PDF exports gibberish

[knguyen]

Every time I go to export my PDF, it exports gibberish text instead of the text that I've entered into the document. I have tried exporting every which way. Help.

[knguyen]

Here's what it looks like.

ghost in the stalks layout (dragged).pdf

[wonderings]

Looks like you have a font issue. Just as a test, can you change the font to something standard like Arial or Times New Roman and see how it exports?

[knguyen]

Looks like it worked with Times New Roman. Do you know why I wouldn't be able to use a particular font? The same font works for the bold heading, as you can see, but not for the body text.

[thomaso]

Apparently here a known issue in Affinity is working. Your used font "Crimson" is detected in Acrobat as Type 1 font format. Those Type 1 (older Postscript) fonts are reported to conflict with Affinity.

The reason that only the Roman but not the Bold face is affected may lay in a technical difference within the files, e.g. from a different source or time (version)? Here their coding is mentioned as different, for the Roman face it's called "user defined". That also might mean the data just got corrupted at any time (e.g. in a copying process).

You could compare the modification dates of these two, and possibly still have an unmodified file in a backup. Also you could try resetting the font data base, first in Affinity only (app prefs > misc > font) and, if that doesn't help, in your macOS. Or maybe just de-install and re-install the font file.

[derekkinsman]

@knguyen as a fix, you can download Crimson Pro (it's not on Google Fonts, still free). It is something that can be exported to PDF.

[Alfred]

6 minutes ago, derekkinsman said:

you can download Crimson Pro

Crimson Pro is not the same as Crimson.

[thomaso]

21 hours ago, knguyen said:

I have tried exporting every which way

Have you also tried to export with curved text?
For some font issues this helps to get it exported. You can either convert text to curves during export (More > Embed fonts > Text to Curves...) or before export (Toolbar > Convert to Curves...).

[derekkinsman]

@Alfred Crimson Pro is the third iteration of the font. https://github.com/skosch/Crimson

[Pauls]

Also make sure you dont have multiple versions installed. Crimson has been causing  issues.

[donnac202]

I'm still learning Designer, but is there a "convert text to outline" option before exporting? Just a thought.

[walt.farrell]

37 minutes ago, donnac202 said:

I'm still learning Designer, but is there a "convert text to outline" option before exporting? Just a thought.

In the More... options when Exporting a PDF:

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, donnac202 said:

a "convert text to outline" option before exporting?

To convert to curves before exporting you can use 3 spots:
– The according button in the toolbar (often hidden at the right end >>)
– The context menu (right-click)
– The main menu > 'Layer' > '...' (it's not in 'Text')
 

  

Note that a conversion to text with either of these ways changes the text in your document – whereas a conversion during export (see above, by Walt) doesn't manipulate the objects within your document and therefore keeps the text editable.