How to embed fonts in a PDF

I have a book which uses Garamond Light Italic and Helvetica light Oblique. Only 2 styles of 2 fonts.
The printer wants me to embed the entire font families with the PDF files.
My problem is that I don't know how.
All I know is that it will only embed the files being used in the document.
Should I include one letter of each style of each of the 2 fonts, so that the computer will know which fonts to embed?
Or, is it as simple as entering 100% in the Subset font below window?
I'm certain there must be a better and easier way.
Also, it there a way of verifying that the proper fonts have been embeded?
Please, I need your advise.

iMac 20", 2GHz Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.4.1), 3Gb, Titanium 250Gb Ext FireWire Drive. Quark 6.5, PS CS2, Office 2004

Posted on Aug 3, 2008 8:00 PM

22 replies

Aug 6, 2008 1:45 PM in response to LilyLC

LilyLC, I think I may have to go the distiller route.
I tried to download the free Adobe PostScript Printer Driver, but all I find is for Quark3 and other driver versions which I don't understand.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Adobe%27sDistiller+postscript+driver+formac&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8

If you can, Is it possible for you to find the proper driver and instruct me on how to use it?
Do I first have to make postscript files and the convert them to PDF?
Where do I put the driver?
Thanks.

Adobe had a trial offer on the pro version, but only for PCs.

LilyLC

Level 4

2,834 points

Aug 6, 2008 3:51 PM in response to Frank Abramonte1

+"I may have to go the distiller route."+

Hmm...I thought the problem was solved.

Yes, unfortunately Adobe does not have a trial version of Acrobat for the Mac. What you found is for the old OS 9.x. The Acrobat print driver is included with the Acrobat application (which also includes the Acrobat Distiller app) and installs with the application. It will show up in the Printer Setup Utility and in your list of printers in any application Print window.

I currently have Acrobat Pro 8 and the corresponding print driver name is Adobe PDF 8.0. (Note: the 8.0 corresponds to the version of Acrobat, but the actual driver version is 10.4. Confused? Don't bother.)

+"Do I first have to make postscript files and the convert them to PDF?"+

No. Distiller and the print driver work together. Distiller comes with a set of pre-defined job options (like the ones in Quark's export to layout). In printing to PDF with Quark, you select Print and the the Printer button to get the OS X print window. Click on the Copies & Pages and options will pop-down to then select PDF Options, thus allowing to choose one of the pre-defined options. Alternatively, you could make a postscript file and then run that through Distiller. (some people prefer this method.) You can set a preference for PDFs in Quark.

If you purchase Acrobat, it should have some kind of tutorial and help files. If not, the Adobe website has a wealth of info and also a user forum. You might wonder over to adobe.com

Aug 6, 2008 4:21 PM in response to LilyLC

Thanks for the reply, but I don't understand a word.
The problem is that the printers software detected that I wasn't using the latest software, and it may cause a problem. They aren't sure it's really only detecting that the latest software was not used.
I'm going to upload another PFD file and hope they could figure out whether it will be alright to print.
I'm starting to believe that this is caused by Adobe not giving Quark the proper support in the hope that we tire and switch to indesign.
Thanks

LilyLC

Level 4

2,834 points

Aug 6, 2008 8:33 PM in response to Frank Abramonte1

+"Thanks for the reply, but I don't understand a word."+

Basically, if you want the Adobe PDF print driver, you buy a full version of Acrobat. When you install Acrobat, it will install the application, distiller and print driver. Things will make sense when you have the software and the manual.

+"The problem is that the printers software detected that I wasn't using the latest software, and it may cause a problem."+

Does the printer mean the OS, Quark or the PDF? Either way, the printer ought to have software that is backwards compatible. After all, they should not expect that everyone is able to upgrade to the latest OS and applications. There are many reasons why a person may choose not to upgrade.

Did you make your final PDF with Quark’s export layout to PDF or OS X Save as PDF?
Quark's export to PDF makes a PDF 1.4 that is compatible to Acrobat 5, which is what viovio.com specifies.

