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Importing PDF with missing fonts


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Hi there,

I have to say I really appreciate your effort and I do like your apps. I still hassitate about switching from CS6, but there are people around who made the step and rely on your apps. I was asked for help by one of those people with a relatively simple document in Publisher. We sorted things out, but then I looked closely at an advert that came from exterlan studio as a usual PDF and I could not believe my eyes. The document had all fonts substituted! It did a relatively good job and the difference was not huge, but still - it was different. I tried to import the file in a different way, looked in the preferences for some kind of a switch, that would allow to leave the PDF as is and not parse it on import. NOTHING. So I tried the other two apps, hoping for a way of at least rasterizing the PDF in Photo. NOTHING. I have not found a way of including the external PDF in the publisher document so that it looks as intended. If that is correct (and it is not my mistake of not finding a way) then it is a BUG hidden behind the facade of a feature. The software is unusable for everyone who needs to include external PDFs in his documents, because there is no way of having all the fonts included in any external PDF. And there is no way of having all texts in the external PDFs outlined. It might work with 50 % of them, but the rest...

Q1: Is there really no way of importing a PDF "AS IS" (without parsing is and thus substituting missing fonts and altering the look of the document)?

Q2: Is there really no way of rasterizing a PDF "AS IS" (without parsing is and thus substituting missing fonts and altering the look of the document)?

Suggestion: If the imported PDF had and option (at least in Photo and Publisher) to leave the PDF intact and parsing it only if the user needs it... that would solve the problem (it could be  rasterized and imported as bitmap (only a suggestion).

I understand, that designers who do not import PDFs from other designers do not encounter this problem, but for all the others (including me) it is rendering the apps unusable. If the above statements are true, PLEASE try to solve this very soon. Thanks.

Marek

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  • Staff

Hi Mmmccckkk,

Welcome to the forums :)

You should be able to untick replace fonts when importing your PDF to keep it accurate but you won't be able to type anymore text using that font as you don't have it. There is no way to rasterise an entire PDF on export I'm afraid.

Thanks

C

Please tag me using @ in your reply so I can be sure to respond ASAP.

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Hi Callum,

The truth is, that I tried all the ticking possibilities on importing the PDF and the outcome was the same. Affinity tries to parse all PDFs no matter what happens to the look of the document - meaning the fonts. So what you suggested just does not work - does not keep the imported PDF intact, as it should be/as was created. Try it yourself and you'll see. I tried on Windows and Mac - same result. And the same happens in all three apps. So with the whole suite of three "professional" apps there is no way of including an advertisement (for example) from your customer unless you own all the fonts used in the PDF or all the type was outlined. That is a serious trouble, if I am not mistaken and doing something wrong. The outcome of such functionality may look like this: see the difference in the type.

PastedGraphic-1.thumb.png.5b909f7941cdd257221dac8f443a0e62.png

Now, the question is: Is there a way of avoiding this? Is there a way of rasterizing the PDF, so that it can be imported to Publisher as was, not with altered looks of the missing fonts?

If there is one, PLEASE tell me.

If not: PLEASE incorporate the possibility of importing PDFs without parsing and substituting fonts AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. The sotware is otherwise still in beta (Publisher) when it is missing such basic feature. At least the Photo app should be able to rasterize ANY correct PDF. That is fundamental too. 

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  • Staff

Hi mmmccckkk,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
Currently Affinity apps don't support embedded fonts and as such it's not possible to rasterise the document or import it as is without the fonts installed. We do hope to add support for embedded fonts later but this may still take some time until it's ready.

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Hi MEB,

thanks for the straight forward answer, even though it is not the kind of answer i' like to hear. What do you mean by take some time? Are you talking about 1.7.x, 1.8, 1.9? How many months away is that? Is there a roadmap that would sum up future plans for each product? I'd say this is a crucial feature for your software to be used in production environments, where accuracy, reliability and speed are a must. 

Thanks

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Passthrough PDF is the right way to do this, unfortunately its arrival may be by the end of 2019, 2020 or 2021 – no one knows.

Meanwhile if you must, you can use Apple Preview to export to TIFF (rasterizing the whole shbang), or you can print to .ps (converting type to curves) which Publisher will gladly place.

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Hi Fixx,

end of 2019 is ok, 2020 is a bit far away and 2021... I do know how to export a PDF to raster image on a Mac. The question is how to do it on Windows - is there something similar to Preview? An app that would do the job acurately and with no additional cost?

Thanks

 

P.S. Stil... I'd like to hear an official answer to my questions about the arrival time of the Passthrough PDF functionality...

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1 hour ago, mmmccckkk said:

P.S. Stil... I'd like to hear an official answer to my questions about the arrival time of the Passthrough PDF functionality...

Serif seldom comments on when something will be delivered, or even what they're actively working on. They're more open about that than other commercial software vendors I'm familiar with, but they still probably won't answer that question.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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I feel your pain as the lack of Pdf pass through is a major issue for me too and you will see many posts on here about it.The place option doesn’t work as I expect.

Having tried a few workarounds my preferred one in terms of ease and reliability is to open the pdf and create another pdf but turning off the option to embed fonts. Try a few pdf creators until you find that offers this option and creates reliable results. Using Inkscapes pdf export worked ok but unlike the above method still required the final missing some elements.

