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diane99999
diane99999
Participant
July 13, 2017
Answered

how can I edit pdf created in Segoe UI font on a MacBook Pro

  • July 13, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 28599 views

My company uses Segoe UI font.  I have a Mac.  Do not have Segoe UI and it is not in the Fonts within Acrobat DC Pro.

Correct answer Dov Isaacs

The Segoe UI font family is available on Windows systems by virtue of that font family being installed by Microsoft as part of Windows itself. Those fonts are used for system purposes but are also available for use by any and all Windows applications, i.e. they show up on font menus on any and all Windows applications that support TrueType font technology. The font family supports a very wide range of character sets and symbols. The font was designed by and owned by Microsoft.

The Segoe UI font family is not installed by Apple on MacOS nor does Microsoft install it with Microsoft Office. As such, the font is not available to you in any application running under MacOS, including Acrobat.

Looking inside the Segoe UI font, you can find the licensing information for the font:

Microsoft supplied font. You may use this font to create, display and print content as permitted by the license terms, or terms of use, of the Microsoft product, service or content in which this font was included. You may only embed this font in content as permitted by the embedding restrictions included in this font; and (ii) temporarily download this font to a printer or other output device to help print content. Any other use is prohibited. Microsoft Typography - Fonts and Products

The font's license does not permit you to copy the font to another system that isn't already licensed for it. In other words, you are out of compliance with your Windows' systems' licenses if you copy any of Windows system fonts (including members of the Segoe UI family) to your MacOS system.

Some of the Windows system fonts are available for licensing from Monotype at <Microsoft Corporation - Fonts.com - Fonts.com​>, but alas, the Segoe UI family used within Windows is not one of them.

One hack that might work though is to install Windows 10 on your MacOS system using Parallels or VMWare Fusion. The Segoe UI font family would be available when running Windows, although not visible to MacOS (and it would be an extreme stretch to claim that copying the fonts from the Windows virtual system to MacOS was kosher in any way). You could then run your edits via Acrobat running on Windows on your Mac.

Generally speaking, it is a really bad idea to choose a corporate font simply because it is a system font if that exact same font isn't available on or readily licensed for all the platforms you are likely to run on.

          - Dov

1 reply

Dov Isaacs
Dov IsaacsCorrect answer
Legend
August 17, 2017

The Segoe UI font family is available on Windows systems by virtue of that font family being installed by Microsoft as part of Windows itself. Those fonts are used for system purposes but are also available for use by any and all Windows applications, i.e. they show up on font menus on any and all Windows applications that support TrueType font technology. The font family supports a very wide range of character sets and symbols. The font was designed by and owned by Microsoft.

The Segoe UI font family is not installed by Apple on MacOS nor does Microsoft install it with Microsoft Office. As such, the font is not available to you in any application running under MacOS, including Acrobat.

Looking inside the Segoe UI font, you can find the licensing information for the font:

Microsoft supplied font. You may use this font to create, display and print content as permitted by the license terms, or terms of use, of the Microsoft product, service or content in which this font was included. You may only embed this font in content as permitted by the embedding restrictions included in this font; and (ii) temporarily download this font to a printer or other output device to help print content. Any other use is prohibited. Microsoft Typography - Fonts and Products

The font's license does not permit you to copy the font to another system that isn't already licensed for it. In other words, you are out of compliance with your Windows' systems' licenses if you copy any of Windows system fonts (including members of the Segoe UI family) to your MacOS system.

Some of the Windows system fonts are available for licensing from Monotype at <Microsoft Corporation - Fonts.com - Fonts.com​>, but alas, the Segoe UI family used within Windows is not one of them.

One hack that might work though is to install Windows 10 on your MacOS system using Parallels or VMWare Fusion. The Segoe UI font family would be available when running Windows, although not visible to MacOS (and it would be an extreme stretch to claim that copying the fonts from the Windows virtual system to MacOS was kosher in any way). You could then run your edits via Acrobat running on Windows on your Mac.

Generally speaking, it is a really bad idea to choose a corporate font simply because it is a system font if that exact same font isn't available on or readily licensed for all the platforms you are likely to run on.

          - Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
    heathlynn
    heathlynn
    Participant
    January 20, 2021

    Partially good news: Microsoft has made Segoe UI available. See https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/fluentui#/resources, with this caveat: "You may use the Segoe MDL2 Assets and Segoe UI fonts or glyphs included in this file (“Software”) solely to design, develop and test your programs for Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office includes but is not limited to any software product or service branded by trademark, trade dress, copyright or some other recognized means, as a product or service of Microsoft Office. This license does not grant you the right to distribute or sublicense all or part of the Software to any third party. By using the Software you agree to these terms. If you do not agree to these terms, do not use the Segoe MDL2 and Segoe UI Fonts or Glyphs."

    I'm not lawyer, so I may have missed something in the legal language, but it seems to me that Microsoft's control of the Segoe UI font family is related specifically to prohibiting use in marketing materials and online presentations. I'm using it only for internal communications platform to platform, and in order to be compatible with co-authors using Microsoft's PC software.

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