SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

1542287 - Extra characters added to text when exporting a report to PDF from Crystal Reports

Symptom

  • Incorrect characters.
  • Extra character added on top of some alpahabetic characters.
  • When exporting a report to PDF format from Crystal Reports, accent are added above some characters.
  • If the report contained Arabic characters, it displays the incorrect characters in the PDF document generated.
  • When exporting the same report to other format, like MS Word, or MS Excel, the text displays as expected.
      
       
  • Note: Images and data in this SAP Knowledge Base Article is from SAP internal systems, sample data, or demo systems. Any resemblance to real data is purely coincidental.

Environment

  • SAP Crystal Reports 2013
  • SAP Crystal Reports 2016
  • SAP Crystal Reports 2020

Reproducing the Issue

  1. In Crystal Reports, create a report off any data source.
  2. Insert at least one database field that contains text on the report.
  3. Set the font to anything like: Arial Unicode
  4. Export the report to PDF format.
           
    When opening the PDF document, notice that accent character are added on top of some characters.
     
    Extra Characters.png

Cause

  • Incorrect ASCII font subset has been embedded in the exported PDF document.

Resolution

  • To embed the correct font in the PDF document, add the registry key: UseCustomEncoding, and set the value to zero (0)
          
    WARNING The following resolution involves editing the Microsoft Registry. Using the MS Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems. Use the MS Registry Editor at your own risk. For more information see the SAP Knowledge Base Article 1323322
           
    1. Open the Microsoft Registry Editor.
      ( In MS Windows, under the menu Start, select Run, and type: regedit )
            
    2. In the Microsoft Registry Editor, navigate to the path corresponding to the version of the product used:
                                 
      • Crystal Reports 2013, 2016:
           
        • For 32bit version of MS Windows:
          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SAP Business Objects\Suite XI 4.0\Crystal Reports\Export\PDF
              
        • For 64bit version of MS Windows:
          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SAP BusinessObjects\Suite XI 4.0\Crystal Reports\Export\PDF 
                
              
      • SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform 4.1, 4.2:
                
        • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SAP BusinessObjects\Suite XI 4.0\Crystal Reports\Export\PDF 
           
            
      • Important Note: The last part of the path may not exist. If it is the case, simply add the missing keys.
             
              
    3. Right click on the PDF key, and select: "New - DWORD Value"
          
    4. Set the DWORD value to: UseCustomEncoding
         
    5. Set the value of UseCustomEncoding to: 0
             
    6. For the change to take effect, restart the application.
             
      • For Crystal Reports:
        • Close and re-open Crystal Reports.
               
      • For SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform:
        • Restart the Server Intelligent Agent (SIA)             

Keywords

PDF, Arabic Text , KBA , BI-RA-CR , Crystal Reports designer or Business View Manager , Problem

Product

Crystal Reports 2008 V1 ; SAP Crystal Reports 2011 ; SAP Crystal Reports 2013 ; SAP Crystal Reports 2016