"Cannot find or create the font..." when opening an AutoCAD created PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader

Autodesk Support

Sep 20, 2024

Products and versions covered

Issue:

Users reported that after creating a PDF in AutoCAD products, the following message appears when opening the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader:

Adobe Reader

Cannot find or create the font '<font name>'. Some characters may not display or print correctly.

"Cannot find or create the font..." message in Acrobat

  • The font name can vary, for example: ArialMT, SansSerifBold, etc.
  • The PDF may have been plotted, published, or exported using the DWG to PDF plotter.
  • Other PDF plotters, such as AutoCAD PDF, may show the same warning.
 

Causes:

  • AutoCAD updates have not been installed.
  • The text contains special characters such as: Ø, ².
  • The named font is missing or not installed.
  • The named font has not been captured when creating the PDF file.
  • Certain TrueType (TTF) fonts do not have a high enough vector resolution.

Solution:

Try the following in order:

AutoCAD product updates

Make sure all available updates for the installed version are installed (see Where to download products and updates). 
 

Capture the font in the PDF file

  1. Enter PLOT to open the Plot dialog.
  2. Select a PDF plotter in the Printer/plotter pull-down menu.
  3. Click the PDF Options... button
  4. In the PDF Options dialog, check Capture fonts use in the drawing.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Continue with PDF creation.
PDF options opened from the Plot Dialog
Note: The same issue can occur when using the Export to PDF feature. For this scenario, do the following steps:
  1. In Civil 3D, open File > Export, select PDF as output format.
  2. In Save As PDF dialog box, navigate to Current Settings and open Options...
  3. In Export to PDF Options, make sure that Capture fonts used in the drawing option is selected for Font Handling.
 

Replace the font in the font style

  1. Open the Text Style Manager by running the command: STYLE.
    1. Or from the ribbon > Annotate tab > Text section > right-click the corner-arrow: 
    2. Text drop down in the ribbon

  2. Review the list of Styles. Change the font for any style in which the font shows a warning sign in the Font Name section.
    Font Name drop down in the Text Style dialog

  3. Click Apply.
 

Other solutions

 
 

Products:

AutoCAD Products;

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