange Viewer source files. I hope that one day I will be able to get the word 100% from Vasyl again.

• Animation1.gif
  
  
  Animation2.gif

• SampleFiles.zip

Hoping that the above information will be of some help to you.
Thank you so much for your continued support.

Best regards,
rakunavi

- PDF-XChange Editor Plus Version: 10.4.3 build 391
- PDF-XChange Viewer Version: 2.5 build 322.10
- Adobe Acrobat Reader Continuous Release Version 2024.003.20180 (32-bit)
- OS Version: Windows 11 Home 23H2 Build 22631.4317
- PC Model: Lenovo IdeaPad C340-15IWL, HP All-in-One 22-c0xx

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

I cannot seem to reproduce the issue here any longer. I have ensure that I am using the official MS gothic font, and the files I create are working as expected.
Similarly, when opening your sample files, even the damaged "391_Adobe" file, results in the comment being fixed upon selection and sticks with any edits being made.. Both in our Editor, and in the same version of Adobe you report is running.

I have forwarded this to the Dev team, but it is very strange that using everything you have provided I cannot reproduce this in the same circumstances, and that even your sample files are fixed when trying the same tasks here. Hopefully someone one the Dev team has better luck than I do.

Kind regards,

[rakunavi]

Hello Daniel, thank you for taking the time in your busy schedule to check this out.

As I have said in this and other post here, if you are using English version of Windows, you will need to install the Font Pack and Spelling Dictionary Pack separately, is that OK? Incidentally, the Acrobat font pack does not need to be installed in a Japanese Windows environment.

• Reader | 64-bit Font Pack and Spelling Dictionary
  https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/font-pack-spelling-dictionary-64-bit-windows.html
• 32-bit Font Pack and Spelling Dictionary Pack for Acrobat Reader on Windows
  https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/windows-font-packs-32-bit-reader.html

Even if you have already installed the font pack for Acrobat, as I pointed out in my post here, garbled characters will not occur if (A) the language of the OS when the PDF is created with PDF-XChange Editor is different from (B) the language of the OS when the PDF is opened in Acrobat.

In other words, even if you say that you have "verified" a certain scenario, there are actually four possible combinations, and if they are not taken into account, you may not have truly verified the scenario. Curiously, only the third and fourth cases cause garbled characters. When the file attached in the previous post is viewed in an English Windows environment, it falls into the first case below, so it is not surprising that garbled characters do not occur.

1. <Non-garbled case>
   After creating the file with PDFXCE in (A) the Japanese Windows environment (*),
   open it with Acrobat in (B) the English Windows environment.
2. <Non-garbled case>
   After creating the file with PDFXCE in (A) the English Windows environment,
   open it with Acrobat in (B) the Japanese Windows environment (*).
3. <Garbled case>
   After creating the file with PDFXCE in (A) the Japanese Windows environment (*),
   open it with Acrobat in (B) the Japanese Windows environment (*).
4. <Garbled case>
   After creating the file with PDFXCE in (A) the English Windows environment,
   open it with Acrobat in (B) the English Windows environment.

Note that the Japanese Windows environment (*) includes environments where the original Windows version was Japanese and the display language was later changed to English by installing the Microsoft Windows English Language Pack from the Windows settings. This means that the attachment I provided yesterday was created with the third case, and the attachment attached to this post was created with the fourth case.

Generally, when a user notices this problem, (A) the language of the creating OS should match (B) the language of the viewing OS. The same is true for the comments I made in my verification video. However, when a user reports a problem to an overseas support center, the language of the OS is not necessarily the same on both sides. In that case, when the user provides the file, the overseas support center will not be able to verify the problem. I assume that you are in exactly this situation and therefore cannot verify the problem.

Therefore, rather than opening the attached file for verification, it would be easier to verify the problem by creating a comment with some appropriate Japanese text in PDF-XChange Editor, saving it, and then opening the PDF file in Acrobat. This is because as long as you do all the steps yourself, (A) the language of the OS you are creating the file on will definitely match (B) the language of the OS you are viewing it on. You don't have to type the Japanese characters yourself, just paste them in via the clipboard as I do in the video. For your information, in the verification video, I type "日本語で文字を入力します。" or "日本語で追加の文字を入力します。" in Japanese.

Just to be sure, the verification was performed on a VMware virtual machine with the English version of Windows 10 installed. No applications are installed, and only the latest Windows Update is applied and saved as an image file. When there is a problem that needs to be carefully reproduced, as in this case, the image file is opened in read-only mode for verification.

A video verifying the same procedure as before is shown below.

• case2.gif

• SampleFiles.zip

As I presented before, you can edit the comment in Acrobat without garbled characters in build 322, but garbled characters occur in build 391.

