mangled .pdf

[powers74]

Any ideas why my .pdf files are a mangled mess of random characters?

To make it even better, it's unpredictable! Sometimes it's only bold headings, sometimes it's the entire document.

I've got no clue.

 

[Blue Velvet]

How are you producing these PDFs? What apps are you using and what fonts do they contain? Does it do the same thing if you use different fonts?

Try producing a PDF-X, it should be an option in the Print Dialogue box, tell us what happens.

 

[powers74]

No, these are simply .pdfs that I have dowloaded and opened up in preview. Some are worse than others, but nearly all are affected. When I create them they seem to be fine.

 

[Blue Velvet]

No, these are simply .pdfs that I have dowloaded and opened up in preview.

Every PDF or just ones from a particular source?

Try downloading Adobe Reader then, and see if the same problem happens. If you get the same problems, then there's something wrong with the particular PDFs that you're viewing.

Another question: Do they print OK?

 

[powers74]

hmmmmm

I'll look into those suggestions and get back with you. Though, it does not seem to be source specific. Thanks for your help!

 

[xUKHCx]

If you can post a link to the original source where you downloaded those pdf's we can see if the problems shows up on our computers, which would mean the source files are at fault.

 

[powers74]

here it is

This is just the most recent file I've had an issue with. There have been many others which were much worse. The mangled portions seemed to be in the headers, or anything bold. And yeah, it prints all jacked up.

 

[Blue Velvet]

This is just the most recent file I've had an issue with.

OK, I've opened it up in Acrobat Pro and the main problem with this one is that a number of Windows Truetype fonts are not embedded within the document, which means that if you don't have the fonts on your machine, parts of it won't display properly.

These Truetype fonts are:

• Arial-Bold ItalicMT
• Arial-BoldMT
• Arial-ItalicMT
• Verdana

Check in FontBook and Spotlight to see what you have and whether they're activated.

 

[xUKHCx]

When you download that pdf from MacRumors is it mangled?

To me it looks fine:





I'd launch 'Font Book' and then validate your fonts to see if there is an issue with any of your installed fonts that may be causing the issue.

Or read Blue Velvet's way more insightful post 🙂

 

[powers74]

great

Now WTF do I do?

 

[powers74]

What does this mean?

these were the "serious errors". And how do I get rid of "duplicate fonts"?

 

[Blue Velvet]

One of the ways to get these fonts back is to download and install the Microsoft Office trial.

You should be able to manage and remove duplicates through FontBook.

 

[powers74]

like and such as

Resolve duplicates? 😱


Thanks!

 

[Blue Velvet]

Resolve duplicates? 😱

Yeah, but delete the corrupted ones before installing new ones. 🙂