TechNote (Archived)

Unexpected behavior when you open a PDF file with Asian language characters (Acrobat and Adobe Reader 7 on Windows)

Issue

When you try to open an Adobe PDF file, Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader returns one of the following dialogues:

Adobe Reader 7.0.x

-- "Checking for updates..." then "Adobe Reader has found component <language name> Fonts and its size is <filesize>. Do you wish to proceed with the download of this component?" - When you click Okay, Adobe Reader downloads and installs the optional component for you.

-- If you are not connected to the internet you'll see the following dialogue "A component required to perform this operation is missing. Do you want to establish a network connection to locate the component?" - If you click Yes, Acrobat will enable your best available network, if possible, and attempt to download and install the component.

Acrobat 7.0.x

-- "The <language name> Support Package is required to display this page properly. Click OK to install this component..." When you click Okay, Acrobat installs the font pack from the install location (example: CD or network location).

Detail

The PDF file contains Asian fonts (for example, Japanese, Chinese, or Korean).

Solutions

Do one or more of the following solutions:

Solution 1: Click Okay on the above mentioned dialogue.

If you click Okay on the dialogue box, Acrobat will install the font pack. Alternatively you can download Asian font packs for Adobe Reader from the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrasianfontpack.html .

Solution 2: Install the Asian language fonts manually.

If you use Acrobat, then install the Asian language fonts manually.

1. Choose Start > Run, type appwiz.cpl in the Open text box, and then click OK to open the Add Or Remove Programs dialog box..

2. Select Adobe Acrobat 7 from the list,select Change/Remove, and then click Next.

3. Choose Remove, click Next,and then click Modify.

4. Expand "View Adobe PDF" and change "Asian Language Support" from "Not installed" to "This feature will be installed on local hard drive."

5. Click next and then click Update.

Solution 3: Re-create the file in Acrobat Distiller (or the Adobe PDF printer) with the Asian font embedded.

With the default settings Adobe PDF printer creates PDF files with embedded subset fonts, however some font vendors have security information set to not allow font embedding. Acrobat Distiller honors this flag and will not embed a non-embedable font. If you have non-embedable fonts, then contact your font vendor for assistance.