PDF import in Affinity Publisher

[P e t e]

Hi

 

PDF import mostly works well (for me) if I have all the fonts.

However if missing any of the fonts that are in the PDF, it offers a substation font.

 

 

In PagePlus X9, there was an option to Graphic render text as curves which worked a treat when the font was missing.

I can't see this option in Affinity Publisher - Have I missed it or is it a feature that is coming soon?

 

 

thanks

Pete

[Alfred]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, Pete.

PPX9 interprets fonts that are embedded in a PDF file. The Affinity apps don’t do this yet, which is why you get substitute fonts if the PDF uses fonts which are not available on your computer.

As for rendering text as curves when exporting to PDF from an Affinity app, you can achieve that via the options offered during the export procedure.

[P e t e]

Thanks Alfred

 

re: PDF import with missing fonts render as graphics

"The Affinity apps don’t do this yet" - is it your understanding this feature will be added in the future?

 

thank you

[Alfred]

2 minutes ago, P e t e said:

re: PDF import with missing fonts render as graphics

"The Affinity apps don’t do this yet" - is it your understanding this feature will be added in the future?

Absolutely. PDF passthrough (where the file is placed ‘as is’ instead of being imported as editable content) has been promised as a future feature, and that requires interpretation of the embedded fonts so that the app knows what the text elements should look like.

[Lane]

On a mac, something I do is open the pdf in the Preview app and then hit print. If you select the PDF popup in the bottom left, you will see a Save as PostScript option. Saving the print to PostScript essentially converts the type to curves and opening that in the affinity apps gets you the outlines for all the text. I can merge the two manually if I want to edit the file using the outlines for items I don't have the font for.

[000]

@Lane That does not solve the problem ... it's a workaroud (as is saving your PDF as high-res JPG or TIF), but is not practical when you need to process a lot of PDF documents from various sources, e.g. adverts, barcodes, logos, drawings, graphs, tables, forms and many other small ,elements' in a magazine, book, catalogue or even on a poster (think "band logo" or "sponsor messages" for the poster example) or assemble a new layout out of several PDFs.

Placing and passing through a PDF "as is" is the de-facto standard in the design and publishing industry for this, because PDF is an exchange format invented for exactly this use case (among other reasons). Requiring ANY other steps is simply not acceptable.

In my opinion, the best solution for this would be to have PDF pass-through in Publisher and render PDFs for editing when opening them with Designer or using the Designer Persona in Publisher – this gives the user a choice and also makes for a good distinction between the two applications.

If Serif needs to purchase licenses for PDF passthrough from a third party and implement them in Publisher (just one app, not all three), I am happy to pay a couple of Pounds or Dollars or Euros extra or even buy it as an add-on or plugin. But again: For ANY professional DTP and Layout application this feature is an absolute MUST.

 

[lacerto]

(...)