All weights of Open Sans aren't loading or multiple versions are activated

Question

I know that Open Sans has been a problem for many people here, but I can't find a solution to this specific instance and I'm hoping someone can help. Yes, Adobe and Google use different versions of Open Sans so I only use the Google version. I downloaded it (OpenSans-VariableFont_wdth,wght.ttf and OpenSans-Italic-VariableFont_wdth,wght.ttf) from Google fonts and installed it to my computer. I have a brand new computer and never activated Open Sans with Adobe, yet when I open up an InDesign file or create a new document, Light and Extrabold show twice. Somehow the Adobe version becomes active, but only those weights, not the whole typeface. I do not have auto-activiate Adobe fonts activated in the File Handling setting. This has also happened with my old computer.

InDesign (Beta but has happened with 2025 version, too):

I have "Auto-activate Adobe Fonts" checked off under File Handling. When I open "Find/Replace Font", it shows two versions of Open Sans Extrabold (the Google one and the Adobe one). Again, I've never activated the Adobe version but Adobe Fonts shows that Light and Extrabold are activated (not the whole family). When I deactivate these weights from the Cloud, the issues are resolved in InDesign. Does anyone know why these weights would automatically activate Adobe when I have the auto-activate feature unchecked? And why is it only activating some weights and not all? This also doesn't happen with every file that includes the Open Sans family.

Illustrator (v2025):

At first I only have 4 styles that can be located (Light, Regular, Italic, and Extrabold). When I resolved the activated weights in Adobe Fonts, all weights then appear (even semibold, which didn't appear to be an issue at all/it was deactive in Adobe Fonts). You can see in the screenshot that although I'm using Extrabold in the document, it doesn't show up in Find/Replace Font under "Fonts in Document", but it shows under "Fonts in System".

Photoshop (vBeta):

Only Regular and Italic are showing. All other weights are missing, but restarting the app fixed the issues and all styles and weights are available. This is probably because I resolved the InDesign issue while this version was already open.

Photoshop (v2025):
All weights and styles are available/there are no issues.

These issues also were happening on my older computer so I don't think it's a computer issue. Is there some weird setting deep in Adobe that's causing some weights of Open San to automatically activate or not load all styles in the family? This doesn't happen all the time and there is a manual workaround but it takes time to reset everything and I'm also very curious why this happens in the first place. Unfortunately, I have to use Open Sans as it is the brand font used for a firm I work with, so obviously this needs to be resolved so nothing gets funky when sharing files (which has happened and caused a huge headache for all involved!). Any suggestions appreciated, thanks!

Mac OS 15.2

Using Adobe desktop versions of each program (versions above)

Google version of Open Sans saved in HD/Users/[name]/Library/Fonts folder:
OpenSans-VariableFont_wdth,wght.ttf

OpenSans-Italic-VariableFont_wdth,wght.ttf

Bobby Henderson · Answer

I've seen all sorts of strange, persistent issues with fonts downloaded from the Google Fonts web site. I see the worst problems in certain graphics apps not made by Adobe. One app in particular just gives up and renders certain styles in type families in default Arial. These bugs are frustrating and they make me wonder if Google and/or the type designers are doing enough to test the font families in various graphics applications.

Sometimes these problems can be solved by going back to Google Fonts weeks or months later and downloading another copy of the type family. They do update the font files from time to time. I've also had luck removing the Google Fonts version of the type family and only syncing the version hosted by Adobe Fonts.

Variable Fonts and traditional Static Fonts are two different things. They're not interchangeable. If an existing document had text styled in a static version of Open Sans then it would need the correct static styles of Open Sans installed. A variable version of Open Sans isn't going to automatically replace the corresponding static style that is missing.

Sometimes a can of worms can be opened by having both static and variable versions of the same type family installed in the operating system. Third party font management apps can create similar problems when they're referencing both static and variable versions in the database. And it's really not good to have multiple versions of a type family present in folders the font management app is watching.

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