Help: File gone berserk

[Combs, Richard]

Lea Galanter wrote:
 
> Meanwhile, I discovered that my problem was with my printer, even
though
> I was creating a PDF. I had switched to a different printer (because
the
> "good" printer I normally use was out of service for the day).
> Apparently, the printer didn't have the "offending" fonts installed,
but
> why that should totally prevent me from creating a PDF is strange.
> Normally I just receive a font warning but I'm able to create the PDF.
I
> use Frame 8 right now but I wonder if this problem (and I view it as a
> bug) exists in Frame 9?

First, you're always going to get a "font warning" when you change
printers. That's because even if the printer you changed to has all the
fonts you need, they may have different font metrics, causing line
breaks in your document to change, which may change page breaks, which
potentially may wreak havoc on your pagination (especially if you have
hard page breaks in your document) and make entries in your index, TOC,
etc., incorrect. 

Second, this is not a bug -- it's FM trying to protect you from
yourself. 

Third, and most important, DO NOT create PDFs using a physical printer
driver -- ANY physical printer driver. ALWAYS use the Adobe PDF printer
instance -- ALWAYS! 

Having a font available on your printer is not the same as having it
installed on your PC. Acrobat Distiller _cannot_ access fonts on your
printers, only fonts installed on your PC. 

Even if there is no font problem, a PDF created using a specific
physical printer driver will have all the limitations of that specific
printer. If it's a monochrome laser printer, your PDFs won't have color.
The physical printer's non-printable page margins will apply. And who
knows what other device-specific limitations and special PostScript code
will be applied to your PDFs. 

ALWAYS use Adobe PDF for creating PDFs.

Richard


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
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