Knowing the font of a PDF is not as easy as selecting the text and seeing what font appears, as you will have already verified if you have come this far, looking for the solution to the question of how to know the font in a PDF. Luckily, there are ways to identify the font of a document, in a way that allows you to recognize what font it is.
Therefore, knowing what font a PDF has is a process that requires the use of external tools. But don't worry if you don't know where to start, because in this article we are going to guide you step by step so that you can find the source of a PDF easily and quickly.
Actually, fonts from a PDF can be easily extracted if you know how. It's different from programs like Word, with its .doc format, in that there's no toolbar to tell you what font is in a PDF in front of you, but there is a way to identify the font of the text, without the need to make any changes to it.
How to know what letter has a PDF? Since a PDF document can have been generated from almost any text editor (it could have been created in .doc format and then converted to PDF, for example), it is very likely that you will come across fonts that you have never seen before.
In this article, you will see the steps you must follow to know the font of a PDF, how to find the text font and, if you wish, how to extract it to use it in your own text fragment.
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How To Find Out The Font Of A PDF Step-By-Step
To know the font of your PDF, it is best that you make use of Adobe's own free software, to see the font of the document. To do this, the steps you must follow consist of:
- Open your PDF document with the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC viewer.
- Click on "File".
- Within the menu, click on "Properties..."
- Click on the "Fonts" tab and, inside, notice that the window will already be indicating the fonts used in the PDF document.
- Fonts used in a PDF document via Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.
In this list, you will see the font used in the text of the PDF, in such a way that, at a glance, you will be able to consult the font model that corresponds to the text. In addition, you will also see the font, the encoding and even the actual font type in case it is a modified font.
What You Should Know About Identifying A PDF’s Font
Viewing the font in PDF has certain limitations, of course. That is why you must take into account certain considerations before launching to look for the answer, about how to know the font in a PDF. Based on our experience, we recommend that you keep the following in mind:
- From Acrobat Reader DC, you will be able to see what letter the document has, but you will not see the exact text fragments that correspond to each typeface. Therefore, you may not be able to retrieve the exact font you were looking for.
- If it happens that you want to identify the exact typeface of a single paragraph, and you see that the document does not have many different types of fonts, you can simply try opening a text editor and writing several paragraphs with each of the fonts that you have taken from the PDF. Thus, you will discover which typeface is exactly the one you are interested in knowing.
- Remember that not all fonts need to be installed on your computer, so if you identify the text font of a PDF and you see that you don't have the option of using it to write in your own file, it's best to look for said font on the internet to download and install it in your font repository.
- In case you need to make changes to the document, don't forget that you always have the option to edit the PDF before you.
What Programs Allow You To Check The Font Of A PDF
Although the procedure that we have explained above is valid for practically any operating system, it is true that users with the specific question of how to know the font in a PDF from their device can reach this article. That is why, below, we offer a series of alternatives suitable for everyone.
Checking The Font Of A PDF On A Computer
As it could not be otherwise, you have to start talking about the alternatives for computers. Windows, macOS and Linux are the platforms par excellence for desktop work, being the most used systems for everything that refers to working with PDF documents.
Windows
In Windows, the best way to identify the font of a PDF document is to use the Acrobat Reader DC procedure that we have explained above. Open the .pdf document, click on "File", go to "Properties" and click on the "Fonts" tab, it's that easy.
In any case, if you are looking for alternatives to find out what letter a PDF has, you will also be interested in trying programs with FontForge (available for free download), an open source resource that has been specifically designed to see the typography of any document.
Mac
Mac user, the best solution for you also lies in the option to view fonts of Adobe's Acrobat Reader DC program. It is not necessary to have a paid license to use this function, so you can even install it just to perform this action and then remove it from your computer so that it does not take up space.
Linux
In the case of Linux, a solution to know the font of a PDF file is through a free document reader called XPDFReader. You can download it for free from here and, if you navigate through its settings, you will end up finding the specific function of the document font.
Detect A PDF’s Font On Your Mobile Or Tablet
On mobile devices things get a little more complicated when it comes to identifying a PDF source. In any case, there are ways to get to know the typography of the text through external applications.
Android
If you are using a mobile or a tablet with the Android operating system, you can try the alternative of the WhatTheFont application, well known for its peculiar characteristic of allowing you to identify fonts and typefaces, just by pointing the device's camera towards them (It is also compatible with uploading documents that you have downloaded in the internal memory). Try using it by downloading it from the Google Play Store.
iPhone (iOS) or iPad
On both iPhone and iPad, an alternative in the form of an application to find out what font a PDF has, is what is known as "the Shazam of fonts", WhatTheFont. It is available for download in the App Store, being a highly valued alternative to identify text fonts in any document.
