Word 2010 problem with PostScript Type 1 fonts and PDF export

Anonymous
2010-06-18T19:07:47+00:00

I have been using Office 2010 since the Beta period and I am now using the release build.

I use Adobe Postscript Type 1 fonts regularly in my documents, and I have found that Word 2010 (and presumably all of the Office 2010 applications) has several problems working with PostScript fonts.

Most notably, the "Save as PDF" function will create documents with an odd gradient effect applied to all PostScript fonts.

Secondarily, the Word editor frequently glitches and renders PostScript fonts using a sans-serif font that looks to be Arial.

The following are a demonstration of the issue:

![](http://www.tsotech.com/images/office2010/original-doc-small.jpg)

This is an original document typed in Minion, an Adobe PostScript Type 1 font.

![](http://www.tsotech.com/images/office2010/pdf-version-small.jpg)

This is the document as rendered by muPDF, a very lightweight PDF reader.  Note that the official Adobe Acrobat Reader will render the document correctly.  I suspect Microsoft only tested the PDF export functionality with the Adobe Reader and concluded that it was functioning correctly.  But please note that alternative readers are fairly commonplace, especially with so many security issues being found daily in Adobe's products.

![](http://www.tsotech.com/images/office2010/mac-small.jpg)

I don't have access to a Mac, but the above screenshot was from a Mac's PDF reader attempting to display a different PDF document I had sent a colleague.

Finally, during regular use of Word 2010, the editor will fail to render PostScript Type 1 fonts correctly, falling back on a sens-serif font that I believe to be Arial.  See below:

![](http://www.tsotech.com/images/office2010/display-glitch-small.jpg)

Please investigate these issues, Microsoft!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2010-09-09T05:13:08+00:00

There are 4 issues in this thread for Word 2010 RTM:

  1. Some PostScript fonts display incorrectly after being edited in Word's Print Layout.
  2. Documents with some (but not all) fonts containing PostScript outline data (Ex: Helvetica, Times) crash on open.
  3. Documents using fonts with PostScript Outline data saved as a PDF in Word render correctly in Adobe Reader but incorrectly in some other PDF Viewers.
  4. Documents using fonts with PostScript outline data saved as a PDF in Word render the text as a static image rather than selectable text.

Issue #1

To assist us in solving this issue, please answer the following questions. Thank you.

  1. What is the full name for the printers you have installed? Which of these is the default printer? [Start -> Type "Devices and Printers"]
  2. What editing languages do you have enabled in Word? [Open Word -> File -> Options -> Language]
  3. When in a corrupt state, does changing to a different printer (and back) fix the issue? [File -> Print]
  4. Can you reproduce the issue in *.doc files? [File -> Save As -> Save as type = "Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)"]
  5. Can you reproduce the issue in *.docx files?  [File -> Save As -> Save as type = "Word Document (*.docx)"]
  6. Can you reproduce the issue in Draft View? [View ->Draft View]
  7. Can you reproduce the issue in both Portrait and Landscape orientations? [Page Layout -> Orientation]
  8. Can you reproduce the issue in a version of Windows earlier than Windows 7 / Windows 2008?
  9. Can you reproduce the issue in a version of Word earlier than Word 2010?

 ===

Here are several workarounds for this issue from my other thread, but please continue to assist us by answering the questions above. Workarounds in order of most convenient to least convenient are:

  1. Add a Right-to-Left language, such as Hindi, to your list of editing languages. [(In Word) File -> Options -> Language -> [Add aditional editing languages] -> Hindi -> Add]
  2. Each time a document is opened with the incorrect font being displayed change to a different printer (and back). [(In Word) File -> Print]
  3. Uninstall all printers from Windows. [(In Windows) Start -> Devices and Printers]

Issue #2

Problem A – Use one of these workarounds if you are crashing when opening documents with fonts Helvetica or Times.

  • Remove offending PostScript font substitutions from the registry location. Restart computer.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]

  • Install the OpenType versions of the offending PostScript fonts.
  • Uninstall the offending PostScript fonts.
  • Open the Font Dialog Box (Ctrl + D) before attempting to display an offending PostScript font. This fix lasts until Word is closed.

