How to Fix Japanese Characters Displaying as Squares in PDF
Question details
Users need to resolve an issue where Japanese text renders as blank squares or incorrect symbols in a PDF document.
- Product
- PDF Creator
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Viewing or generating a PDF document containing Japanese characters from a source application.
- Observed behavior
- Japanese characters appear as blank squares in the main document body due to missing glyphs, unembedded fonts, or corrupted character encoding, though bookmarks may still display correctly.
Ensure you have access to the original source document (e.g., Word document) used to create the PDF, as fixing corrupted character encoding directly within a damaged PDF is often impossible.
Recreate the PDF with Properly Embedded Japanese Fonts
Return to the source file, apply a supported font, and export a new PDF to ensure correct character encoding.
When a PDF displays squares instead of Japanese characters, it usually means the chosen font doesn't support the required glyphs or wasn't properly embedded during document generation.
If the character encoding was corrupted during the initial PDF creation, changing the font directly inside a PDF editor will not restore the missing text data. You must fix the issue in the original authoring application.
Launch the application used to create the original document (such as Microsoft Word or WPS Writer) and open your source file.
Highlight the affected Japanese text and change the font to a properly licensed Japanese system font, such as MS Mincho, MS Gothic, Meiryo, or Yu Gothic.
Go to the application's export or save settings (often found under 'Options' > 'Save' or 'Export to PDF' settings) and ensure the option to 'Embed fonts in the file' is checked.
Save or export the document as a new PDF file. Open the newly created PDF to verify that the Japanese characters display correctly and that the text is searchable.
Create Flawless Multilingual PDFs with WPS Office
WPS Office provides robust font embedding and native PDF export features, ensuring complex character sets like Japanese, Chinese, and Korean are preserved and display perfectly across all devices without rendering as squares.
- 1. Open your Document: Launch WPS Writer and open the source document containing your Japanese text.
- 2. Verify Fonts: Highlight the text and ensure a compatible Japanese font is selected from the font dropdown menu on the Home tab.
- 3. Export to PDF: Click 'Menu' > 'Export to PDF'. In the settings dialog, verify that font embedding is enabled, then click 'Export' to generate a flawless document.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do bookmarks display correctly while the text shows squares?
Bookmarks use a dedicated system-level interface font designed to support a massive range of international characters. The document body, however, strictly relies on the specific font chosen and embedded by the document creator.
Can I fix the square characters directly in my PDF editor?
Usually not. If the character encoding was corrupted because of an incorrect font during the initial PDF creation, swapping the font in a PDF editor won't restore the lost data. Recreating the PDF from the original file is the only reliable fix.
What are some standard fonts that support Japanese characters?
Standard system fonts that include complete Japanese glyphs include MS Mincho, MS Gothic, Meiryo, and Yu Gothic. Applying these in your source document ensures proper rendering.
