Some PDFs containing Japanese vertical text cannot be displayed correctly

[rakunavi]

Hello all,

PDF-XChange Editor may not display correctly some PDFs with Japanese vertical text, but Acrobat almost certainly will display correctly. I have never encountered a case where other PDF applications can correctly display vertical text, but Acrobat cannot. When viewing or printing a PDF file created by a third party, you never know where in the document the vertical text is contained, so Japanese users have no choice but to use Acrobat.

The attached file is a tax return document issued on the Japanese National Tax Agency's web system. It is generated by Hitachi EUR Form Service that has been delivered to many government agencies and large companies in Japan.

• sample.zip

It consists of six pages in total, four of which contain vertical text. The figure below shows, from left to right, PDF-XChange Editor, Acrobat, and the differences between them (based on the results displayed by PDF-XChange Editor). The red markers indicate that the text is oriented incorrectly, and the light blue markers indicate that the text is out of alignment.

• Comparison_Page1.png
  Comparison_Page3.png
  Comparison_Page4.png
  Comparison_Page5.png

All differences are shown in the figures above, and you can see the same as comments in the following PDF.

• guide.zip

Incidentally, the PDF reader built into Microsoft Edge, like Acrobat, can display vertical text correctly and the font weight is appropriate.

• EdgePDF.png

I know that even PDF-XChange Editor will display vertical text correctly if the fonts are set to be embedded when the PDF is generated. However, as shown in the sample above, even if the fonts are not embedded, Acrobat and Microsoft Edge's built-in viewer can display the vertical text correctly, but PDF-XChange Editor cannot. I don't know the technical details, but as long as there are apps that can display vertical text under the same conditions without special settings, I feel that there is room for further improvement in PDF-XChange Editor. I hope one day I will be able to uninstall Acrobat.

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: 9.5 build 367.0
- OS Version: Windows 11 Home 22H2 Build 22621.1413
- PC Model: Lenovo IdeaPad C340-15IWL, HP All-in-One 22-c0xx

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Once again you did an amazing job of detailing exactly what we need to do.

Honestly, in all my years I have never seen someone be so consistently precise, accurate, and clear. I see what you are referring to, and your samples and guide are so good those without any understanding of Japanese can too! Considering the subtlety of some of the errors that speak volumes about the quality of the report. Thanks you for making our lives easier!

For your pleasure: RT#6434: Incorrectly rendered vertical Japanese characters

You know the drill. It's internal only etc. We will do our best to fix this.

どうもありがとうございます

[rakunavi]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for taking the time to look through it.

The only languages in the world where vertical text is still used today are Japanese, traditional Chinese, and Mongolian. Glancing at the technical documentation on vertical text, even a non-expert can see that it is an extremely cumbersome process. It is no wonder, in a sense, that many PDF applications cannot display vertical text properly. Just being able to do so would greatly increase the confidence that Japanese speakers have in the application.

It saddens me when the cost of purchasing Acrobat is included in government and municipal budgets simply because it is the de facto standard. I wish that the excellence of PDF-XChange Editor will be shared with more and more people.

一人でも多くの人にこのアプリケーションの素晴らしさを知ってもらえるように，微力ながら頑張りたいと思います。

Best regards,
rakunavi

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Together we are better!

I too hope that we can achieve the state where we are used as the defacto because it always "just works".

少しずつ