When I import eps images into Word, and then create a pdf, the type appears as outlines, not the original razor-sharp fonts. This result suggests that somewhere in the publishing process (file import or pdf printing) the fonts are being changed. Can someone comment on this behavior?



(BTW, when I worked with Word 6, I didn't have this problem - in those days I was using Type 1 postscript fonts.)

Are you looking at the printout from a postscript printer, or the on-screen image or printout from a non-postscript printer which, as I said in your other thread, is only a low-res bitmap reflection of the postscript code?

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

I'm looking at the onscreen image produced by the Acrobat Distiller.

And to clarify, I'm using Open Type fonts from Adobe.

A few issues to consider:
1. maybe the PDF displays the preview image from the EPS, but prints the EPS data. What does the printout look like?
2. Are you sure the font licenses allow the fonts you're using to be embedded? If not, bitmaps may be the best you'll get.
3. Did you tell Illustrator to embed the fonts? If not, and they're not available to Word, Word would have to either substitute other fonts or print the preview image.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Progress. Here are three scenarios:

(1) I installed a postscript printer driver for our local printer. From Word the fonts in the imported graphic print perfectly - razor sharp.

(2) When I use the Adobe PDF printer to create a pdf from the Word file, the pdf looks perfect, although there are no bookmarks or active hyperlinks (for example, to Word headings). It also prints perfectly, using either the postscript or PCL printer driver with our local printer.

(3) When I use the Acrobat PDFMaker Office COM Addin, the pdf produced shows the fonts at much lower resolution. (However, all the hyperlinks are produced correctly.) This seems like an amazing disconnect. Word has the data, including the Adobe font, but the Acrobat PDFMaker cannot properly encode the font in the pdf.

I vaguely remember this problem from many years ago. I didn't resolve it then and I don't know how to resolve it now. What I really want is:

- To produce a pdf for viewing that has active hyperlinks and bookmarks with clean font rendering in the embedded graphics

- To produce a print file that has clean font rendering in the embedded graphics

These can be two different files, although it would be nice to have one.

Any ideas?

What happens if you save the EPS from Illustrator without the preview image and load that into Word? That should force Adobe's distiller to print the high-res data.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Nope. Saving without the preview has no effect (other than to make the .eps file 25% smaller). The Acrobat PDFMaker still produces font outlines (with bookmarks & links). The Adobe PDF Printer produces hi-res fonts (without bookmarks & links). This suggests to me that the graphics import filter doesn't care about the preview. The code is there, but the Acrobat PDFMaker is substituting its own interpretation of the data.

I can't be the only person with this question. What do you suggest? Should I pursue this through the Adobe forums?

It certainly does seem, then that the Adobe distiller is the culprit - it should act as any other printer driver. Perhaps there's a configuration setting somewhere that affects what it does.

A workaround might be to choose a different postscript printer, with the print-to-file option. Then change the output file's extension from prn to ps and run it through Acrobat to turn it into a PDF.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

When you say "run it through Acrobat", I'm not sure what you mean. I tried the workaround, but when I opened the .ps file in Acrobat, I got the same result: hi-res fonts (without bookmarks & links).