Having trouble using InDesign-created PDFs in our workflow

[Sarah_Vallee@adobeforums.com]

I am working at a small magazine that uses a Pagemaker/PDF workflow (we accept ads in PDF format, place them in Pagemaker, and export back to PDF to send to our press).

I've noticed lately that almost all of my clients who are using InDesign to create PDF ads have the same weird font problem. Pitstop tells me the ad is fine and that all the fonts are embedded, but when I place it in Pagemaker and then export to PDF, all the fonts turn into bullets and say they cannot be embedded. This is a typical error message:

%%[ Warning: CIDFont CJGUBR+OceanSansMM_403_475_ cannot be embedded in Acrobat 3.0 mode.]%%

I don't have InDesign here so I haven't been able to experiment with different settings.

Has anyone run into this problem? What should I be telling my clients to do - is there a different setting they can use? So far we've been outlining fonts, but that is not a satisfactory solution in the long-term due to quality.

I have Pagemaker 6.5 and Acrobat 4.0. I know they're a little old but we can't afford to upgrade everything at the moment, so hopefully there is a solution beyond getting a newer/more compatible version of everything...

--
Sarah

[Bob_Levine]

PM can't handle the CID encoded fonts in ID exported PDFs. You really
should consider upgrading your software. PM 6.5 is close to 10 years old
and Acrobat 4 is about 5 years old.

PM has been discontinued and version 6.5 can only import Acrobat 3.0
files. You're going to be having more and more trouble as more time goes by.

If you continue with this workflow, you'll need to have your clients
print to postscript and distill with Acrobat 3.0 compatibility.

I would strongly encourage you to upgrade to InDesign CS and Acrobat 6.0
Professional.

Bob

[howldog]

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 10:02:21 -0700, Bob_Levine wrote:

>
>I would strongly encourage you to upgrade to InDesign CS and Acrobat 6.0
>Professional.
>

i'm using Acrobat 5 now. what added stuff does Acrobat 6 Pro give me?

And I'm using Indy 2.02. What does Indy CS give me?

[Stu_Bloom@adobeforums.com]

PM has been discontinued




Not according to Adobe, which is still saying that PM is "the ideal page layout program for business, education, and small- and home-office professionals who want to create high-quality publications such as brochures and newsletters."

<http://www.adobe.com/products/pagemaker/main.html>

Just because they've stopped development and aren't bothering to warn prospective buyers that they're investing in a dead end may be distressing, despicable, disingenuous, dishonest, disappointing, discomfiting, discourteous, disgraceful, disheartening, disloyal, and distasteful, yes - but not discontinued.

[JohnO@adobeforums.com]

Will I get distended if I buy PM now? :-)

[Stu_Bloom@adobeforums.com]

Possibly. Disgusting, isn't it?

[Sarah_Vallee@adobeforums.com]

Thanks for the info.

Is PM 7.0 any better with these CID fonts? Or does it have to be InDesign? I cringe to think of trying to get my boss and our editor to learn an entirely new program...

I'm looking at some serious $$ to upgrade since - believe it or not - we're mostly on older machines running Win98, so this might actually involve upgrading hardware so we can run WinXP so we can run InDesign... major $$ and time investment for a small company like ours.

When I first came to work here 5 years ago, they were still running Photoshop 4.0 and Pagemaker 6.0. Getting them to upgrade to 7.0 and 6.52 was a battle... Switching to InDesign will be a nightmare.

[Bob_Levine]

Download the demo and check it out. PM 7 can at least handle Acrobat 5
files.

Bob

[JohnO@adobeforums.com]

>I cringe to think of trying to get my boss and our editor to learn an
entirely new program...

It's not entirely new. If you know PM, ID is *easy* to learn. The vast
majority of it is exactly the same, and the new PM tools included in ID make
it even easier. It's learning all the new stuff, and unlearning bad PM
habits, that'll get ya. ...ID forces you to do some things 'properly.'

>Switching to InDesign will be a nightmare.

Shouldn't be, you could probably make a case for a 100% ROI in less than a
year. Going forward, there isn't going to be much software that will run on
less than Win 2k...which is already five years old.

-John O

[Sarah_Vallee@adobeforums.com]

I didn't say I was scared of learning a new program... I'd love to get InDesign and WinXP here. But the $$ is not my decision, and you haven't met my boss. ;-) I mean, she's been using Photoshop for 10+ years and has never even tried to use layers or make a drop shadow. It will not be easy to convince her to start using InDesign. I'm half afraid she would rather retire than do that (seriously).

I don't think I can download the PM 7 demo to test it out with ad files, because I only have Win98 here :-( It says you need WinXP.

--
Sarah

[Bob_Levine]

If it says that it's wrong. PM 7 will run fine on Win98.

Bob

[JohnO@adobeforums.com]

>I'm half afraid she would rather retire than do that (seriously).

That's one way to make progress... :-)

Good Luck, Sarah.

-John O

[Sarah_Vallee@adobeforums.com]

<http://www.adobe.com/products/pagemaker/systemreqs.html>

Doesn't mention Win98 under supported operating systems. I'll download it and try it anyway.

I think I have half-way convinced my boss to try out InDesign - she is very reluctant, though. We'll see.

[Bob_Levine]

You're right, it doesn't but that would appear to be an oversight.

Just for the record ID will not run or even install on Win 98.

Bob

[Kevin Gibson]

Sarah,

One thing to consider with your upgrade... Be sure to tell your Boss
that converting RageMaker files to InDesign is not a "click the
button" solution. There will be clean up to do. Depending on the
complexity of your layout, it could be substantial. This is assuming
you worship proper document layout the way I do... Otherwise, ID may
create "Frames" for nearly every object in your Rage layout... In
other words, there will be alot of unessecary text frames that you
will want to merge for the purpose of editing. Then again, I haven't
tried this in IDCS yet...

In any case, Rage is crap layout software. A plague on Adobe's house
for even selling it anymore. You will be much, much happier in IDCS.
You will be able to do things you could do in Rage, but with way less
hassle. On the other hand, if your docs use para nums you may need to
upgrade to the RageMaker Plus edition or whatever they call it. I
think this is included anyway when you buy IDCS at this point...

Good Luck
K

[Neville_Lassotovitch@adobeforums.com]

PM7 and ID2.02 run great on Win 98SE. Of course ID2 isn't available anymore unless you can find a copy on ebay.

Neville