If needed, re-embed with pdftk or cpdf -replace-font .
Doing so ensures your PDF will never need a repack in the future.
CID Fonts (Types 9–11, 32) - Fonts & Encodings [Book] - O'Reilly
Use a robust PDF creator like or Bluebeam PDF . cid font f1 f2 f3 f4 repack
For many users, a simple and effective solution is to open the problematic PDF with the app and then use the "Export as PDF" function. This process often re-encodes the document and successfully re-embeds the necessary fonts, resolving the issue.
If you encounter a PDF with these placeholders, your first step should be to examine the text to guess the font or use a PDF analysis tool. Once you have a good candidate, using a professional PDF editor to replace the placeholder with the correctly embedded font will resolve the issue, effectively "repacking" your document for reliable use.
Instead of mapping a character directly to a keyboard letter, a CID font uses a index number (Character ID) to point to a specific glyph in a massive database. What do F1, F2, F3, and F4 Mean? If needed, re-embed with pdftk or cpdf -replace-font
is a font format specification developed by Adobe Systems. Unlike traditional fonts (Type 1 or TrueType), which map single-byte characters (0-255), CID fonts are designed for large character sets:
Search for and install or Simplified Chinese (ensure you check the box for "Supplemental fonts"). Restart your computer and run the installer again. Step 2: Whitelist the Installer in Your Antivirus
fontforge -script repack.pe F1 F2 F3 F4 output.otf For many users, a simple and effective solution
fonts are an encoding architecture designed to support large and complex character sets, particularly those used in East Asian (CJK) languages, though they are also used for Western fonts during PDF embedding.
If using MicroStation, the font.map file is likely the culprit.
Here is how you can "repack" or fix this to get useful, readable text again: 1. The Quickest Fix: "Print to PDF"