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gollux
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garbled text

Post by gollux »

I recently made the switch from PDF-XChange viewer (2.5) to PDF-XChange Editor (8.0). In general, the switch has been positive, but twice in the last week I have encountered a pdf that displays correctly in Viewer but with garbled or distorted text in Editor.

An example pdf is here http://bit.ly/30hmb9L. A screenshot showing the display issue for this pdf is here https://www.dropbox.com/s/3blc462glws9x ... e.PNG?dl=0

A screenshot of an issue with a second pdf is here https://www.dropbox.com/s/z617fdve9h029 ... 2.PNG?dl=0
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Radi - Tracker Supp
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Re: garbled text

Post by Radi - Tracker Supp »

Hello gollux,

I've checked your document and everything looks good on my end (see the screenshot below).
image.png
Please make sure that you are using the latest version of the Editor - build 336. If you are using an older version, please update and check if the problem persists in the new build.

You can always find the latest version of our products here:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/product/downloads

Regards,
Radi
gollux
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Re: garbled text

Post by gollux »

Thanks for your help with this. I am using the latest build, 336.

Any idea what might be causing the problem on my end?
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: garbled text

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello gollux,

The issue is not too obvious with Radi's settings, but I did manage to reproduce it on my machine - so I am now asking colleagues in the dev team who work on fonts and the way the Editor shows them to take a look at your sample.

Regards,
Stefan
gollux
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Re: garbled text

Post by gollux »

Great - thanks so much, Stefan.
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: garbled text

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Gollux,

I have heard back from my colleague in the dev team who investigated your file.
It would appear that the texh is technically aligned on the correct single line, however the font that is used for this text is weird and some of the letters in it are not aligned correctly to the baseline of the font. So when they are displayed on the screen - some of them are slightly higher and some are slightly lower. The difference is subtle, and other products use different rendering engines with different font hinting than us - so at say 100% zoom their text might appear 'smooth' while our rendering engine gets some of the letters a pixel higher - so it looks 'jagged'.

At higher zoom levels you can see the letters are not on the same line in all PDF software products you may try with:
image_2020_01_16T14_08_17_756Z.png
For the moment our rendering engine will keep showing this file (and any others with that same embedded font) in this unusual way, and our devs are considering if there is any solution they can apply.

Regards,
Stefan
gollux
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Re: garbled text

Post by gollux »

Thanks for looking into this, Stefan. In case it's helpful, I'll just underline that the problem doesn't occur for me in PDF-XChange viewer (2.5).

Do you have any thoughts about the second pdf? A screenshot of an issue with a second pdf is here https://www.dropbox.com/s/z617fdve9h029 ... 2.PNG?dl=0 The pdf itself is here https://www.dropbox.com/s/r1t6sz8ckbrig ... f.pdf?dl=0

I suppose this is a different problem, and it is (as you can see) harder to work around. With this file as well, the file displays perfectly well in PDF-XChange Viewer.
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: garbled text

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello gollux,

Yes the Viewer and Editor use different rendering engines - so the way they will show text is different.

As for the other file - I just heard from our devs that they have already fixed this issue. The fix will be in build 337 of our products.

Regards,
Stefan
gollux
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Re: garbled text

Post by gollux »

Great, thanks again!

(I think this is a great product, but your responsiveness is really impressive as well. It's great to see a team that's engaged with resolving issues like this.)
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: garbled text

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Many thanks for the kind words gollux!
That's greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Stefan
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