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Beginners' Questions Exporting PDF: cannot open in Acrobat Reader
  1. #1
    Mark Wexler Mark Wexler @MarkWexler

    Hello everyone,

    I'm just starting out with InkScape, after years of using AI.

    I've run into the following problem: if I save a file with text as PDF, I cannot open the file using Acrobat Reader. See attached file drawing_lOD1W2c.svg for example, and drawing_embed_fonts.pdf for the exported PDF that doesn't open.

    However, I've found that if, instead of embedding the fonts, you convert them to paths, the resulting PDF file does open in Acrobat (see drawing_convert_text.pdf).

    Is this a bug or a feature? Is there a workaround? It's important for me to be able to open the PDF files in Acrobat, and to save the text rather than convert it to paths.

    By the way, I'm using Inkscape ver. 1.0.2 64-bit on Windows 10.

    Thanks a lot,

    Mark

  2. #2
    Tyler Durden Tyler Durden @TylerDurden
    *

    I'm not replicating the issue here w v0.92.2 on Win8.1, nor v1.01 on Linux Mint.

    Describe the Inkscape installer you used (.mst, .exe. zip), plus any special hardware like tablet/stylus or multiple monitors.

  3. #3
    Mark Wexler Mark Wexler @MarkWexler

    I installed Inkscape using an .msi installer file downloaded from your website earlier today (file name "inkscape-1.0.2_2021-01-15_e86c870879-x64.msi"). No special hardware (just a laptop touchpad + external mouse), single monitor.

  4. #4
    Tyler Durden Tyler Durden @TylerDurden
    *

    ok, thanks.

    Here's a screenshot of my settings on the win machine. Do your settings match?

  5. #5
    Mark Wexler Mark Wexler @MarkWexler

    My settings matched yours, except that I had rasterization at 96 dpi instead of 600 dpi. But changing that parameter didn't make any difference.

     

    Screenshot
  6. #6
    Tyler Durden Tyler Durden @TylerDurden

    Are your fonts in the windows/fonts directory? 
    (Using font managers and/or other directories has only recently been implemented and may not perform as expected.)

  7. #7
    Mark Wexler Mark Wexler @MarkWexler

    Yes, my fonts are in C:\Windows\Fonts. I just tried with another font, Arial, and I still have the same problem.

  8. #8
    Tyler Durden Tyler Durden @TylerDurden

    Ok, thanks... I'm trying to narrow this down. So far, all looks in order.

    Please post a screenshot of your Preferences>Tool>Text dialog window.

    (The one I show is from Linux, so my user fonts directory will not match yours.)

    Preferences Text
  9. #9
    Mark Wexler Mark Wexler @MarkWexler

    Here's the screenshot.

    Thanks a lot for your help, Tyler!

    Screenshot2
  10. #10
    Mark Wexler Mark Wexler @MarkWexler

    One more thing I've noticed: the faulty PDF files that won't open in Acrobat Reader (or Acrobat, or AI) -- they do open in Google's PDF interpreter in Chrome.

  11. #11
    Tyler Durden Tyler Durden @TylerDurden

    I also tested in Windows "Reader"... the file opened, but with font substitution.

     

  12. #12
    Tyler Durden Tyler Durden @TylerDurden
    *

    I don't see any significant differences on this end regarding Inkscape itself. That said, Inkscape uses the Cairo rendering engine to generate pdf files, which may be creating the problem.

    I found a report that has issues with Cairo and text, but it's not clear that it is directly related to this issue. https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/issues/827

    The Cairo version reported in Adobe Reader's properties display for the problem example file is 1.17.4. (This version# may be a rebadge of a version having issues.) The Cairo versions reported for my successful output files are 1.15.6 and 1.1.10.

    There is probably a way to test Cairo using the command line to directly convert the svg to pdf, but I'd have to dig around for that

     

    TL;DR; the pdf rendering engine (Cairo) packaged with your Inkscape may have a bug. If so, in the best scenario, the rendering engine might be swappable for another version.

    I haven't heard this issue coming up before, so there may be other complicating factors.

    As a workaround, I'd try printing to PDF or using a standalone converter for svg>pdf.   

     

    Feel free to report this as a bug. Here is info on filing reports at gitlab: https://inkscape.org/forums/beyond/how-to-report-bugs-or-request-new-features/

  13. #13
    Mark Wexler Mark Wexler @MarkWexler
    👍

    I was about to report the bug, but then saw that someone else beat me to it! I also noticed (as I point out in the discussion of the bug report) that you can often get rid of the bug by changing fonts.

  14. #14
    Freezr Freezr @freezr

    If you open the PDF you can see the fonts aren't embedded, it is the second post I saw with the same issue. But If I open the SVG file the font in use is just a generic sans-serif.

    There are some fonts that have restriction because the DRM...

    I found this thread maybe can help to fix the issue:

    https://inkscape.org/forums/other/inkscape-and-font-manager-compatibility-fontbase-progress/

    Fonts
    Ink Font
  15. #15
    Mark Wexler Mark Wexler @MarkWexler
    👍

    Update for anyone else who might have had the same issue:

    About a year later, I updated Inkscape, from ver. 1.0.2 to 1.1.1, and the problem has been solved.

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