Replace Pages is evil?

[Brian_Matheson@adobeforums.com]

I'm creating final, print-ready PDF files from InDesign CS2 by writing .ps files and distilling using Distiller 6.0.0. There have been a few instances where the client has come back with a page or two of corrections and I wrote a .ps of those pages only, distilled it, and did a Replace Pages in the existing 28 page document with the newly corrected pages (Acrobat Professional 7.0.9---Mac OSX 10.4.7).

This has led to some major font issues within the PDF. Everything was fine prior to the Replace Pages action but the fonts seemed to go haywire afterwards---letters dropped from the middle of words, kerning/tracking went screwy, etc. I've used the Replace Pages feature many, many times in the past and have never experienced this problem. Obviously I'm going to completely abandon that method from this point on and will simply re-write the entire range of pages instead.

For my own curiosity, though, can anyone tell me why this is occurring?

[Claudio_González@adobeforums.com]

Lpooks like a font issue to me. Does the problem affect the replaced pages, the remaining original ones, or both?

[de_Siem@adobeforums.com]

It's down to using subsets of fonts most likely. Things can go weird when trying to insert or replace pages into a document that has a (slightly) different subset of the same font.

To avoid use type 1/open type fonts and make sure to full embed them in every document.

[Brian_Matheson@adobeforums.com]

Claudio – I've yet to notice the actual replaced pages being affected. It's been other existing pages within the PDF.

de Siem – The replacement pages are written the same way, with the same fonts, from the same InDesign document. It would be easier for me to understand if there were variables but there are not.

Unfortunately I don't have the option of choosing what types of fonts to use on this project as they are supplied by the client, but I will take note that type 1/open type fonts can be problematic in this way.

Your feedback is appreciated. As I said in the initial post, I am going to completely abandon Replace Pages and will from this point on just re-write the complete page range. It's unfortunate that a large range of pages has to be re-written for only one or two pages but it seems as though I'm risking corruption if I don't do it that way.

[Thomas_Greene@adobeforums.com]

Hi Brian,
I’ve had similar experiences with “Replace Pages“, as well as the related “Insert pages” and “Extract pages”. These features really are not the problem. As you said, you “used the Replace Pages feature many, many times in the past” with no problems. So I think you can rest assured that you can continuing using it with confidence.

The problem is with the original pdf that you tried to change. It’s as if all the pages of the original pdf were linked, so by replacing pages, you break the link and resulted in the font problems you experienced.

As you mentioned, “Everything was fine prior to the Replace Pages action but the fonts seemed to go haywire afterward”, might lead you to believe the problem was with replacing pages, but it was actually breaking up the original pdf that caused the problem.

(I believe de Siems’ response is correct, but should have included a comma after avoid in the second paragraph.)

You should use type 1/open type fonts and make sure to embed them in every document.
Don’t use True type or some specialized fonts that may be of inferior quality. There are type 1/open type versions of most type faces, encourage you customer to use them, rather than the True type version.

Then in your settings for Distiller, use only 100% embedding and click off subsetting. Distiller sometimes mishandles the subsetting and it results in the - letters dropped from the middle of words, kerning/tracking went screwy problems you had.

Good luck
Tom Greene