I have specialty fonts that I have saved in some documents to email. On my new laptop (M1, 2020, Big Sur) they open fine in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, but when I attach them to an email, the specialty font defaults to a wonky, odd symbol look. How can I fix this? I've checked every preference. (Doesn't do this on my old, slowly dying Mac-- mid 2012, Yosemite.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.2
And, it took a couple of years to complete. Fontographer.
That is likely the problem. Especially if you built this quite a while ago and the resulting TrueType font was given a .suit extension by Fontographer.
The main problem there being it would be a non-Unicode font.
Give this a try. Use any of the many free online font converters to change your font to OpenType. Your pick if you want it to be of the PostScript or TrueType variety. They're easy to use. You upload a font via the site's interface, and it gives you a link to download the converted font. Here's a couple:
https://convertio.co/font-converter/
https://www.fontconverter.org/
Of course, the question becomes - why does it work on your end as expected, but nowhere else?
And, it took a couple of years to complete. Fontographer.
That is likely the problem. Especially if you built this quite a while ago and the resulting TrueType font was given a .suit extension by Fontographer.
The main problem there being it would be a non-Unicode font.
Give this a try. Use any of the many free online font converters to change your font to OpenType. Your pick if you want it to be of the PostScript or TrueType variety. They're easy to use. You upload a font via the site's interface, and it gives you a link to download the converted font. Here's a couple:
https://convertio.co/font-converter/
https://www.fontconverter.org/
Of course, the question becomes - why does it work on your end as expected, but nowhere else?
YamahaC3 wrote:
when I attach them to an email, the specialty font defaults to a wonky, odd symbol look.
Please post a screenshot that illustrates what you are talking about.
Without knowing about the typeface, it looks like you are opening the document on the right in Preview. Preview is likely unable to render the typeface used to create the notes; the "font" may not be embedded on the document or the rendering structure wasn't created to spec. If you open the emailed document using Adobe Reader, it would likely look ok. It's possible that Apple Preview hasn't full implemented something that is in the program you used to create the original pdf. Pdfs are ... complicated ... to say the least.
It is very unusual to create a custom font. The burden is on you to prove that the font fully conforms to applicable specifications. Adobe’s software tries very hard to display all content. As such, it is a good tool for viewing, but a very poor tool for creating. When testing this font, you need to use tools that are more strict. You can’t assume that everyone has the latest version of Adobe Acrobat.
The emails show correctly on my old MacBook, running Mohave. It's not the font; it's the display of the PDF within Mail (also in Preview-- but, I changed the preference in Acrobat Reader to open in AR, so it doesn't open Preview anymore.
I believe it has something to do with Big Sur and possibly a newer version of Mail (on the new Laptop.) So far, I've found that if you change the advanced option to show the PDF file as an "icon", it sends fine-- however, that has to be done with each email and that's too time-consuming. Gotta find a permanent fix.
What do you mean "attach them to an e-mail"? You can't use specialty fonts in an e-mail. PDF has support for embedded fonts. Fonts in e-mail are just something someone hacked up one day - literally. They are just a very limited form of HTML. No web fonts or anything like that available.
Clarification: I send PDF files as attachments. The PDF files have symbols which are in the specialty font (which I created/developed). On my older laptop PDF files always, always display as they were saved. On my new M1 2020 they display correctly if opened in Acrobat Reader DC, but if I try to send those PDF files through my email (MAIL) the specialty symbols revert to a set of strange symbols from another font set.
The left side shows the PDF file. The right side shows what the same PDF page looks like in my emails. (My title stated PDF Files change fonts when emailing). I should have re-stated that in the message. ~Pat
You're right. Preview and attaching to emails turns out like the one on the right. But, until recently, I've never had the problem with emails before. I just don't know the source. If I knew "why", maybe I could find a fix. Also-- I have tried to figure out how to embed the specialty font into a PDF, but can't find the spot in the app for doing that. Any help there? ~Pat
Yes. Now, when I send an email to my own account and open on my old laptop, the symbols are wonky. Didn't use to happen on my old laptop-- ever. I'm wondering if Big Sur is influencing things-- or the M1 itself.
Yes, it is. And, it took a couple of years to complete. Fontographer. TrueType. Should be fine. All these years I thought Acrobat Reader simply "took a scan" within the program and the output was saved. Period. Seems that's not true anymore. Maybe with the more advanced "Pro" options they've pushed the program beyond the limits of just producing what's actually viewable on the page.
Thanks for your ideas. I'll try those.
I just wish I did know how it's broken and how to fix the problem. My PDFs seem fine on my website, but the email PDFs are crucial. And, it's only a few of them that get corrupt. It's confusing as can be. Thanks, again.
YamahaC3 wrote:
I believe it has something to do with Big Sur and possibly a newer version of Mail (on the new Laptop.) So far, I've found that if you change the advanced option to show the PDF file as an "icon", it sends fine-- however, that has to be done with each email and that's too time-consuming.
If that causes the document to send fine, then your problem is solved - there is no problem. This "advanced option" is a no-op. It does absolutely nothing to the e-mail itself. It only changes how it appears when you compose the message.
Actually, problem is not solved. I have online buyers and when I send emails there are several PDF Files sent. Changing the PDFs one by one isn't what's needed in the long term. But, I'll still work on it. Thank you.
YamahaC3 wrote:
Changing the PDFs one by one isn't what's needed in the long term.
What I meant was changing those PDFs one by one only affects how they display on your computer.
One trick you could try is to make sure all of your PDFs are at least two pages. Multi-page PDFs will always display, and be sent, as attachments.
Just to clarify further, are your attachments being displayed with the wrong font on the machines of other people than yourself who are receiving your emails?
PDF Files change fonts when emailing