+"I'm starting to believe that this is caused by Adobe not giving Quark the proper support in the hope that we tire and switch to indesign."+

The export layout to PDF uses the Jaws PDF Library by Global Graphics, which is different from Acrobat Distiller. IMHO, Quark has always been somewhat of a renegade and their choice to license Global Graphics' jaws technology for making PDFs began with Quark 6 and should not be blamed on Adobe.

Aug 7, 2008 2:30 AM in response to LilyLC

LilyLC, I'm trying to avoid buying Acrobat since I don't use it that often.
I thought the distiller was available free of charge.

The original PDFs that didn't work were created with export layout to PDF. They were individual PDFs pages and them merged with PDF merge.
The latest PDFs where made with OS X Save as PDF from one document of 32 pages.

Which way do you suggest I use?
With the OX Save I don’t get the option to subset fonts.
Quark insists that either way of saving PDFs are the same.

This is the message displayed during the ordering process on Viovio.

http://i37.tinypic.com/6o0wgg.jpg

See PDF Creation for details.

The manager at Viovio mailed me the following:

"Frank, I believe the problem is you are font subsetting each page, and then merging the documents. This causes the printer to get confused about available resources, and would likely explain the problem. If possible, create a complete document not from merged pages and non-subsetted fonts. If we are lucky, this should fix the problem. Let us know if you create this PDF and I will take a peak at it prior to ordering.

If you load the individual pages into a photo gallery, and then use our bookmaker, I can assure you the book will print perfectly."

I'm creating individual pages again and will try this today.
Thanks

LilyLC

Level 4

2,834 points

Aug 7, 2008 1:12 PM in response to Frank Abramonte1

+"The latest PDFs where made with OS X Save as PDF from one document of 32 pages."+

Was that the document that viovio detected that was not using the latest software?

+"With the OX Save I don’t get the option to subset fonts."+

You (and viovio.com) want Embedded fonts NOT subset, so the OS Save as PDF as one 32-page PDF should work.

If the individual PDF pages works with Viovio's Bookmaker than your finally done.

In case that does not work, then try Quark's export layout to PDF with Embed All fonts (uncheck the box next to subset fonts) in which all 32 pages is one native Quark document. (Do NOT import individual PDF pages to create one Quark document.) This will make an Acrobat 5 (aka v1.4) compatible PDF which is what viovio recommends on their PDF Creation FAQ page. (Scroll down to the section "Is there a way I can ensure that my PDF file will print correctly?" and note second bullet point.)

Note: Item 6 on Viovio's PDF Creation page states Acrobat 6 compatibility. So their recommendations are not consistent. Unless you are using transparency features in Quark 6.5 the export layout to PDF should be okay.

Aug 7, 2008 2:53 PM in response to LilyLC

LilyLC,
"The latest PDFs where made with OS X Save as PDF from one document of 32 pages."
Was that the document that viovio detected that was not using the latest software? YES

"With the OX Save I don’t get the option to subset fonts."
I used the export layout to PDF in quark
I decided to follow viovio's suggestion and make the PDFs in single pages and uncheck Subset fonts.

I had trouble uploading the entire 34 documents at one time, so I uploaded 8 pages at a time. Took about 1/2 hour for 1.01GB.

I checked a low res copy of the book and it looks ok.
The manager had said he would check it to make sure it works.

You (and viovio.com) want Embedded fonts NOT subset, so the OS Save as PDF as one 32-page PDF should work.
They recommended individual pages, which is what I gave them.

If the individual PDF pages works with Viovio's Bookmaker than your finally done.
All I'm waiting for are 2 answers.

1. In one spot on the order form it showed an inside page as the cover.
They're checking on this, However, later on in the ordering when it came to the covers it displayed the correct covers.

2. The manager's approval.

Then it's home free thanks to all the helpers I had.
I hope maybe someday I can answer a question for you, although i doubt it.
Will make a final post on how the book turned out.

Thanks

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How to embed fonts in a PDF