It’s 10.30am. For the third time today there is a problem with clients pdf. You could fix it in 30 seconds if only you had the font and Illustrator was not throwing that pesky error at you. And the job has to be on the courier for 16.00… Now you’ll have to wait hours or more for a resupplied file. Surely this isn’t in keeping with the flexibility of your digital press…
One of the main problems pre press operators have to deal with on a day to day basis is dealing with client supplied pdf’s that cannot be opened due to unembedded and missing fonts.
Very often a unique font will be subset into a pdf. This for the most part allows the document to be viewed, printed and RIPed correctly. However it is often necessary, particularly in the label & packaging industry, to resize a pdf to fit a stock die or to make a change to a best before date or batch number… Or to remove a keyline… Or correct adjust a colour. In fact, it would take a long time to list all the possible reasons for needing to opening said pdf, but I’d put money on being able to list them before your client can resupply an amended file, or email you the fonts. Luckily the solution to this problem won’t take long to explain.
Right, so, for whatever reason you need edit this pdf.
1,) Start by creating a new document using Illustrator with the correct dimensions for the finished article.
2,) Go to ‘File>Place…’ and pick the offending pdf. Ensure that the ‘Link’ checkbox is checked.
3,) If the ‘Place PDF’ dialog opens (Depending on you version of Creative Suite) I almost alway choose ‘Media’ in the ‘Crop to:’ dropdown box. Hit ‘OK’.
4,) The linked file will appear on the artboard. If you get a font error at this stage you’ve not linked the image but embedded it. Go back and double check you have checked the ‘Link’ checkbox.
5,) Center the linked file on the artboard and go to ‘Object>Flatten Transparency…’ Check the box ‘Convert All Text to outlines’. Hit ‘OK’.
Ta-Da! I find that 99% of the time this method works perfectly to make small changes. You may find that it gives strange results with raster images, particularly if there is an effect (such as Drop Shadow or Gaussian Blur) or transparent object in the mix. We did use the Transparency Flattener after all.
If you still get a font error then it’s a font licensing problem. This is rare (at least with label artwork) but is most common with pdf’s created using Microsoft Office software using Microsoft fonts. There is an inelegant way around this, but I’ll save that for another post.
It’s 10.30am. For the third time today there is a problem with clients pdf. You could fix it in 30 seconds if only you had the font and Illustrator was not throwing that pesky error at you. And the job has to be on the courier for 16.00… Now you’ll have to wait hours or more for a resupplied file. Surely this isn’t in keeping with the flexibility of your digital press…
One of the main problems pre press operators have to deal with on a day to day basis is dealing with client supplied pdf’s that cannot be opened due to unembedded and missing fonts.
Very often a unique font will be subset into a pdf. This for the most part allows the document to be viewed, printed and RIPed correctly. However it is often necessary, particularly in the label & packaging industry, to resize a pdf to fit a stock die or to make a change to a best before date or batch number… Or to remove a keyline… Or correct adjust a colour. In fact, it would take a long time to list all the possible reasons for needing to opening said pdf, but I’d put money on being able to list them before your client can resupply an amended file, or email you the fonts. Luckily the solution to this problem won’t take long to explain.
Right, so, for whatever reason you need edit this pdf.
1,) Start by creating a new document using Illustrator with the correct dimensions for the finished article.
2,) Go to ‘File>Place…’ and pick the offending pdf. Ensure that the ‘Link’ checkbox is checked.
3,) If the ‘Place PDF’ dialog opens (Depending on you version of Creative Suite) I almost alway choose ‘Media’ in the ‘Crop to:’ dropdown box. Hit ‘OK’.
4,) The linked file will appear on the artboard. If you get a font error at this stage you’ve not linked the image but embedded it. Go back and double check you have checked the ‘Link’ checkbox.
5,) Center the linked file on the artboard and go to ‘Object>Flatten Transparency…’ Check the box ‘Convert All Text to outlines’. Hit ‘OK’.
Ta-Da! I find that 99% of the time this method works perfectly to make small changes. You may find that it gives strange results with raster images, particularly if there is an effect (such as Drop Shadow or Gaussian Blur) or transparent object in the mix. We did use the Transparency Flattener after all.
If you still get a font error then it’s a font licensing problem. This is rare (at least with label artwork) but is most common with pdf’s created using Microsoft Office software using Microsoft fonts. There is an inelegant way around this, but I’ll save that for another post.