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E Diane King
E Diane King
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CS5 Default substituted fonts

Aug 19, 2011 11:23 AM

I'm asking this question for the editor that I regularly work with on projects. He works on a Windows laptop editing a lot of content that is designed on Intel Macs. We share multi-use fonts through Universal Type client but whenever we use system fonts, we run into the issue where different computers have different versions of the same font. So whenever he opens one of our documents in IC, he gets a missing fonts warning for fonts that he has (Times, Arial, Wingdings, etc.).  Is there a way that he can set those fonts to be substituted by the system font versions that he has so that he can see the approximate flow using the correct font without having to actually replace the font (which would then mean that the designers would have to replace the font again when they reopen the file)?  Hope that makes sense. I know IC uses a default font to substitute missing fonts, I'm just wondering if there is away to permanently assign certain fonts to substitute certain missing fonts.

2065 Views   5 Replies   Latest reply: E Diane King, Aug 20, 2011 4:44 AM
 
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  • Bob Levine
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    1. Bob Levine,
    Aug 19, 2011 2:50 PM   in reply to E Diane King
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    If they're coming up as missing they're not the different versions of the same font...they're different fonts.

     

    You need to make sure you're using Opentype fonts on all machines.

     

    Bob

     
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  • E Diane King
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    2. E Diane King,
    Aug 19, 2011 7:05 PM   in reply to Bob Levine
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    We have Font Folio (the first open type version) that we share the licenses for through Universal Type Client, but the system fonts are the problem--the fonts that aren't included in Font Folio that are installed with each system's OS.  Some of us have OT versions, some of us have TT versions, and those crazy Macs keep throwing elusive dfonts into the mix. Wingdings is the biggest headache. The character sets are the same from computer to computer, but not the font types, so you're constantly getting missing font messages just for using the bullet in a bullet list. It's all well and good to say what we should have on every computer, but we're a ministry and we can't afford to repurchase fonts for every computer just because the OS that it comes with doesn't have the same version of the same font that every other computer has. If we could just change the default of the substitute font to show the closest approximate for editing purposes, it would be a good workaround.  The editors are not creating final product, just editing text, so they just need to see the closest approximate on their system (which is often the same font) without actually changing the font.  I was just hoping this was some option buried somewhere in the app that you could set, but obviously not.

     

    In our defense, we don't use system fonts that much, but they do creep into a layout, such as using a bullet list which defaults the wingding font and having a style based on the default paragraph style (which is usually a system font), etc.

     
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  • IDEAStraining.com
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    3. IDEAStraining.com,
    Aug 19, 2011 7:26 PM   in reply to E Diane King
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    The problem is a combination of issues...

     

    Since you are using OT fonts, don't use the Mac dFonts of Times, Helvetica, Helvetica Neue, or Zapf Dingbats--use the OT version (Times Std, Helvetica Std, Helvetica Neue Std, etc.)

    In fact, remove any unwanted Mac dFonts and TT Collections (.ttc) and use only the OT equivalents.

    To see what fonts you can remove, see http://www.ideastraining.com/PDFs/OSX_FontManagement.pdf

     

    Then remove the Macintosh version of the Microsoft fonts (Arial, Times NR, Wingdings, Wingdings 2, etc) and replace them with copies of the Windows versions.

    They will work fine and will match cross-platform.

     

    Dave Creamer

    IDEAS Training

     
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  • AnneMarie Concepcion
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    4. AnneMarie Concepcion,
    Aug 19, 2011 8:40 PM   in reply to E Diane King
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    > If we could just change the default of the substitute font to show the closest approximate for editing purposes, it would be a good workaround.

     

    Sorry, that's not possible with InDesign or InCopy.

     

    The default paragraph style in InCopy/InDesign CS5 and 5.5 is Minion Pro. If you have an older version that is based on Times, you will run into probs if you base paragraph styles on it. Best practice is to not base any custom styles on the default Basic Paragraph Style.

     

    Check Type > Find Font regularly and make sure you're not using any system fonts. If you can possibly stay away from Times, Helvetica, and Helvetica Neue, do so. They're way too much trouble these days to babysit.

     

    AM

     
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  • E Diane King
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    5. E Diane King,
    Aug 20, 2011 4:44 AM   in reply to AnneMarie Concepcion
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    AnneMarie Concepcion wrote:

     

    > 

    Check Type > Find Font regularly and make sure you're not using any system fonts. If you can possibly stay away from Times, Helvetica, and Helvetica Neue, do so. They're way too much trouble these days to babysit.

     

    AM

     

    I actually never use those fonts in my own stuff. My coworkers use Helvetica and Helvetica Neue all the time. It's their favorite sans serif, while I prefer Myriad Pro. Group projects are where I run into the font issues because I don't know what fonts are safe to get rid of in the documents. Though right now, zaph dingbats (easy fix through UTM, though now I have to fix the font in all the docs) and wingdings are the headache. I think I'll have to get IT involved in making sure we all have the same MS fonts on our computers. That's going to be harder than it sounds. Sigh.

     
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