Non-symbolic TrueType fonts need a valid encoding

PDF/UA check FONT_TRUETYPE_NONSYMBOLIC_ENCODING · Fonts & text encoding · severity High · PDF/UA 8.4.5.7 TrueType fonts · advanced check

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Advanced check. This is a file-internals rule. It is hidden from the standard report view and generally indicates a problem with the tool that produced the PDF rather than something an author did.

Why it matters#

An invalid encoding mapping breaks the character-to-glyph chain, so text either renders incorrectly or cannot be extracted by screen readers.

What you will see#

A non-symbolic TrueType font uses an encoding that is missing or contains glyph names outside the Adobe Glyph List.

How to fix#

Set the font's Encoding entry (or the BaseEncoding key inside its Encoding dictionary) to WinAnsiEncoding or MacRomanEncoding. If a Differences array is present, use only glyph names from the Adobe Glyph List.

Step-by-step guide#

1. Identify the flagged non-symbolic TrueType fonts (FontDescriptor Flags with the Nonsymbolic bit set) whose Encoding entry is missing, non-standard, or uses invalid Differences names.
2. Set the font dictionary's Encoding entry to WinAnsiEncoding or MacRomanEncoding - either directly as a name, or as the BaseEncoding key inside an Encoding dictionary, as PDF/UA-2 clause 8.4.5.7 requires.
3. If the Encoding dictionary has a Differences array, either remove it or keep only glyph names that are genuine Adobe Glyph List entries - synthetic uniXXXX or uXXXXXX names are not in the AGL and fail the check; when Differences is kept, the embedded font program must also contain a Microsoft Unicode (Platform 3, Encoding 1) cmap subtable.
4. Confirm the embedded font program contains at least a Microsoft Unicode (3,1) or Macintosh Roman (1,0) cmap subtable; if it lacks both, the embedded font program is deficient - regenerate the PDF from the source application so the font is re-embedded from the original font file.
5. Prefer fixing at the source: re-export the PDF from the authoring application, which writes standard encodings for non-symbolic TrueType fonts automatically.
6. Acrobat Pro has no UI for editing font encodings: an invalid Encoding entry means the producing application generated the font dictionaries incorrectly, and the only reliable fix is regenerating the file from its source with a compliant export pipeline.

Verify: Re-run the EQChecker advanced scan and confirm FONT_TRUETYPE_NONSYMBOLIC_ENCODING reports zero errors. Copying the affected text should yield correct characters.

Note: If the font is genuinely symbolic (icons, dingbats, custom pictograms), do not force a standard encoding onto it - instead set the Symbolic flag and remove the Encoding entry, per the companion rule FONT_TRUETYPE_SYMBOLIC_ENCODING. Exactly one of the Symbolic and Nonsymbolic flags must be set on any font.

WCAG success criteria#

No WCAG success criterion maps cleanly to this check — it is a PDF/UA structural requirement. The PDF/UA clause above is the normative reference.

Standards#

This check contributes to the following standards:

PDF/UA