Note heads missing in PDF print out

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PETER KIENLE Posted June 05, 2018 18:16

Today I discovered I have a problem again I thought was long behind me:

I use InDesign to assemble pdf files from Finale into larger documents. Printed one of the PDF files out to check for accuracy but note heads of all notes using the half-note note head were not printed. Whole notes, quarter notes, everything else printed fine.

As mentioned, I had this problem before years ago. After doing much research I had found a seeming solution: use Finale's Export Graphics function from the Graphics menu to create PDF files. Not only are the resulting PDF files smaller but this strange half-note font problem seemed to go away.

But now it's back (or maybe I have just worked through an older batch of music).

The strange thing is that it's not consistent. I have an example PDF which I intended to attach but I can't find a way to do that. This is an PDF export from InDesign of one page that shows part of an imported PDF (from Finale) where the half-note heads get printed and a second imported PDF where they are not printed. I scanned the printout (but can't attach). Both Finale files use the same music font (Maestro). Both were originally created in Finale 3.5. Also, either of the PDF files created in Finale prints out fine.

While it looks to me that InDesign may miss something it looks & prints fine when printed from InDesign directly.

Also, when I open the file Acrobat it looks fine on the screen, so the error might happen further up the chain when Mac OS deals with it during printing.

Fact is: I don't know how to further trouble shoot. Any suggestions are most welcome.

Peter

Finale 25.4 (lastest version) on High Sierra 10.13.4

14 comments

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PETER THOMSEN Posted June 05, 2018 18:25

… I have an example PDF which I intended to attach but I can't find a way to do that …

You can not attach a PDF file here.

Instead, upload the PDF file elsewhere, and add here a hyperlink to the file.

PETER KIENLE Posted June 05, 2018 18:45

Ok. http://peterkienle.com/images-pk2015/Font-failure.jpg

PETER KIENLE Posted June 05, 2018 19:02

More tests:

1) my main printer is Brother laser also tried on HP Office Inkjet with same result

2) using various versions of Acrobat to print = same result (half-note heads not printing)

3) printing from Apple Preview = prints fine

4) in Finale, copied music from affected file into a New Default file with same result (half-note heads not printing)

5) I should try to print from Acrobat on my other Mac and Windows PC, but the day is only so long

PETER THOMSEN Posted June 05, 2018 19:29

… printing from Apple Preview = prints fine …

Since it prints fine from Preview, then perhaps you can fix the PDF file by exporting it from Preview using one of the Quartz filters - perhaps Generic PDFX-3.

PETER KIENLE Posted June 06, 2018 00:59

Just tried exporting from Preview but no success.

Ideally I'd like to track down what causes this. It seems only the Adobe software chain chokes on it. I wouldn't mind all of that but these files are supposed to be for public download and most people will use Acrobat to print.

More experiments I did in the meantime:

- switching to Petrucci font in the affected file fixes it

- switching back to Maestro brings the problem back

For all I know it might be something as silly as Acrobat expecting an case sensitive font name (or something) while the Finale PDF doesn't care.

MIKE HALLORAN Posted June 06, 2018 01:22

25 is not the first version of Finale ever installed on this Mac, correct? This problem is normally associated with an old version of the fonts on your system.You state that you are running 25.4? That is not the current version. 25.4.1 fixed the High Sierra installation problem. The short fix should work.

Download 25.5.

Go to Font Book.app and delete every version of Maestro you find.

Install 25.5

See if you still have a problem.

PETER KIENLE Posted June 06, 2018 01:35

I am running 25.4.1.163. And I am sure over the years since Finale was first installed on OSX 10.0 (or something) stuff has been carried over with frequent updates. I wasn't aware that there is a V25.5 out. Looks like "Check for Updates" was unchecked for some reason.

This makes sense and I'll try that.

Thanks

MIKE HALLORAN Posted June 06, 2018 01:44

If installed fonts are old enough, the later installers don’t seem to know to overwrite them. This is not uncommon. There is a long way to di it but this should work fine. The important thing is to delete the old fonts first.

PETER KIENLE Posted June 06, 2018 01:47

Ok. I downloaded & installed V25.5 after removing all Maestro fonts from Fonts folder. But there were no new Maestro fonts installed. I kept the old ones (which are from 2012). Where and how do I get newer fonts?

PETER KIENLE Posted June 06, 2018 02:16

Got fresh fonts installed & Finale V25.5 from full install. These are the same Maestro fonts (V1.2) I removed.

Unfortunately it doesn't fix my problem. But thanks for the input.

PETER KIENLE Posted June 06, 2018 02:51

After much more experiments I am not quite sure if I have the problem/solution.

I imported some of the "affected" Finale PDF export files into a FRESH InDesign document. Exported to PDF and printed fine from Acrobat. So, sorry Finale. It's InDesign's fault.

MIKE HALLORAN Posted June 06, 2018 03:11

Ok, I’m typing this on an iPad on vacation and not my Mac. Reboot. If that doesn’t do it, look at the following.

Right-click on Finale in Applications. You should see a folder called Contents, inside is Resources. Open that. Under View, clean up the files by Type. This will group all of your .tif (TrueType Fonts). Open each Maestro font and click on Install. You will get an error—ignore it and check ok. Do this to all of them.

In High Sierra, reboot.

There is a very detailed step-by-step that I posted a ear and a half ago. I’s a bear to find it, however.

PETER KIENLE Posted June 06, 2018 15:18

And of course blaming InDesign wasn't the solution either. Worse, this now turns into an intermittent problem where I can't see any pattern.

PETER KIENLE Posted June 06, 2018 18:38

This is getting ridiculous. There is a pattern to the madness:

When I print out one single page of a PDF exported from InDesign (from a document that has been assembled from PDF documents created by Finale) everything prints fine. When I print more than one page no half-note heads will be printed on all pages except the first one printed.

Is it time to complain to Adobe?

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