Fix Gotham Light Font Text Unselectable in Word to PDF Conversion
Question details
The user is unable to select or copy text in a PDF created from a Word document when the Gotham Light font is used.
- Product
- Microsoft Word
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Exporting or saving a Microsoft Word document containing custom fonts as a PDF file.
- Observed behavior
- Text formatted with the Gotham Light font appears to be converted into an image, making it unselectable and uncopyable in the resulting PDF, whereas other fonts work normally.
Ensure that the Gotham Light font is properly installed on your system and is not marked with restricted embedding permissions.
Embed Fonts in the Word Document Before Saving
Embedding the font ensures that custom fonts like Gotham Light are preserved as text rather than rasterized into images during PDF conversion.
When a font is not embedded and the PDF engine anticipates it will be unavailable to the viewer, it may flatten the text into an image to preserve its visual appearance. Forcing font embedding resolves this.
Open your document in Microsoft Word. Go to the 'File' menu in the top-left corner and click on 'Options' at the bottom.
In the Word Options dialog box, select 'Save' from the left-hand pane.
Check the box that says 'Embed fonts in the file'. For best results, uncheck 'Do not embed common system fonts'.
Click 'OK' to save your settings, then try exporting the document as a PDF again using 'File' > 'Save As'.
Use Microsoft Print to PDF
Different PDF conversion engines handle custom fonts differently. Trying an alternative print-to-PDF method can resolve font rasterization issues.
Update or Reinstall the Gotham Light Font
Corrupt font files or restrictive licenses might prevent embedding, causing the conversion tool to render the text as an image.
Convert Word Documents to PDF with High Fidelity in WPS Office
WPS Office provides an advanced, built-in PDF conversion tool that accurately preserves custom fonts, layouts, and text-selectable properties without rasterizing them into images.
- 1. Open Document in WPS: Launch WPS Office Writer and open the Word document containing your custom fonts.
- 2. Select PDF Export: Click on the 'Menu' button in the top left corner and select 'Export to PDF' from the dropdown list.
- 3. Configure PDF Settings: In the export dialog, specify your desired save path and adjust any specific export settings as needed.
- 4. Generate PDF: Click 'Export to PDF' to generate a high-quality PDF with fully selectable and copyable text.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Word convert my font to an image when saving as PDF?
This happens when the PDF conversion engine cannot embed the custom font due to licensing restrictions, font file corruption, or incorrect Word save settings. As a fallback mechanism, the software rasterizes the text into an image to preserve its visual appearance in the document.
How do I know if a font allows embedding?
In Windows, you can check a font's embeddability by opening the system Fonts folder, selecting the specific font, and looking at the 'Font embeddability' detail at the bottom of the window. Fonts marked as 'Restricted' cannot be embedded in PDFs and may convert to images.
Does 'Print to PDF' yield different results than 'Save as PDF'?
Yes. 'Print to PDF' uses the operating system's printer spooler to generate the file, which sometimes bypasses strict embedding restrictions or rendering bugs found in the native 'Save as PDF' or 'Export' functions of Word.
Will changing the font format from OTF to TTF fix PDF text selection issues?
It is highly likely. Certain legacy PDF creators and Word export functions struggle with handling OpenType (OTF) font curves. Switching to a TrueType (TTF) version of the same font often allows the software to properly embed the text.
