PDF creation assistance requested for tricky file

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I could use some help solving a PDF file problem. Nothing complicated, just text and a bunch of B&W images; it’s a history book. Here’s the file.

I am trying to get this 300 page book printed at a commercial, online printer (Createspace seems the cheapest). This book was printed about 15 years ago from the same source file, but Createspace and some other printers are now rejecting it.

The interior layout was originally done in Pagemaker 6.5, made into PDF with the Acrobat distiller that was part of PM. The resulting file looks perfect on my screen or on any other computer screen I use, and prints fine on every laser printer I have tested it on (about 3).

It was prepared using the “embed all fonts” option in Distiller. Yet the flightcheck software the commercial printers use detect two font families not embedded: Bookman & New Century Schoolbook (with ital & bold variations), and they refuse to print a proof copy.

The “missing” fonts are not used anywhere in the book, so that could explain why they didn’t get embedded, but flightcheck doesn’t look to see if they are used, just if they are in an internal list, I guess.

Just for kicks, I created some fake text using the missing fonts, placed it on a page and covered it with a white rectangle so it wouldn’t print, then distilled the project again with the “embed all fonts” option. The result still won’t pass the flightcheck.

At this point, I am stuck. I can’t justify purchase of an Adobe Acrobat creator program or new Indesign, and there’s no guarantee that either will fix the problem.

My WAG is the problem is caused by a well-known bug in Pagemaker – if a font is used in a file, then that text is deleted, the font remains in the internal “used” list and cannot be removed. I think this bug is our culprit.

There are hundreds of “PDF fixer” programs around, but most come with baggage (adware, nagware and worse) and there’s no guarantee they can fix this.

Any ideas from PDF gurus out there? What would you do next?

ETA: I’m waiting for word from Createspace higher-mucky-mucks, who claim they will provide me with the page(s) and actual text or object that is causing the problem. If it’s limited to a single page or two, I’ll print those out, scan & digitize them, then re-import to the main file. That should work as long as they don’t tell me the problem is in pages 6…299.

2

Right in my wheelhouse, and I just took batting practice. Let me look at it.

3

Yeah, it’s got Bookman Light in there somewhere and the simple approaches in Acrobat (including print to a new file) are choking. I think the file is fixable, though. Let me keep trying some other approaches. (I just submitted books to IngramSpark and CreateSpace and threaded the fine channels of their file requirements, so.)

4

The file example I posted might indeed have one or more of the missing files, since I added them under a white rectangle as a test. I think that’s on one of the first few pages, but removal of those invisible text blocks doesn’t seem to fix it. If you find use of one of those fonts anywhere else, I’d sure like to know about it.

5

I tried reading the file in the Chrome version of Acrobat (looks OK) and printing to a new PDF file (looks OK). Didn’t have any problems at all, but re-submission of the revised file to an online printer (DiggyPOD) shows the same font errors.

6

Fixed. No sweat. <fx collapses face down, comatose >

Had two bitchy font errors and all graphics were RGB, but Acrobat Pro DC’s standards page successfully converted and preflighted it to /X-1a standard, which I believe CreateSpace and Ingram both import without a hitch.

I’ll PM the DL link.

7

PDF tools vary so much that it’s no wonder some users hate the format and others are confused by the seemingly random outcomes. Opening a file with a generic PDF reader and writing it to a new file is not much different from a digital photocopy - nothing is changed, the elements are just written back to the new file as read. It takes a high-end version, and I don’t know of any besides the real thing, to disassemble a PDF into component pieces and truly write different font specs, graphics encapsulations, etc.

I wish the real tool were a little more readily available. I have it as part of the complete toolset, but by itself it’s like $20 a month, which is ridiculous.