Font embedding
Packing font data inside a PDF so the printer sees the right typeface while the words stay live, searchable text.
See it
What it is
Font embedding stores font program data inside the PDF, so another computer or a printer's RIP can draw the intended glyphs without that font installed. A full embed carries the font; a subset carries only the glyphs the document uses. Unlike outlining, embedding keeps text selectable, searchable, and structurally recognizable as text.
For an ordinary print handoff, export a PDF/X file with every font embedded or subset. It is the normal answer for books, reports, and anything with paragraphs you do not want turned into thousands of paths. Adobe Acrobat's Fonts panel and Poppler's `pdffonts` utility can show whether each font is embedded and subset.
Gotcha: embedding is controlled by the font file's license permissions, and some fonts forbid it. A subset can also lack letters needed for later text edits. Check the exported PDF itself, because packaging a source file or seeing the font on your own machine does not prove the data made it into the PDF.
Ask AI for it
Export this Adobe InDesign document with the PDF/X-4:2008 Adobe PDF preset so every font is embedded or subset, without converting paragraphs to outlines. Run Poppler `pdffonts` on the exported PDF and return a table with font name, type, embedded status, subset status, and Unicode mapping. Fail the handoff if any row reports `emb` as `no`, and identify the source font whose embedding permission must be replaced or licensed.