text to outlines in Acrobat

[pspdfppdfxhd]

Here's one I use a lot....

many times we'll have a problematic font in a pdf, especially when printing to one of our canon b&w printers (the rip isn't as advanced as the Apogee).

You can convert all the text in a pdf to outlines but only if it contains transparency. So you add a watermark (see settings in picture) and make sure the opacity is at 0 and the convert text to outlines is checked then you use the transparency flattener and all text will be outlined.

[Joe]

Yeah, I use that a lot but I create a white transparent box with Pitstop and then outline it with the flattener. Sometimes though, if the page already has transparency, the flattener can destroy it instead of flattening it correctly. The new Pitstop, 7.2, can outline it for you instead of letting the flattener do it. (Sometimes)

[mrhooper]

If you have Pitstop, there is a global change setting for fonts that can outline everything. Just set it to find any font and convert to outline.

[pspdfppdfxhd]

must be in the newest version, we're still using 6.53 in Acrobat 7.

[beermonster]

hell its been ages since i needed to use this - and i had to today and all was going well but it turned my one page pdf into a 2 pager - it duplicated the page - ok - what did i do wrong?

[beermonster]

sorry - i dit it in acro7 pro on my g5 thing

the pdf was a quack pdf

[Laurens]

Great trick!

I linked to it on my site but think this thread isn't complete without mentioning the disadvantages of outlining fonts: you lose hinting support and small type 'fattens up' a bit.

[G_Town]

Not to mention Adobe weenies will chastise you about the evil of outlining fonts in the first place.

Make sure to read the EULA from the font foundry!

I mean really can ANYONE tell me if you have EVER read one of these things?

[frailer]

Make sure to read the EULA from the font foundry!

I mean really can ANYONE tell me if you have EVER read one of these things?

LOL. Can you imagine someone wagging the finger at a prepress desperado about EULAs; who's got a Prod Mgr. jumpin' up and down like Rumplestitskin about "when can ya get it out...?"
A broken finger, methinks...

[G_Town]

Yea I'm not sure who's more deluded the Adobe weenies or the Production managers.

 ???

[beermonster]

hell deffo the production managers....very out of whack people....

[Jon Morgan]

We've done that trick a few times and it indeed works great.  Another tool we have that works quite well is IntelliPDF's Curves.

http://www.intellipdf.com/curves.htm

Although it's $250, we bought it before we learned of the trick you described and have found it to be worth its weight in gold.

Many thanks!
Jon :-)

[almaink]

Older versions of Pit Stop can use an action to place a small transparent object on each page so you can use the optimizer to create outlines. Another way for those without Pit Stop or Acrobat 8 is to place in Indy, add a transparent object and set your flattener to outline fonts then save as a PDF version 1.3 or just rip it, if you rip from applications.
Like Joe said tho, if the job contains real transparent objects watch it.

[peace flaps]

gentlemen (and ladies), this could be the tip of the decade!

not had chance to try it yet - but if it works on the pdf from the other day with the dodgy wingdings text, it could be a life saver

[peace flaps]

(YES - IT WORKS!!)