How to Print a Hindi PDF Correctly

Boxes appear in a Hindi PDF when the Devanagari font is not embedded in the file — the printer or viewer substitutes a default font that lacks those characters. Fix it by embedding the font: in Word, save as PDF with 'embed fonts' enabled; in Adobe Acrobat, preflight and embed missing fonts. Upload the corrected PDF for clean Hindi printing.

Printing documents in Hindi, or any Indic script — Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi — comes with a well-known gotcha: the infamous 'boxes' problem. When a PDF viewer or printer encounters characters it cannot render, it displays square boxes in their place. This almost always means the Devanagari or other Indic font is not embedded in the PDF file. The printer has no way to retrieve the font from your laptop, so it substitutes the closest available font — which does not contain those Unicode code points. The result is a page full of boxes instead of your carefully typed Hindi content. This guide explains the root cause and gives you step-by-step instructions to fix it across Microsoft Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice, and Adobe Acrobat, so your Hindi printouts look exactly as intended.

Why boxes appear instead of Hindi text

PDF files can either embed font data within the file or reference the font by name and rely on the rendering system to supply it. When a file 'references without embedding', any system lacking that exact font substitutes a fallback — which typically has no Indic Unicode characters and produces boxes. Indic scripts are particularly prone to this because Devanagari rendering also requires 'shaping' (combining matras, half-forms, and conjuncts), which only purpose-built Indic fonts handle correctly. A generic Latin-only font cannot shape these sequences and renders them as individual unrecognised glyphs.

Fix 1 — Microsoft Word (most common case)

  1. Open your Word document.
  2. Go to File → Options → Save.
  3. Tick 'Embed fonts in the file'.
  4. Optionally tick 'Do not embed common system fonts' to keep the file size reasonable.
  5. Save the document, then export to PDF via File → Save As → PDF.

Verify: open the resulting PDF in Adobe Reader, zoom in on a few lines of Hindi text. If it renders correctly in Reader on a PC without the font installed (test on a different machine if possible), it will also print correctly.

Fix 2 — Google Docs

Google Docs uses web fonts served from Google's servers. When you download as PDF (File → Download → PDF Document), Google embeds the fonts automatically. This means Google Docs is generally safe for Hindi PDFs — the embedding happens without any special action. Use the default Noto Sans Devanagari or Mangal font for reliable rendering.

Fix 3 — LibreOffice Writer

  1. File → Export as PDF.
  2. In the PDF Options dialog, go to the 'General' tab.
  3. Ensure 'Embed standard fonts' is ticked.
  4. Click Export.

Fix 4 — Adobe Acrobat (for existing PDFs)

If you have an existing PDF with missing font embedding:

  1. Open in Acrobat Pro.
  2. Tools → Print Production → Preflight.
  3. Run the 'Embed missing fonts' fix or use the 'PDF Fixups' profile.
  4. Alternatively: File → Save as Other → Optimized PDF → Fonts → embed all fonts.

Choosing the right Hindi font

For body text, Mangal (bundled with Windows) and Noto Sans Devanagari (free, Google Fonts) are the most reliable choices for print. Avoid decorative or display fonts like Kruti Dev (a legacy ANSI-mapped font) — these use a non-standard encoding that causes boxes in most modern PDF viewers unless the entire font is embedded and the viewer supports it.

Upload your file & get an instant price

Frequently asked questions

Why does my Hindi PDF look correct on my computer but print with boxes?
Your computer has the font installed locally, so it renders fine on screen. The printer or print service does not have that font, so it substitutes a fallback. Embedding the font in the PDF solves this — the font data travels with the file.
Does Printster support printing Hindi and other Indic language PDFs?
Yes. Printster prints any PDF. As long as your Devanagari or other Indic fonts are embedded in the PDF, the document prints exactly as you see it on screen. The embedding must be done on your side before uploading.
How do I check if fonts are embedded in my PDF?
Open the PDF in Adobe Reader → File → Properties → Fonts tab. If any font shows 'not embedded' or 'not embedded, subset', redo the export with font embedding enabled.
Can Kruti Dev fonts be used for professional printing?
Kruti Dev uses a legacy ANSI encoding. If you must use it, ensure the font file is fully embedded in the PDF and test the output on a computer that does not have Kruti Dev installed. Switching to Unicode fonts like Mangal or Noto is strongly recommended for reliability.
What file formats does Printster accept for Hindi documents?
Printster accepts PDF, DOCX, DOC, PPTX, PPT, JPG, and PNG, up to 100 MB. For Hindi documents, PDF with embedded fonts is the safest choice to ensure correct rendering.
How long does delivery take after placing a print order?
Delhi NCR receives orders in 4–7 working days; the rest of India in 7–10 working days, from the next working day after your order is confirmed.