Hoping that the above information will be of some help to you.
Thank you so much for your continued support.

Best regards,
rakunavi

- PDF-XChange Editor Version: 10.4.3 build 391
- PDF-XChange Viewer Version: 2.5 build 322.10
- Adobe Acrobat Reader Continuous Release Version 2024.003.20180 (32-bit)
- OS Version: Windows 10 Pro 64bit Version 22H2 build 19045.5011
- PC Model: VMware Workstaion 16 Player

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

In an ironic turn of events, I did test cast #4 yesterday specifically, but it seems that there was an issue (or solution?) present with the version of the MS Gothic font I had manually installed as per your report.
On removing those fonts and testing case #4 again today with the standard "Windows Included" versions of the font, surely enough I was finally able to reproduce the issue. I am unsure why there is any discrepancy between the version of MS Gothic normally available on my system, and the version that was downloaded, but here we are. I will be showing this to Vasyl as soon as he arrives at the office today.

As you say, it is often the case that reporting issues from overseas versions of windows can further complicate the issue, as items we all tend to take for granted as "non-variables", or items that generally wouldnt need to be accounted for can indeed become new variables to the equation.

[update] - I have heard back from the team, with a little bit of good news and some very bad news relating to this topic.

• The good news is that we do know the cause of the issue, and we are doing our best working on a solution.
• The bad news is... The Dev who we needed most for this particular issue, has been drafted and is out of contact. While we can make changes to this area, they will take much, much longer than normal without his expertise to guide the way. As such, I cannot promise "when" this will be resolved... It could take many months, or longer still.

I am sorry to say it does not look like a solution will be available anytime soon at this rate, but it is a focus item for some team members to work towards a resolution.

Kind regards,

[rakunavi]

Hello Daniel, thank you for your reply.

I am relieved to hear that you have confirmed the problem there as well. All previous reports have been for fonts included by default in Windows itself or in the Japanese language pack. I did not assume that users would manually install individual fonts.

The differences in the occurrence of problems between fonts have been summarized in a previous post here. The reason why I often use MS Gothic as an example in my reports is that it is a major font in the Japanese Windows environment, having been used since Windows 3.1. In English, it is like Arial.

Given that it took two and a half years for the problem to be recognized and four and a half years counting from the first report, I am prepared to have the same patience in the future. However, it is certainly the biggest concern for users of PDF-XChange Editor in a Japanese environment. I pray for the safety of the developers and hope that Tracker will continue to do well.

Best regards,
rakunavi

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

[mspaeth]

Hello, I am having this issue not only with Japanese characters but with any of the Asian characters (Japanese, Chinese, Korean). I created a fillable form in PDF xchange (version 10.5.2 build 395). The characters appear as a text box in the document and in text field, however when I open Adobe Reader (version 2025.001.20432) when entering the text it appears garbled.

From PDF xchange (the second text box is the fillable text box for users using Adobe Reader. To see if the characters display in the box, I pasted it here):
See file attachment adobereader.png


From Adobe Reader (I removed the text from the box so that I can add it when in Adobe Reader, and this is the results):
See file attachment pdfexchange.png

Any help on what I should try? The font used is Arial, but have tried other fonts and still have the same issue when opening it in Adobe.

pdfexchange.png

adobereader.png

[Dimitar - PDF-XChange]

Hello mspaeth,

Welcome to our Forum.

May I ask you for a copy of one of the files you have this issue with?

You may send it to our support email address - support@pdf-xchange.com

Regards.

[mspaeth]

Hi Dimitar,
Thanks for the response. Email sent.

Hello mspaeth,

Welcome to our Forum.

May I ask you for a copy of one of the files you have this issue with?

You may send it to our support email address - support@pdf-xchange.com

Regards.

[rakunavi]

Hello all,

The following topic also reports garbled Japanese fonts in form text fields.

• BUG : form field & non Latin fonts
  viewtopic.php?t=41118

It seems to me that the cause of the garbled characters is the same for both comments and fields. I sincerely hope that the developer in charge of this issue will return safely from the war and return to development.

Best regards,
rakunavi

[Dimitar - PDF-XChange]

Thank you, mspaeth,

We have received your file and forwarded it to our developers.

We will keep everyone updated as these cases develop.

[mspaeth]

Thank you, mspaeth,

We have received your file and forwarded it to our developers.

We will keep everyone updated as these cases develop.

Hi Dimitar,
Is there any update on this? If not we may need to go another route in designing the fillable PDF form that will work with Asian characters. Thanks.

[Dimitar - PDF-XChange]

Hello mspaeth,

I'm afraid there is no news on this yet.

Our developers are still investigating the cause of this issue.