Font Version Updates - Questions & Best Practices

Question

Hi, we wanted to get a bit more information about how Adobe handles updates to fonts. Knowing if & how fonts may be updated is important when retaining or opening older documents that may use older version(s) of a font.

QUESTIONS:

I believe I read that as long as a font stays active in either your 'Added Fonts' or 'Installed Fonts' in CC the version of the font should NOT change even if there is an update to the font. Can anyone verify this is actually the case?
And any removal of a font from either your Added Fonts OR Installed Fonts would mean a more recent version 'could' be activated if available when you re-add the font, correct?
What happens if one team member happens to add a font at a different time as someone else, and therefor ends up with a different version of a font? When opening a document that uses the different version, typically InDesign or Illustrator, what would happen? Would there be a warning of a mismatch, or would an older version be activated if someone only had the newer version? Or would the current version a user had, whether older or newer, just be used automaticlly without any warning?
Are there any failsafes to retain an existing/older version of a font for the long-term so older documents are not in danger of having a font mismatch?

Thanks! We know in a lot of cases, an update to a font may not present any issues and may even provide some benefits or newer features. But if any font metrics were changed in an update that might have any potential for reflow or other shifts in an older document, that might not be completely apparent at first glance (or if in a really long doc), that could be a bummer. Want to see how best to deal with this...

Bobby Henderson · Answer

I think one of Adobe's employees would have to provide details on how and when fonts carried in the Adobe Fonts service are updated. They might also have to confirm whether or not fonts actively added in your account or installed in your computer would be affected by an update.

While the fonts can continue to work without an Internet connection they only do so to a certain extent. I've personally seen them disappear with glitches in either the office network or my Internet connection at home. Due to this I just see the fonts as being very cloud-based (and likely susceptible to live updates).

Updates to fonts that either fix bugs or perhaps add more glyphs typically don't bring up any warning boxes when opening a document that used a previous build of the font. I've seen this with fonts that I've purchased and replaced with free updated font files. Even opening an old document using a system font like Arial doesn't cause any issues; the version of Arial included in WindowsXP or Windows 7 is not the same as the version of Arial loaded in Windows 11.

Perhaps if someone is moving backwards, opening a document with an older build of a font installed it's possible for problems to occur. But that would probably only be the case if the newer build had additional glyphs or other features being used. I would only expect such a scenario with traditional font files installed directly in the operating system. If two users are sharing documents and both are using fonts synced from the Adobe Fonts service there should not be any issues. I would expect any font updates to be rolled out to anyone signed into their CC account who is using the fonts.

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