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I downloaded one PDF file and opened it, then met following error:

erro msg box

The pdf file cannot show properly, many characters in the file only left as blank.

It seemed to me it's a font issue, but how to fix this?

I tried to download similar name (no exact name file can be found by myself) font file (.ttf) from the internet, and installed to my computer, but problem still occurs, so can anyone give me some suggestions?

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  • 1
    That certainly is not the name of a font. Whether the strange name is an artifact of Adobe's embedding it in the file (which means you should not need to download it!), or whether it's actually malware waiting to be unpacked, there is not much you can do, other than look for a similar PDF without those fonts.
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Commented Nov 14, 2023 at 3:22
  • @DrMoishePippik the pdf file is from a trusted site, so it may not be a malware, but according to what you said, I can do nothing to view this file, since the font contained in this pdf is damaged?
    – J1B
    Commented Nov 14, 2023 at 4:11
  • @KJ yes,this is a chinese character pdf, so is there a solution to view this file properly or as DrMoishe said, the pdf is just damaged, I can do nothing but give up reading this file?
    – J1B
    Commented Nov 14, 2023 at 4:14
  • @KJ docdro.id/zpcfCQD
    – J1B
    Commented Nov 14, 2023 at 4:32
  • 2
    @Giacomo1968 If you ever run mutool extract (MuPDF) on a PDF, the included fonts actually get similar looking filenames.
    – Oskar Skog
    Commented Nov 14, 2023 at 9:22

1 Answer 1

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This message is common when a Poorly subset font has been used. In this case an extraction from a Journal.

The odd font names are abbreviations for FZFangSongK and FZShuSongK (plus others) which are not correctly embedded as sub sets (basically there are missing character mappings which Acrobat cannot replace reliably.

You can ignore the first 6 Uppercase English Characters as those are a Randomised Group to keep SubSets as non overlapping Unique Names when merged etc.

The source Font names were as shown here.

File: 被误诊为系统性血管炎的疥疮感染1例.pdf
Title: 被误诊为系统性血管炎的疥疮感染1例
Subject: 中华全科医师杂志2023年11期
Author: 马豆豆
Created: 2023-10-30 11:03:51
Modified: 2023-11-01 20:36:39
Application: 方正飞翔8.2 XML版 8.2.0.1731
PDF Producer: Founder; modified using iTextSharp™ 5.5.13.2 ©2000-2020 iText Group NV (AGPL-version)

Fonts: 
Cambria (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
Cambria (TrueType; Ansi; embedded)
Cambria-Bold (TrueType; Ansi; embedded)
Cambria-Italic (TrueType; Ansi; embedded)
FZFSK--GBK1-0 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
FZHTK--GBK1-0 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
FZKTK--GBK1-0 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
FZSSK--GBK1-0 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
NEU-BZ-Regular (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
NEU-HZ-Regular (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
STXihei (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)

The result in Adobe with bad CID fonts will be missing characters. enter image description here

On occasion it may not be possible to replace or correct large blocks of misplaced characters by any reliable means.

Luckily in this case the characters could be reprinted with another app (could be a PDF Browser or Editor) using arbitrary names and on Windows with Arial as a base font. enter image description here

You do need to check content and perhaps try another means of Font Substitution, as there can be collateral damage. (My early attempt destroyed some of the minor MetaData).

All fonts will likely be renamed, and the number of fonts may change which is a signal of perhaps a shortage here now 10 was 11, so Double check for missing content.

File: reprinted.pdf
Title: «ïÊ:ûß'@¡”—¥®˜Ó1‰C.pdf
PDF Producer: Microsoft: Print To PDF
   
Fonts: 
CIDFont+F1 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
CIDFont+F2 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
CIDFont+F3 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
CIDFont+F4 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
CIDFont+F5 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
CIDFont+F6 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
CIDFont+F7 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
CIDFont+F8 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
CIDFont+F9 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
CIDFont+F10 (TrueType (CID); Identity-H; embedded)
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  • Thanks for detail explaination, but some of what you said confused me, do you mean this time using docdroid website to reprint file still missed one subset in this pdf?(11->10), so some characters in this pdf still missing?(maybe very minor, so I did not find them?) And according to what you said, does that mean this time's success "repair" is only a coincidence, next time another file still using this website to reprint may be no effect?
    – J1B
    Commented Nov 17, 2023 at 4:36
  • @K J sorry to disturb you again, today I tried to convert one similar pdf using DocDroid website, I uploaded original pdf to docdroid.net/7LLd0ir, after a while , it displayed correct characters , then I downloaded from web, but the file was the exact file I uploaded, so I think just upload and download is not the thing what you said as "reprint", how should I do to get what you called "reprint" version of such pdf file? Thanks
    – J1B
    Commented Nov 28, 2023 at 5:21
  • @K J Thanks again , this time the pdf you uploaded still can not show properly in adobe while last time the file you uploaded can show properly, so this time you did not do "physically re print" as you said? what is "physically re print"? a function in the XPDFEditor app?
    – J1B
    Commented Nov 29, 2023 at 6:33
  • @K J, you mean just using Firefox to open this pdf and using print&save can solve the problem? no need to download any other fonts? I tried chrome to open this pdf but the same effect as adobe , so Firefox using its own font to show pdf?
    – J1B
    Commented Nov 30, 2023 at 1:55

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