TeXGyreHeros error message in Adobe Illustrator when embedding ggplot2 PDF

[slowkow]

I made a ggplot2 figure in R on an Ubuntu machine, and saved it as a PDF.

Next, on my MacBook, I dragged the PDF file to Adobe Illustrator and clicked "Embed" to embed the PDF file.

I got this error message:

The text in the screenshot says:

The document uses fonts that are currently not available on your computer.
Missing Fonts(1) | Activate
TeXGyreHeros-Regular
Default font substituted for missing font.
Close | Find Fonts... | Activate Fonts

On my Macbook, it seems the font "TeXGyreHeros" is not installed.

I thought I was using "Helvetica" on my Ubuntu machine when I made the figure. But that is false, and I'm actually using "TeXGyreHeros" on Ubuntu. It turns out that installing MacTex on my MacBook does not help to get "TeXGyreHeros" installed. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something? I don't know.

It is possible to install Helvetica on Ubuntu. You might try searching around.

Workaround

Of course we can work around this, but it will cost 5 clicks per PDF (ouch):

1. Click "Find Fonts..."
2. Click "TeXGyreHeros"
3. Click "Helvetica"
4. Click "Change All"
5. Click "Done"

I hope my future self or anyone else who uses Helvetica can benefit from this post. I think it might be easier to use Arial instead.