Search "ctrl + f" works poorly in pdf output

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Andrew Pianin
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Search "ctrl + f" works poorly in pdf output

Unread post by Andrew Pianin »

Hello!
My PDF output documents don't allow to search words via hotkey "ctrl + f". Result is emty in most cases. Sometimes it works via entering first two or three letters. If an entire word is entered it won`t be found at all.
Anybody has ideas?
Andrew Pianin
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Tim Green
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Re: Search "ctrl + f" works poorly in pdf output

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Andrew,

That's unusual. If search isn't working at all, check whether you can select and copy text, and also whether the PDF is unusually large. Not being able to select and copy text means that the text was generated as glyphs (little graphics) and isn't text at all. That will also make the PDF very large. This happens when some or all of the characters used are not available in the font you are using (then Windows replaces all the text with glyphs automatically), or if you set the text to be output as glyphs explicitly in Configuration > Publishing > PDF > Font Embedding.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Andrew Pianin
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Re: Search "ctrl + f" works poorly in pdf output

Unread post by Andrew Pianin »

Hello, Tim!
I changed the default configurations in Configuration > Publishing > PDF > Font Embedding. This configuration "Export Text as Glyphs" (selected item: Export Symbol Fonts as Glyphs) was really turned on by default. I turned it off. As a result it could not help to solve the problem with searching but it helped to shrink size of pdf files significantly. Then I tried changing "Font Mode": from "Embed TrueType fonts" (installed by default) to "Embed Type3 fonts". As a result searching works well now :) .
Thank you a lot for your help.
Andrew Pianin
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Tim Green
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Re: Search "ctrl + f" works poorly in pdf output

Unread post by Tim Green »

Andrew Pianin wrote: Tue Jan 24, 2023 10:38 am Then I tried changing "Font Mode": from "Embed TrueType fonts" (installed by default) to "Embed Type3 fonts". As a result searching works well now :)
This means that there was a problem with one or more of the fonts you were using. Either it wasn't being properly embedded as TT, or there were some characters being used that the font didn't include. Unfortunately, Windows replaces the text with glyphs for the entire font as soon as even one character is missing. This can generally be avoided by using full Unicode fonts.

The Type3 embedding option will generally always work, but it has the disadvantage that the characters can be a little less sharp at higher zoom settings. One thing you can do is to try the CID embedding option. If that works, it is preferable to Type3 for better quality.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Andrew Pianin
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Re: Search "ctrl + f" works poorly in pdf output

Unread post by Andrew Pianin »

I changed Font Mode to Embed CID Fonts. Searching works as well.
Thank you for the explanation regarding quality.
Andrew Pianin
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