Font doesn't embed into exported pdf

[Geke]

Exported PDFs don’t have fonts embedded, although I’ve the option PDF/A-1a checked.
Can this be because I have no Postscript printer installed? I’ve read somewhere that fonts are not embedded if I use the Generic printer. But then, I’m not creating the PDFs by printing to PDF, but by choosing the "Export as PDF" command.
(I don’t have a postscript printer connected to this Mac, and it seems I can’t install any printer drivers without the particular printer being connected.)

[Hagar Delest]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

If the font is not embedded, it means that you don't have that font. It's not because the font name is displayed that you do have it installed. If you create a new blank document, can you use this font?

Make sure first that the font is installed with that useful extension : TestFonts.

[RoryOF]

pdffonts from Xpdf http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/download.html will display which fonts are embedded and which linked; I think there is not yet a Mac version, so you will have to try it on a linux or Windows machine.

[Geke]

OK, I'll describe it a bit more:
I can use fonts in OOWriter all right, they are scaleable and the document is exchangeable (through .DOC) with PCs that have MS Word and the right fonts installed. But whenever I do Export as PDF, the resulting PDF shows only the base14 fonts, even on the computer where I generate the PDF. All other fonts are replaced by one of those, mostly Times/Times New Roman. I've tested this with several rather standard fonts, not just one particular fancy one.
Thanks for the welcome; I hope I'll find the answer here!

[RoryOF]

Info on font embedding in OOo at
http://jeremiahjacobs.blogspot.com/2008/04/brain-dump-embedding-fonts-in.html

That author says if fonts are internally marked "non embeddable" then OOo won't embed them.

[RoryOF]

Further to my earlier posting, many .pdf viewers will display font information whether embedded or linked if you select File / Properties / Font tab.

[Geke]

I did some homework and checked what happens to a number of fonts. Here’s the result:
1. Not embedded; replaced by very different (sanserif) font, probably DejaVu Sans: Linux Libertine O, Adobe Caslon Pro, Minion Pro, ITC Cerigo Std Book, Garamond Premr Pro Smbd;
2. Not embedded; replaced by similar font (Times New Roman in a slightly smaller point size, I think): Adobe Garamond Pro
3. Embedded: Lucida Grande, Gill Sans, Times New Roman, American Typewriter, Futura, Helvetica, Deja VuSans, DejaVu Serif, Arial Narrow, Tahoma, Verdana, Cochin, AppleGothic, URW Palladio IT.
No system in there, as far as I can see: some Adobe fonts don’t embed while others do. Could it have something to do with "funny" font names? I’ve read somewhere that OpenOffice has problems handling fonts with less common style names, so this might be a related matter, who knows.

For example, public domain font Linux Libertine O doesn’t show up on OO’s font list in Regular style, only Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic. I opened this Linux Libertine O Regular in FontForge and generated a new font from it under the name "MyLib". That one does show up in OO’s font list (I didn’t generate the whole family, just Regular), but it doesn’t embed in PDFs either.
In Apple’s built-in text editor TextEdit, I can access Linux Libertine O Regular normally.

For the record, the style names of the fonts that were not embedded:
Adobe Caslon Pro: Regular, Italic, Semibold, Semibold Italic, Bold, Bold Italic.
Garamond Premier Pro: Regular, Italic, Semibold, Semibold Italic.
ITC Cerigo Std: Book, Book Italic, Medium, Medium Italic, Bold, Bold Italic.
Linux Libertine O: Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic.
Minion Pro: Regular, Italic, Medium, Medium Italic, Semibold, Semibold Italic, Bold, Bold Cond, Bold Cond Italic, Bold Italic.
Adobe Garamond Pro (which did not embed but was at least replaced by a similar font) has the standard styles: Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic.

Thanks for that link, RoryOF. That text suggests that OpenOffice is behaving like this because of legal constraints. But when I use Apple OS’s built-in PDF printer in TextEdit, all fonts are embedded without exception. Does that mean Apple is breaking the law?

There’s one other thing that might contain a clue: In general, the list of fonts in TextEdit is sorted by alphabet, but at the end it starts over from #/A for some reason I don’t know, and in that small list I find Adobe Caslon Pro, Adobe Garamond Pro, and ITC Cerigo Std -- three of the problem cases. On the other hand, problem fonts Garamond Premier Pro, Linux Libertine O, and Minion are not there; they are in the first (big) list. And when I tried other fonts from that "appendix" list, they embedded normally (AppleGothic, URW Palladio IT).

[bistrot]

I experienced just the same trouble : openoffice (3.3) not embedding the postscript type 1 fonts into exported pdf.
(tried it with minion and giddyup thangs).
What I can say is that it can be solved using alternate openoffice distros : it works with libreoffice and with lotus symphony.
HOWEVER, it works with some huge limitations, that is, it won't embed accents like à é è ç ù ...
They will be replaced by strange characters.
Does someone has any hint about how to solve this (and I know I'd rather ask this question on a libreoffice or IBM Lotus Symphony forum) ?