Problem B – Use one of these workarounds if you are crashing when opening documents with fonts other than Helvetica or Times. In this case you are most likely crashing due to your printer driver.

  • Change your default printer to another printer that does not crash (ex: Microsoft XPS Document Writer).
  • Uninstall your printer (or all printers).

Issue #3

Currently the best workaround is the one already given by the original poster: Open your PDF documents in Adobe Reader rather than muPDF or the Mac's default PDF reader.

Issue #4

When saving documents using fonts with PostScript outline data, Word 2010 only supports outputting the text as a static image, and does not support outputting the text as selectable text. Currently the best workaround is the one already given by the original poster: Use a printer driver that outputs to PDF such as Adobe Acrobat or CutePDF.

-Omega

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-09-09T22:28:47+00:00

    Issue #1

    To assist us in solving this issue, please answer the following questions. Thank you.

    1. What is the full name for the printers you have installed? Which of these is the default printer? [Start -> Type "Devices and Printers"]
    2. What editing languages do you have enabled in Word? [Open Word -> File -> Options -> Language]
    3. When in a corrupt state, does changing to a different printer (and back) fix the issue? [File -> Print]
    4. Can you reproduce the issue in *.doc files? [File -> Save As -> Save as type = "Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)"]
    5. Can you reproduce the issue in *.docx files?  [File -> Save As -> Save as type = "Word Document (*.docx)"]
    6. Can you reproduce the issue in Draft View? [View ->Draft View]
    7. Can you reproduce the issue in both Portrait and Landscape orientations? [Page Layout -> Orientation]
    8. Can you reproduce the issue in a version of Windows earlier than Windows 7 / Windows 2008?
    9. Can you reproduce the issue in a version of Word earlier than Word 2010?

     ===

    Here are several workarounds for this issue from my other thread, but please continue to assist us by answering the questions above. Workarounds in order of most convenient to least convenient are:

    1. Add a Right-to-Left language, such as Hindi, to your list of editing languages. [(In Word) File -> Options -> Language -> [Add aditional editing languages] -> Hindi -> Add]
    2. Each time a document is opened with the incorrect font being displayed change to a different printer (and back). [(In Word) File -> Print]
    3. Uninstall all printers from Windows. [(In Windows) Start -> Devices and Printers]

    I also have issue #1.

    1. Color Laserjet (PCL), Microsoft XPS Document Writer, Send To OneNote 2010, Xerox Phaser 3300MFP PCL 6 (default).
    2. English (US) (only)
    3. Yes, temporary fix.  The problem will return within several minutes of routine use.
    4. Yes.
    5. Yes.
    6. No, Draft View appears unaffected by this problem.
    7. Same behavior as #3.
    8. No, I do not have Office 2010 installed on any previous versions of Windows.
    9. This problem did not exist in Office 2010 Beta and I did not observe it in my previous Office 2003 installation.

    All that said, I want to give a gigantic THANK YOU to you for the work-around mentioned of installing a second editing language!  I did so and have not seen the issue recur since.  Obviously I'd be happiest if the underlying bug were acknowledged and fixed by Microsoft, but this work-around alleviates my pain, so I appreciate your contribution tremendously.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-09-09T17:41:54+00:00

    Glad to hear that workaround worked for you.

    No language pack support is necessary to add an editing language, nor does anything need to be purchased. All editing languages are available in all versions of Word 2010. Hence, you could have skipped to your step 2 without doing your step 1.

    -Omega

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-09-09T16:04:42+00:00

    There are 4 issues in this thread for Word 2010 RTM:

    1. Some PostScript fonts display incorrectly after being edited in Word's Print Layout.

    Issue #1

    To assist us in solving this issue, please answer the following questions. Thank you.

    1. What is the full name for the printers you have installed? Which of these is the default printer? [Start -> Type "Devices and Printers"]
    2. What editing languages do you have enabled in Word? [Open Word -> File -> Options -> Language]
    3. When in a corrupt state, does changing to a different printer (and back) fix the issue? [File -> Print]
    4. Can you reproduce the issue in *.doc files? [File -> Save As -> Save as type = "Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)"]
    5. Can you reproduce the issue in *.docx files?  [File -> Save As -> Save as type = "Word Document (*.docx)"]
    6. Can you reproduce the issue in Draft View? [View ->Draft View]
    7. Can you reproduce the issue in both Portrait and Landscape orientations? [Page Layout -> Orientation]
    8. Can you reproduce the issue in a version of Windows earlier than Windows 7 / Windows 2008?
    9. Can you reproduce the issue in a version of Word earlier than Word 2010?

