I have created an editable PDF. When the user opens the PDF though they do not see the same fonts in the form fields that I have set. What has gone wrong?
In order for fonts to be displayed correctly on someone else computer, the font has to either be installed on the computer or embedded into the PDF. Embedding the font into the PDF avoids having the user installing the font onto their computer. You can check that the fonts used in all form fields have been correctly embedded:
Even though you have embedded the fonts and set the form fields to use the font as described, some
versions of Adobe Reader on a Mac will revert to another font as soon as you start typing in an empty
form field.
To avoid this set some initial text on all the form fields in the PDF. Many products use “Edit
here” or give an example of what to type into the form field.
Unfortunately, this is another bug with some versions of Adobe Reader. If your form field is set to Rich Text Formatting, and the user does not have the font installed, when they click on the form field, the form field is reset. To avoid this make sure the form field is not set to a Rich Text Field in the PDF.
Opening the editable PDF directly from a browser will not work well. Most browser based PDF viewers
will not know how to display the form fields correctly.
Put some instructions in your product to first download the PDF to the computer and then to open
the PDF in the latest version of Adobe Reader.