Illustrator CS5 text problem opening PDF

[mackensteff]

Hello,

An issue I have wasted way too much time on and hoping for some insight here. I have a bunch of PDF's I am trying to open in illustrator. The vector images come through alright, but all the text is converted to . If I save the PDF again in Preview as a PDF-X the text now appears as random numbers and symbols like: +4)%$*0!$)%#5!!673!%$'()*#!+,$-!

I am now saying "+4)%$*0!$)%#5!!673!%$'()*#!+,$-!" and any insight would be appreciated.

PS the text will copy and paste with no errors from preview into word or illustrator. It is only when I open the file in illustrator the text is gone.

 

[SwiftLives]

Try changing the font of the text in Illustrator.

 

[mackensteff]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply.

I have tried that, and while some of the text attributes change the text remains garbled.

 

[Kwill]

I've seen a similar thing happen once. Circumstances were a bit different though because I received a Word document that displayed the text substitution you are seeing. The client was using a scientific font on their PC. They were able to save documents as PDF so I could see what was supposed to be there. I then purchased a corresponding font for the Mac and duplicated what was depicted in the provided PDF.

Adobe Acrobat only embeds valid fonts. I suspect the font being used to generate the PDFs is a bit wonky (not Adobe or Postscript). I suggest replacing the font and making certain that the option to include the font is enabled.

 

[mackensteff]

Thanks again for the reply. The only problem is I only have the pdf files (or the .vsd files) Right now I am just cutting and pasting the text into word and working on the format there, and finally placing in illustrator. It works, but is tedious and my stubborn streak can't leave it alone!

PS now I combined all the individual pdf files into one, just to streamline the cutting and pasting. In trying to past from Preview into word I now get:
 
which I have quite frequently when I combine several pdf files into one; each file is fine, but when combined the text doesn't transfer. I think this comes from the quartz filter Preview when saving a new pdf document.


Arggg Font problems!!