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Scribus => PDF Generation => Topic started by: discus277 on October 15, 2019, 03:24:49 PM

Title: Fonts apparently not embedding in PDF
Post by: discus277 on October 15, 2019, 03:24:49 PM
Have a 110 page book and trying to upload PDF to Blurb. Their PDF uploader says fonts may not be embedded. They suggest OUTLINE so I have tried both OUTLINE and EMBED exporting with both PDF 1.4 AND 1.5

Their help desk suggests "select PDF/A format".....I see no such option for this in the Scribus export PDF function. Is there a way to select PDF/A ? 

Or any other suggestions greatly appreciated

thanks, Jim
Title: Re: Fonts apparently not embedding in PDF
Post by: a.l.e on October 15, 2019, 03:39:16 PM
when you "file > export > to pdf" go to the fonts tab and make sure that all you fonts are outlines or embedded.

if it's the case, then the font should really be in there.
if they're not it's a bad scribus bug that needs to be fixed asap!
but i'm pretty confident that if you did not miss a font  there, scribus will be doing the right thing.

and, no, scribus does not have pdf/a...
(and pdf/a is not meant for the print workflow but (as the a suggests...) for long term archiving of documents)
Title: Re: Fonts apparently not embedding in PDF
Post by: discus277 on October 15, 2019, 07:02:49 PM
The problem is that the Blurb uploader doesn't think the fonts are there......how does one find out if they are really there or not?
Title: Re: Fonts apparently not embedding in PDF
Post by: a.l.e on October 16, 2019, 08:20:14 AM
- create an empty sample .sla document with as many pages as you plan to have.
- add a text frame with the same font(s) you're using in your real document and a few words in there.
- create a pdf.
- upload the pdf to your print shop.

no:

- if the print shop accepts the new pdf, in your real document your did something differently and you / we will have to find out what.
- if the  print shop does not accept the pdf, please upload the .sla file and the pdf to this forum and we will try to check what could have gone wrong. (in a second step you might also need to share the fonts...)

can you try that?
Title: Re: Fonts apparently not embedding in PDF
Post by: discus277 on October 16, 2019, 05:23:55 PM
Thanks to all for suggestions. One problem I had was the output pdf file was huge, i.e. 1 GB so I eventually found a way to reduce the file size drastically after reading several issues here on this forum.

With a smaller file size I had no problem uploading to lulu and after running it thru their software to make it print ready I downloaded the file and it appears perfect. Likewise i was able to upload successfully to Barnes and Noble (Nook) and they were able to make a perfect print ready file as well.

Therefore I must conclude that the fonts were embedded properly. However blurb still rejects the upload, saying......

It appears that this PDF was created with the Scribus application. We have found that Scribus does not reliably embed fonts properly. Your file may not pass preflight. If you experience problems, please outline the fonts and re-upload.

It looks to me like blurb simply rejects filles if they were created by Scribus...

Its their loss

Thanks again, Jim
Title: Re: Fonts apparently not embedding in PDF
Post by: a.l.e on October 16, 2019, 07:36:56 PM
afaik, with 1.4 it's indeed possible to create PDFs that do not correctly contain all the fonts.
and, in some cases, if you're not careful, there is a risk that you don't even notice that.

with a modern 1.5 (and the future stable 1.6) that won't happen anymore.