Missing text in PDF

mothlight · 2025-11-05T07:21:18+00:00

In Zotero 7.0.27 (Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS)
1) Download PDF from:
https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/744101/Townhouse-and-Low-Rise-Code-Guidelines.pdf
2) Add file to library in Zotero Desktop
3) Open PDF
4) Most of the text is missing from the document in the internal viewer.

It looks like:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u525248/6xhu4aczkl2zprk8ms9p.png

It should look like
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u525248/wpsamvrr961dpux5r23n.png

martynas_b · 2025-11-05T14:12:48+00:00

I can't reproduce that issue, but it might be related to system fonts. You could try using Zotero Beta to see if the problem persists.

mothlight · 2025-11-06T00:42:50+00:00

Same result in 8.0-beta.13+d1f478fc4

Is there some way to know what might be missing?

Do these errors help?

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u525248/2uxv5axfmingcvlhqgrz.png

martynas_b · 2025-11-06T09:53:53+00:00

Can you reproduce this issue in the Firefox PDF reader (since the Zotero reader is based on it)?

mothlight · 2025-11-10T05:04:58+00:00

Ok, yes, they are missing in the Firefox PDF viewer as well. (Firefox 140.4.0esr in Ubuntu). The fonts are there in Fedora, Firefox 144.0.2.

I don't get the TT: undefined function 32 and 3 warning in Fedora.

Is there anything I can do to fix it (besides just using an external viewer), add the missing fonts?

I don't think that version of Firefox is available yet for Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS

poettli · 2025-11-10T05:58:26+00:00

What's strange is that this document has embedded subsets of fonts. This is what I see with Evince 42.3 on Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS for the first page
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u2119014/s6tksv4uv2z9s8o7p5mb.png
And fonts are correctly displayed in both 7.0.27 and 8.0-beta.13