PDF text differs depending on tool used, Print vs. PDF

[cschultzMRCET]

I have encountered an odd issue when creating PDFs. When using the dedicated 'PDF' function in Revit, all text in schedule headers becomes enlarged and shifted to the right. If the classic 'Print' function is used, everything looks normal and matches Revit. This issue began when I switched computers. I have read that display scaling must be set to 100%, which it is and problem still persists.

We use Bluebeam and our new workflow requires us to use the 'PDF' function so sheet names populate in tile view in the viewer. I am stumped on what is causing the text distortion. 

[brett_blackmonUDQYC]

I am having the same problem... when I print to PDF or export to pdf, schedule text flows outside of gridlines in the .pdf file.

[cschultzMRCET]

I had this issue initially. We use 'Arial Narrow' for all of our sheet text, the new computer did not have 'Arial Narrow' loaded as a system font. Selecting 'Arial Narrow' within the project defaulted to standard Arial and was confusing for a day. Had to load the proper font into windows for this issue to be resolved. Now everything looks correct until I export using the PDF specific tool. If exporting pdf using 'Print', everything looks how it should, but does not follow the new workflow which populates sheet names on thumbnails of pdf.

[brett_blackmonUDQYC]

I checked, we use Franklin Gothic Medium for these schedule text... It is already loaded on the system so, I ruled that out as the culprit.

[HVAC-Novice]

Does that happen with the Revit-native Arial? (or whatever their new default is)

[brett_blackmonUDQYC]

I changed the text to Arial STANDARD. And this did fix the problem. We have printed using the Franklin Gothic Medium before w/ out any issue.

[GaryOrrMBI]

This comes down to the print driver (or, in the case of the Export to PDF, the lack of one).

Most Print drivers, either for physical printers or for PDF printers, have properties that can be adjusted to compensate for font handling:

These settings (or lack thereof) are the root of most PDF printing/exporting issues, especially when it comes to fonts.

The reason that non standard fonts often overrun the boundaries (or otherwise do not print the same as they look in Revit) is because they get substituted with another font.

For some, it's installed system fonts, for others they're hard-coded into the driver and/or device but it's the same thing either way...

Revit's Export to PDF doesn't have any user modifiable driver settings for such things so it all comes down to how they decided to handle it, and that is the equivalent of "Substitute with Device Font" (fortunately the device fonts seem to be whatever fonts you have installed on your system since installing those fonts usually, although not always, fixes the issue).

Also beware of the ACC (if you use the cloud) catch for the "Publish" functions (especially to Build sheets). The list of "Device Fonts" gets even shorter since you can't try to fix it by installing fonts on your local machine because everything is processed on their servers.

-G

[HVAC-Novice]

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@brett_blackmonUDQYC wrote:

I changed the text to Arial STANDARD. And this did fix the problem. We have printed using the Franklin Gothic Medium before w/ out any issue.

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I'm not defending Revit, Windows or any of the other parts playing a role with fonts. But the pragmatic way is to use the standard/default fonts. And this is subjective, i find Arial very clear on screen and paper. If you use non-standard fonts, you are relying on anyone ever needing the files having "YOUR" special font installed and properly applied. Imagine someone looks at a PDF that shows your font properly, but they use ACC, and on the ACC app it now looks weird since ACC doesn't have your font. There is no way for you test all scenarios, or make sure everyone can use your files. But everyone has Arial. 

This situation is manageable for us using Latin letters. it really is bad for people that natively don't use the Latin letters. I have no good solution for that. 

I personally have issues with printing to Bluebeam (all Arial). My title blocks have overruns with BB. but the Revit export to PDF works just fine. So that is what I use. Maybe there is a fix, but as long as "export" works, it is fine. They talk about AI.... maybe in 2026 we could have resolved printing and simple letters? 🙂 

[cschultzMRCET]

G,

Thank you for your reply. This prompted me to dig deeper into the Windows font settings. Initially I had installed Arial Narrow straight from the download folder to control panel settings for fonts. This only half-worked. I was able to use Arial narrow within all Windows applications and when using the 'Print' function for pdf creation, I checked and 'Substitute with Device Fonts' was checked. So Revit must have been fetching the Device Font. 

After investigating the file path for the fonts I had installed, Arial Narrow was in %appdata% and all other fonts, including normal Arial, were in C://Windows/fonts. I could see Arial Narrow in the control panel but not in the Windows/fonts folder. I deleted my previously installed fonts and rebooted. Reinstalled Arial Narrow to the Windows/fonts folder by selecting 'Install for all users' which is conveniently hidden behind the 'Show More Options' when right clicking. This populated the C://Windows/fonts folder with the Arial Narrow. 

Unfortunately when doing a test export, nothing had changed and text was still shifted over and spilling out. I think the issue has something to do with there being no real advanced options when exporting straight to pdf compared to printing pdf. Thank you again for taking the time to reply. I will update the thread with a solution if/when I find one.