Some here suggested extracting fonts from the pdf using an online tool but that didn’t work for me. 

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Hi Catshill

The pain originates in a presumption that importing or placing a PDF means placing as is (Passthrough PDF), but what Affinity does is parsing a PDF thus making it editable. But you the web does not say a word about it, just place PDF and many others... It is kind of missleading and does not feel like a final version... I have already tried a few PDF rasterizers and feel that it is going to be the best and easiest way even for those who bought affinity after my recommendation.

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2 hours ago, mmmccckkk said:

The pain originates in a presumption that importing or placing a PDF means placing as is (Passthrough PDF), but what Affinity does is parsing a PDF thus making it editable.

As Miguel said:

23 hours ago, MEB said:

Currently Affinity apps don't support embedded fonts and as such it's not possible to rasterise the document or import it as is without the fonts installed.

You can’t have passthrough without interpreting the embedded fonts to work out what they should look like.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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My thesis: If Serif stays on the road making imported PDF editable with no other option, plus what is obviously on their roadmap working with embedded fonts, a 1:1 rendering/display/print/changing content of a PDF will fail at a rate of 50% (guessing). Unless at Serif are working magicians. Why? Can anyone explain at this simple example how IT could work: A simple PDF is created elsewhere with the word DOLLAR in it, Font is Swiss BT 921 and this font is subset. Now I import the file in Publisher and want to change the word into $ or SIX DOLLAR. In theory these signs are not part of the PDF as the font is subsetted. So how can Serif render these characters without knowing them?

I have no idea how the competitors work with the PDF by just importing just like an image. I am very interested how Serif will solve this dilemma. Placing PDF as-is is vital for e.g. magazines placing foreign adverts and so for me.

------
Windows 10 | i5-8500 CPU | Intel UHD 630 Graphics | 32 GB RAM | Latest Retail and Beta versions of complete Affinity range installed

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  • 5 months later...

Being able to place a PDF with embedded fonts is a very important feature.

Publishers need to be able to place PDF Ads supplied by third parties.

These Ads will have the fonts embedded, and the advertiser will expect them to appear in print looking like the Ad they approved.

THIS IS A BIG DEAL. Please sort it out Affinity. I love your software. But discovering this problem may mean I have to return to Adobe...

UPDATE: This is how I am getting around this problem. I still have an old copy of Adobe Acrobat Pro. Going into the Flattener Preview settings gives you the option to 'Convert Text to Outlines'. This strips all embedded fonts from the PDF, text is now turned into 'curves' instead. This new PDF can then be placed into Affinity Pulisher because there are no fonts in it. Adobe Acrobat Pro is still the only Adobe product that I can't replace. Not ideal. But maybe this will help someone else.

 

Edited by SimonF
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  • 11 months later...
  • 4 months later...

hi guys, I have two books I'm trying to import into publisher from pdf form. When it is created in publisher when I change the master to 6x9 it comes in at 8.5x11 and I must cut and [aste to make the pages fit. Am I missing something, should I format it when it is still in word? Thanks

 

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15 hours ago, GaryBizzo said:

I have two books I'm trying to import into publisher from pdf form.

 

15 hours ago, GaryBizzo said:

should I format it when it is still in word?

My question is what format is actually available to you? MS Word files or PDF files?

If I had the choice I would go with importing an MS Word *.docx file into a Publisher document, correctly sized as 6x9, and avoid generating a PDF file from MS Word.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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6 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

 

My question is what format is actually available to you? MS Word files or PDF files?

If I had the choice I would go with importing an MS Word *.docx file into a Publisher document, correctly sized as 6x9, and avoid generating a PDF file from MS Word.

there's no way to import a word file docx, only pdf

 

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When I say import I mean Place a Word File in a Text Frame. Then place any images into Picture Frames.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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1 hour ago, GaryBizzo said:

can I copy a 200 page book and place it in one text box do you think.

Copy? The Paste, I presume. Perhaps that would work.

Better, I think, is to use File > Place and select the .docx file and put it into the text frame. Then Shift+Click the lower-right linking triangle to flow it onto as many pages as needed.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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If you have a text only docx file. Make a new Affinity Publisher document, say A4 or Letter size with one page. Place the docx file in a text frame by selecting the text frame and going to File > Place... and choose the docx file.

You will have a text frame with overflow text, there is a little red triangle with an eye next to it, the eye may have a line through it indicating that the overflow text will not be displayed. If you click on the eye to toggle the overflow text you can see the extra text or not depending on the setting.

Shift Click on the triangle and the program will generate new pages with the connected text content.

619053008_ScreenShot2021-05-26at7_34_53AM.png.b82ae37406cbb9a57e4446ee928540bb.png

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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6 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

If you have a text only docx file. Make a new Affinity Publisher document, say A4 or Letter size with one page. Place the docx file in a text frame by selecting the text frame and going to File > Place... and choose the docx file.

You will have a text frame with overflow text, there is a little red triangle with an eye next to it, the eye may have a line through it indicating that the overflow text will not be displayed. If you click on the eye to toggle the overflow text you can see the extra text or not depending on the setting.

Shift Click on the triangle and the program will generate new pages with the connected text content.

619053008_ScreenShot2021-05-26at7_34_53AM.png.b82ae37406cbb9a57e4446ee928540bb.png

Thank yo use much, you're very kind !

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