Missing characters in PDFs

• Jun 1, 2022 - 15:55

How can I preserve all the characters that I see in the app when I create a PDF? Many crucial characters such as tempo and expression appear as rectangles in PDFs whether viewed in Preview or Adobe Reader (example attached). I've installed all the fonts that Adobe Reader says are used, and also checked that I don't have any broken fonts (or the font "Adobe Jenson Pro (ajenson)" mentioned in the Handbook) and this doesn't fix the problem.

I’m using MuseScore on an M1 Mac running macOS 12.2.1. I won’t renew my subscription if I can’t fix this.


Comments

Whether you have a subscription or not hasn't got any bearing here, the MuseScore software (for Windows, Mac and Linux) and this site here, musescore.org is entirely free and not related to the Pro subscription on the music sharing site musescore.com, or the mobile apps (for Andoid and iOS)

You'd need to share the score for us to check whether this is a Mac or Adobe problem, or a MuseScore one.
Is it this one?

https://musescore.com/user/7854941/scores/6459818

If so: the PDF download from musescore.com looks correct, so might serve as a workaround.
However. that score stems from MuseScore 3.5.2, what version are you actually using?

It might be related to #316152: Some characters do not print from Leland on certain printer drivers on Mac.
How do you create the PDF? Hopefully via File > Export and not via File > Print?

When I take that score, convert it to a 3.6.2 score (i.e. using all of its defaults), and exporting to PDF, it looks fine, but I'm on Windows 11. Note that my PDF is considerably larger than your's.

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Hi Jojo, thanks for the quick response. I did attach the PDF to my original post, and yes, yours displays fine on my Mac. I installed the app from the Apple App Store—apparently currently Version 2.10.31 (sic). I paid for Pro because some music is unavailable otherwise, e.g., "Night" by Ludovico Einaudi. So thanks for your workaround, but it doesn't fix the issue for music only available through the app. In the app the only option is "Export to PDF". I'm bewildered by the relationship between .org, .com and the app, but see that I can download 3.6.2 from .org. Perhaps that will fix the issue?

In reply to by jeetee

Thanks—all clear now! What I have from the App Store is the iOS/iPad app that happens to run on an Apple silicon Mac. I downloaded 3.6.2 from musescore.org but it's an entirely different beast, so we're comparing apples (haha) and oranges and Jojo's fix is unfortunately irrelevant in my case.

In reply to by CosmicDrF

Well, you claimed the App on your Mac failed, so I took it to mean Application AKA Program on your Apple Macintosh computer, not Applet on an (iOS) mobile device, that in turn indeed is attached to the Pro subscription, but is not being dealt with here, only on musescore.com
The mobile app won't work on a Mac, the MuseScore editor won't work on a mobile device

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