Designer cannot open PDF files containing embedded fonts correctly

[Blake_S]

If you try to open any PDF file which contains embedded fonts, Designer will ignore those fonts and replace them with a wrong ones.

There doesn't seem to be any way to open a file using the embedded fonts.

[walt.farrell]

Unfortunately, this is not a bug.

The Affinity Suite simply has never implemented support for using fonts embedded in a PDF, and users must have the proper fonts installed. I'm sure there are many Feature Requests in the Feedback forum to implement this support.

[JeffreyWalther]

This is not a bug.

The PDF file should contain all the text as curves. The creator of the PDF needs to export it properly.
This is a rule of sorts.

If you leave the text as it is, chances are that fonts are missing on the target system (except for common fonts like Arial).

[Blake_S]

17 hours ago, JeffreyWalther said:

The PDF file should contain all the text as curves. The creator of the PDF needs to export it properly.
This is a rule of sorts.

From what I've read, majority of people disagree with you, saying that outlining fonts is no longer needed, and is mostly an ancient practice.

Example: https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/convert-fonts-to-outlines-when-is-absolutely-needed/td-p/8490863

What people should actually do is embed fonts.

Quote

If you leave the text as it is, chances are that fonts are missing on the target system

Doesn't matter at all if the font is embedded.

Of course it would have been better to have fonts in curves for editing, but not needed for printing unless 20+ year old RIP is used.

[walt.farrell]

4 hours ago, Blake_S said:

Doesn't matter at all if the font is embedded.

That's fine for display of the PDF. For editing, though, the app you use to edit must have support for using the embedded fonts. And Affinity does not provide that support.

[SrPx]

I believe embedding fonts would anyway require the font(/s) license in the target system, specially for the product's commercial usage, but don't quote me on that... I would have to agree that the font embedding is ideal for certain cases. But I have found the situation (many times) where even before sending a first file, the print company would set the requirement of all fonts being converted to curves ("outlines"), despite being a PDF (specially, those print places of the hyper cheap kind). The best workflow for quality is "packaging" the print job (in InDesign, you can do that), where not only the font but other matters will get packed. Outlining the font (converting to curves) can make the text lose a bit of quality (it thickens a bit, kerning might change, etc), and you lose certain features that an actual font provides, even just as a product for display. Anyway, for editing in the target system, it's more usual in the industry to provide an AI or EPS, but because it's Adobe's format with Adobe's tools (fiercely protected walled garden, the file formats being the major guardians). For other companies, those formats are a bit of a nightmare, thus they need often to provide the files as editable PDFs.