PDF export - text not selectable

Hi All!
I found the answer here very useful and tried it myself and it worked. Hopefully this helps anyone still looking.
https://spectrum.chat/figma/tips-and-tricks/export-to-pdf-and-keep-text-selectable-in-2-steps~9ba0872b-4a24-4ba8-a4ba-647263dc1365

Posting the alternate solution here from @Jane_Castellani, since Spectrum is not longer active.

Export to PDF, AND keep text selectable in 2 steps

There is a way I know to convert from Figma to PDF (keeping editability: ability to select, copy and paste the text in the new document)

STEP 1. Simply export your frames as SVG, but be sure to remove the check mark in the “outline text” option, within the options to export SVG (three points, see image).

STEP 2. Now go to CLOUD CONVERT web page, and select convert from SVG to PDF or simply click on this direct link: SVG to PDF | CloudConvert. Then select the SVG files to upload (there is an option to unify several SVG files as a single PDF document) and press the “Start Conversion” button.

This has been a huge problem for a very long time. I have tried so many ways to export my frames as PDF but every time the text are not selectable. Even when they were selected, copying and pasting it will turn out gibberish, no matter I use Apple Preview or Adobe Acrobat Reader.

I have also tried the saving as SVG method (making sure I uncheck the outline text box), then using CLOUD CONVERT web page to convert them into PDF. Yes it worked partially, because text can now be selected, but all my alignments were gone, fonts also changed after the conversion.

Does anyone else experience this? Is anyone using a plugin or workaround to help solve this?

Nothing works to get this ready to print with a service like Barnes and Noble Press. Unfortunately, the file sizes are huge, and the worse problem is fonts aren’t embedded. These are big issues Figma needs to fix.

Over a year now and still no response from the Figma team 😕

Did anyone find a solution that makes the text selectable while keeping the original font? (Embedded font)

Hey all, I seriously hope the Figma team does something about this soon.

In the meantime, if you have Adobe Acrobat, a solution that worked for me:

1. Click Scan & OCR on the right toolbar
2. Click Recognize Text and select In this file

thank you so much!! 😁

Great workaround! Exactly what I needed! Thank you @Chelsea_Hendra

this has not been fixed still? it’s been a problem for almost 5 years now, what gives?

I found that the export to microsoft word function didn’t work for me because it messed up the entire formatting. However, the export to PDF function works quite well and it does a number of things.

1. It makes the file size smaller without the need for a compressor.
2. It makes the text selectable.
3. The selected text when pasted into onenote comes up clear and without any of the distorted symbols I had before.

I’ll be using this as my workaround for the time being. Hope this helps.