Publish to PDF changes text to box or rectangle characters in AutoCAD

Autodesk Support

Feb 17, 2025

Products and versions covered

Issue:

When publishing a drawing to PDF or printing with AutoCAD or Civil 3D containing text which is no longer supported in Windows 10, the dimensional or annotation text is changed to box or rectangle characters in the output.

Note:  There are several fonts no longer supported in Windows 10, such as the Dotum and Helvetica Neue family of fonts. Drawings using these fonts will give the same result in PDF output. 

Causes:

This is a known issue with the Helvetica Neue system font. Other afftected fonts include (but are not limited to) Gautami, Dotum, Gulim, and Gungsuh.

Solution:

In order to display the text correctly, follow these steps: 

  1. Edit the PDF Options in the Batch Publish dialog window.
  2. Uncheck "Keep TrueType Fonts" or select "Convert all text to geometry."

Note: Alternatively, change the text to a different font or use AutoCAD for Mac 2016 or earlier to publish the drawing. For Windows 10, Microsoft has a page here which details how to get the missing fonts.

Products:

AutoCAD for Mac; AutoCAD LT for Mac; AutoCAD Products;

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