Convert text to PDF
This is the export to use when a file has to survive someone else’s machine. The letters are written as vector path geometry rather than as text in a font, so there is no font to embed, no licence to worry about at the printer, and no substitution surprise when the PDF is opened somewhere that has never heard of your typeface.
Convert text to PDFPaint is preserved
PDF is one of the paint-aware formats, so fill colour, stroke colour, stroke width and the fill rule all come through. Pick nonzero or even-odd when a letterform’s overlapping contours need to resolve a particular way.
Why outlines beat embedding
An embedded font can still be stripped by a badly configured RIP, refuse to embed for licensing reasons, or subset away a glyph you needed. Outlines have none of those failure modes: the shapes are the document. The trade-off is that the text is no longer selectable or searchable, which is exactly why this is an export step and not a way to author documents.
Shaping done properly
Text is shaped with HarfBuzz before anything is drawn, the same engine browsers use. Kerning pairs, ligatures and OpenType features apply, and complex scripts — Arabic joining, Indic reordering — come out correctly rather than as a row of disconnected letters.
Questions
- Will the PDF text be selectable?
- No. Converting to outlines is what makes the file font-independent; the letters become shapes. Keep your editable source elsewhere and treat this as the print-ready output.
- Can I use it for a logo?
- Yes, and it is the usual reason people outline type. Check the licence of the typeface for commercial use — outlining changes how the shapes are stored, not who owns them.
- What about EPS?
- EPS is available too and carries the same paint model; it is still the expected hand-off for some older print and sign-making workflows.