Printing to PS and distilling to PDF question

Tue Mar 9 05:59:10 PST 2010

Thanks, Dov. Very illuminating.

Bodvar Bjorgvinsson

2010/3/8 Dov Isaacs <isaacs at adobe.com>:
> A few comments about this issue:
>
> (1)     The Adobe PDF PostScript printer driver instance used to create PDF
> explicitly by printing or implicitly by the FrameMaker "save as PDF"
> feature has a special option in its "driver plug-in" component labeled
> "Rely on system fonts only; do not use document fonts." This option is
> accessed as follows from the "Adobe PDF" printer:
>
>        Adobe PDF=>Properties=>Advanced (tab)=>Printing Defaults=>
>                        Adobe PDF Settings (tab)
>
> as well as from:
>
>        Adobe PDF=>Properties=>General (tab)=>Printing Preferences=>
>                        Adobe PDF Settings (tab)
>
> Both of these areas need to be set the same way although usually, setting
> via the Printing Defaults method sets the Printing Preferences (but don't
> count on it!).
>
> (2)     The function of this option is (supposedly) very simple. If the
> option is enabled, the driver does not put any fonts into the PostScript
> stream to be distilled. Why is this important or useful? It turns out that
> the PostScript generated by the Windows PostScript driver, PSCRIPT5, and
> especially the inclusion of fonts in that PostScript stream, is optimized
> for consumption by a PostScript printer, not for creation of PDF. The
> driver includes incrementally downloaded font fragments which is not
> optimal for the Distiller and could cause problems later in a workflow
> when trying to merge PDF file fragments together. When this option is
> checked on, the driver puts no fonts in the PostScript; the Distiller
> itself finds the fonts and puts them into the PDF file in a more
> cohesive, organized manner.
>
> (3)     There are situations, however, that cause problems The first of these
> situation is when fonts are passed through to the driver by what is known
> as the driver "PostScript escape mechanism." This is the means by which
> EPS (or by extension, PDF) placed in a FrameMaker document is passed through
> the driver to the final PostScript stream and many such EPS (or PDF) files
> have embedded fonts which are then encountered by the driver. In FrameMaker 9,
> if you don't use the RGB option for the "save as PDF" feature, FrameMaker's
> UNIX PostScript generator (the entity responsible for creating CMYK PostScript)
> also embed fonts in the PostScript stream it in generating. In either case, if
> the driver senses these fonts being passed through when the "rely on system
> fonts only" option is enabled, it throws up (guess that's a good way of
> putting it) the error message requiring you to turn off that option.
>
> (4)     The second problematic situation is that of applications that privately
> install fonts. There are two examples of this. Microsoft Office application
> documents have the ability to carry embedded TrueType and OpenType (TrueType
> flavor only) fonts if and only if such fonts allow full embedability. When
> Office applications open such documents, they privately install those
> embedded fonts for your use while editing the document. Similarly, if you
> try to print a font sample for a font that isn't installed on your system
> (i.e., you double-click on a font icon and print from the font preview
> presented by Windows), the font preview function temporarily privately installs
> the font. The nasty however is that, privately installed fonts are passed through
> Windows GDI and the driver (resulting in their embedding in the PostScript stream),
> but cannot be seen by the Distiller which is run in a separate system process
> and cannot access (or even know about) the privately installed fonts. In this
> situation, you don't know what's going on until you get either a Distiller warning
> or error (depending upon you joboptions).
>
> (5)     There is a known bug in the Acrobat updater that totally resets all your
> printer settings for the "Adobe PDF" PostScript printer driver instance every
> time you update Acrobat. These days, in order to stay ahead of the hackers, the
> Acrobat group at Adobe has been issuing updates on an almost monthly basis which
> means that every time you update Acrobat, you had better follow that with resetting
> all the "Adobe PDF" settings to your own preference. That includes the default
> joboptions used for the distillation process.
>
> Clear as mud?
>
>        - Dov
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Tammy Van Boening
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 6:07 AM
>> To: framers at lists.frameusers.com; Free Framers
>> Subject: Printing to PS and distilling to PDF question
>>
>> All,
>>
>> FM9 (all patched), Win7/64 bit system, Adobe Acrobat Pro 9. Several months
>> ago, after upgrading to all the listed hardware/software, I started having
>> issues with printing to PS and distilling the PS files to PDF using very
>> staid, well-established files that had never given me issue before. I was
>> receiving that contradictory message about "Rely on system fonts only; do
>> not use document fonts" when I hadn't changed one thing about the fonts that
>> I use in the documents (Arial and TNR only!) or what fonts were installed on
>> my system (these two fonts are indeed installed.)
>>
>> Long story short - after some guidance from several off list and on list
>> replies, I actually went and did this: Start > Device and Printers and on
>> the Adobe PDF Printer, right-clicked, selected Printer Properties, and under
>> Preferences, cleared the Rely on system fonts only; do not use document
>> fonts option.  That seemed to do the trick and I even double-checked that
>> this option was still cleared before using Standard or High Quality job
>> options to print to PS.
>>
>> After the latest rounds of updates from Adobe, however, this preference is
>> NOT staying cleared for the Adobe PDF printer. I have to clear it each and
>> every time before I print to PS. That is absolutely the only thing that has
>> changed in relation to my documents or installed fonts on my system - the
>> documents don't use different fonts and I haven't uninstalled these two
>> fonts from my system.
>>
>> I was just wondering if anyone else had to mess with this setting for FM9
>> /Acrobat Pro 9 and if so, had you seen this issue? (As explained to me, I am
>> having to mess with this setting for the first time ever in  my  history
>> using FM and printing to PS because of how FM 9/distiller 9 have changed
>> their font handling -something about the fonts being in the font stream now
>> or . . .l can't honestly say that I fully understand the surrounding issue,
>> and am just wondering if others have seen it as well - it just makes no
>> sense to me.)
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> TVB
>>
>>
>> Tammy Van Boening
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