    I have issue #1

    1. Adobe PDF, Fax, Microsoft XPS Document Writer, QuickBooks PDF Converter 3.0, Quicken PDF Printer, Send To OneNote 2010, Xerox Global Print Driver PS (default).
    2. English (US) (only)
    3. Yes, changing printers causes the problem to be (temporarily) resolved; this is not a panacea, it doesn't "fix" the problem, but it does cause it to not be observed for "a little while" (which varies, depending on the document, editing being performed, etc).
    4. Yes.
    5. Yes.
    6. Draft view, in all cases, does NOT exhibit the problem (so far as I've seen)
    7. Switching to landscape mode temporarily resolves the problem (see #3 above), but the problem is exhibited in both portrait and landscape (in both .doc and .docx)
    8. No data.
    9. This problem has not been observed prior to the Word 2010 RTM.  Word 2010 Beta did not exhibit the problem, nor did any previous version of Word I'm familiar with.

    On the other thread, it was suggested to add a right-to-left language.  Adding the language (which I did not purchase, and is therefore not really installed), I can no longer reproduce the problem.....

    In an attempt to forge on ahead, I:

    1. Installed the Microsoft Office 2010 Lanugage Pack (English) (which, I guess, merely reinstalled English-language files)
    2. Added Hebrew to my list of languages (this did NOT install Hebrew, as I haven't purchased it), exited all Office programs and restarted Word.

    Now I can no longer duplicate the problem (I think)....   Can someone that's seeing this problem please just do #2 and see if it fixes the problem?  Also, if someone out there has access to the language pack (which I do via a Technet subscription, but you might not), maybe try duplicating what I did?

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-09-09T15:40:41+00:00

    There are 4 issues in this thread for Word 2010 RTM:

    1. Some PostScript fonts display incorrectly after being edited in Word's Print Layout.

    Issue #1

    To assist us in solving this issue, please answer the following questions. Thank you.

    1. What is the full name for the printers you have installed? Which of these is the default printer? [Start -> Type "Devices and Printers"]
    2. What editing languages do you have enabled in Word? [Open Word -> File -> Options -> Language]
    3. When in a corrupt state, does changing to a different printer (and back) fix the issue? [File -> Print]
    4. Can you reproduce the issue in *.doc files? [File -> Save As -> Save as type = "Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)"]
    5. Can you reproduce the issue in *.docx files?  [File -> Save As -> Save as type = "Word Document (*.docx)"]
    6. Can you reproduce the issue in Draft View? [View ->Draft View]
    7. Can you reproduce the issue in both Portrait and Landscape orientations? [Page Layout -> Orientation]
    8. Can you reproduce the issue in a version of Windows earlier than Windows 7 / Windows 2008?
    9. Can you reproduce the issue in a version of Word earlier than Word 2010?

    I have issue #1

    1. Adobe PDF, Fax, Microsoft XPS Document Writer, QuickBooks PDF Converter 3.0, Quicken PDF Printer, Send To OneNote 2010, Xerox Global Print Driver PS (default).
    2. English (US) (only)
    3. Yes, changing printers causes the problem to be (temporarily) resolved; this is not a panacea, it doesn't "fix" the problem, but it does cause it to not be observed for "a little while" (which varies, depending on the document, editing being performed, etc).
    4. Yes.
    5. Yes.
    6. Draft view, in all cases, does NOT exhibit the problem (so far as I've seen)
    7. Switching to landscape mode temporarily resolves the problem (see #3 above), but the problem is exhibited in both portrait and landscape (in both .doc and .docx)
    8. No data.
    9. This problem has not been observed prior to the Word 2010 RTM.  Word 2010 Beta did not exhibit the problem, nor did any previous version of Word I'm familiar with.

    On the other thread, it was suggested to add a right-to-left language.  Adding the language (which I did not purchase, and is therefore not really installed), I can no longer reproduce the problem.....

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