5 Replies Latest reply: Jun 25, 2011 10:26 AM by Steve Werner RSS

    Multiple Font subsets in combined documents

    benwiggy Community Member
    benwiggy Jun 25, 2011 7:00 AM

      I regularly create PDFs of several documents, which are then combined into one big PDF. However, Acrobat (v9) does not rationalise all the subsets of the fonts, leaving me with one document that has 11 different subsets of EACH font used!!!!

       

      I can't seem to embed the entire font using Distiller anymore. In the old days, you could embed the font, (NOT a subset), and then combining documents would still just give you one instance of the Font resource.

       

      If I select "Embed All Fonts" and nothing else, I still get subsets.

      If I select "Embed subset if less than 1% of font is used", I still get subsets.

       

      I combine the files by using Acrobat's File > Combine > Merge Files into Single PDF utility. I would rather avoid another step of having to resave or optimize the PDF afterwards.

       

      All the fonts seem to have Custom encoding. I presume this is the cause of their not being combined. My Distiller settings are slightly amended from Press standards.

       

      Any thoughts on how to stop this? Preferably in Distiller before I combine the files.

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        • 1. Re: Multiple Font subsets in combined documents
          Steve Werner CommunityMVP
          Steve Werner Jun 25, 2011 8:34 AM (in response to benwiggy)

          I honestly don't know that there's a way of doing this now (unless it can be done in a third-party plug-in that I don't have).

           

          Distiller is pretty ancient technology, and increasingly unnecessary. Adobe has been deprecating it for some time now.

           

          What I would like would be a new option in the Optimizer dialog to "combine font instances whenever possible". Sounds like it would be a good feature request.

          • 2. Re: Multiple Font subsets in combined documents
            benwiggy Community Member
            benwiggy Jun 25, 2011 9:32 AM (in response to Steve Werner)

            Steve Werner wrote:

             

            Distiller is pretty ancient technology, and increasingly unnecessary. Adobe has been deprecating it for some time now.

            What? How are we supposed to make PDFs, then?

             

            Or do we assume that we start with OS X's PDFs, and then Optimize those to our particular job options, rather than Distilling ps?

             

            I don't know much about Windows, but I thought they were still far behind on built-in PDF support. How will the deprecation of Distiller affect PDF making there?

             

            I have a number of apps where I get different results Saving As PS and Saving As PDF. (i.e. Save As PS is BETTER.)

             

            A good feature request would be to have things work as they used to, and allow the embedding of the font, with its proper name, rather than as a subset.

             

            At the moment, about 50% of my PDF files is made up of duplicate font data.

            • 3. Re: Multiple Font subsets in combined documents
              Steve Werner CommunityMVP
              Steve Werner Jun 25, 2011 9:49 AM (in response to benwiggy)

              Almost everyone I know who are making documents for print are starting with Adobe Creative Suite applications. For all of those, the File > Export > Adobe PDF or File > Save As > Adobe PDF is the way to go. Not necessary to use Distiller.

               

              What applications are you creating PDFs from?

               

              Are these combined PDFs going to a commercial print workflow?

              • 4. Re: Multiple Font subsets in combined documents
                benwiggy Community Member
                benwiggy Jun 25, 2011 10:04 AM (in response to Steve Werner)

                Regrettably, Adobe doesn't make an application for music notation. Or a spreadsheet. Or several other types of thing.

                 

                Obviously, from a Creative Suite app, I would use the PDF-creation functions built-in. But CS is not the only fruit.

                 

                And what about converting other file formats to PDFs in Acrobat? Does this not use any of the code from Distiller?

                 

                Of course, one way round the problem of the multiple subsets (getting back on track) is to export the PDF as PostScript with NO fonts included.

                Then Distill the PS, and Distiller will add the fonts if they are in its known Font Locations.

                 

                See? Distiller is still useful...!!!

                 

                I guess I'll have to submit a Feature Request that font subsets can be consolidated, like as before. But I won't hold my breath.

                • 5. Re: Multiple Font subsets in combined documents
                  Steve Werner CommunityMVP
                  Steve Werner Jun 25, 2011 10:26 AM (in response to benwiggy)

                  I'm sure Distiller will be around for a long time but don't expect it to take on any new features. It's just not in the roadmap.