Cidfont F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 Full Link

A CIDFont is essentially a database of glyphs, each identified by a unique . The mapping from a character code (like Unicode) to a CID is handled by a CMAP (Character Map) . 1.2 The Naming Convention: Where Do F1, F2, etc., Come From? When a PDF is created and a CIDFont is embedded without a predefined PostScript name, the PDF writer (e.g., Adobe Acrobat, Ghostscript, or a print driver) generates a synthetic font name . The format is:

Introduction: What Are CIDFonts? In the world of professional printing, PDF engineering, and typography, few concepts cause as much confusion—and as many critical errors—as CIDFonts . The keyword "cidfont f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 full" refers to a specific, often problematic scenario encountered when extracting or preflighting PDF files, particularly those originating from Adobe Illustrator, AutoCAD, or legacy publishing systems. cidfont f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 full

pdffonts -subst yourfile.pdf Output example: A CIDFont is essentially a database of glyphs,

cpdf -replace-fonts "CIDFont+F2" "NotoSansCJKjp-Bold" in.pdf -o out.pdf Cause : Subset CIDFont lacked the new characters you typed. Solution : Never edit a subset PDF directly. First, perform the full embedding process above, then edit. Error 3: F1–F6 appear but the PDF is small (under 500 KB) Observation : Impossible for a full CJK font set. Conclusion : The fonts are not fully embedded, despite appearances. Check the object stream. Small file size = subset only. Part 7: CIDFont vs. OpenType – The Modern Replacement Since PDF 2.0 (ISO 32000-2), the recommendation is to use TrueType-flavored OpenType fonts with CID mapping rather than legacy CIDFonts. However, millions of legacy PDFs still use F1-F6. When a PDF is created and a CIDFont

| Problem | Solution | |---------|----------| | PDF shows missing CIDFont+F1...F6 | Identify actual font using Acrobat/pdffonts | | Need full glyph set for editing | Use Ghostscript with -dSubsetFonts=false | | Error when moving PDF between systems | Replace synthetic names with real font names | | Prevent future issues | Export PDFs with 100% subset threshold or full embedding |

If you have ever opened a PDF only to see missing font warnings like "Cannot find or create 'CIDFont+F1'" or found that text renders as gibberish in a RIP (Raster Image Processor), you have encountered the CIDFont naming convention. This article provides a deep dive into what F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, and F6 represent, why "full" embedding fails, and how to resolve these issues once and for all. 1.1 What is a CID (Character Identifier)? Unlike traditional fonts (Type 1 or TrueType) that use a simple 1-byte encoding (maximum 256 characters), CID-keyed fonts support large character sets—often thousands of glyphs—required for CJK languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) as well as complex symbol sets. Adobe developed CIDFonts to bypass the 256-character limit.